The Walls of Jericho

Thousands of feet, marching in the dust. Not a single voice. Only the steady blast of rams’ horns, round and round a city wall. From the top of the wall, the people of Jericho look down, and wonder what on earth is happening.

Israel has crossed the Jordan and set up camp at Gilgal. Just a few miles away stands Jericho, an old city with thick walls, set in a green oasis of palm trees and springs. The Bible says Jericho is shut up tight because of Israel. Nobody goes out. Nobody comes in. The gates are barred. Somewhere in that wall is a house with a scarlet cord hanging from its window: the home of Rahab, who hid the spies. Joshua has no siege towers, no battering rams. And then the Lord speaks to him. “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and its mighty men of valour.”

God’s plan sounds nothing like a battle. “March around the city once a day for six days, all your fighting men. Seven priests will carry seven trumpets made from rams’ horns, walking in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear a long blast on the ram’s horn, let all the people shout with a great shout. And the wall of the city will fall down flat.” Joshua passes it on, with one extra instruction. “Don’t shout. Don’t make a sound. Don’t let a single word come out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

So on the first day, they march. Armed men at the front. Then the seven priests blowing their horns. Then the ark of the Lord. Then more men behind. Once around the city, and back to camp. Not a word spoken. On the second day, they do it again. And the third. Imagine what it is like inside Jericho. Every morning the horns. Every morning that silent army. Imagine what it is like in Israel’s ranks too. Six days of walking in circles, feet aching, saying nothing, while the walls stand as solid as ever. It must have felt foolish. But they keep going, exactly as God said. Day four. Day five. Day six.

On the seventh day they get up early, at dawn. Once around the city. Twice. Three times. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The priests lift the horns and blow a long, loud blast. And Joshua cries out to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” And after six and a half days of silence, the people shout, with a great shout that rolls across the valley. And the wall falls down flat. The people go straight up into the city, every man straight ahead of him.

In the middle of all that noise, Joshua remembers a promise. He sends the two young men who had spied out the land. “Go into Rahab’s house and bring her out, and everyone who belongs to her, just as you swore to her.” And they do. Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers, and all her family are brought out safely. The city itself was destroyed, and nothing in it was to be kept for anyone’s own use. Its silver and gold went into the treasury of the Lord. But Rahab lived on among the people of Israel, because she had hidden the messengers Joshua sent. And the Bible says, the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread through all the land.

The trumpets in this story were not metal trumpets like the ones in an orchestra. They were rams’ horns, called in Hebrew a shofar. A shofar can play only a few notes, but its sound is piercing and carries a long way. In ancient Israel it was used to sound alarms, to gather people, and to announce sacred moments. The law of Moses calls for it to be blown to proclaim the year of jubilee. And it is still blown today, in synagogues around the world, at the Jewish New Year.

The fall of Jericho is told in Joshua, chapter six. The walls did not fall because Israel was strong. They fell because God keeps his word, and his people trusted him enough to keep walking when nothing seemed to be happening. So here is a question to take with you. What is God asking you to keep doing faithfully, even when you can’t yet see it working?