Commentary - Joshua 6:1-5

Bird's-eye view

The account of Jericho's fall is one of the most iconic stories in the Old Testament, and for good reason. It is a stark and dramatic display of God's power and His demand for absolute, unquestioning faith from His people. After forty years in the wilderness, the new generation of Israel stands at the threshold of the Promised Land. But right in their path is the formidable, fortified city of Jericho. From a human perspective, the situation is impossible. Jericho is locked down tight. But God's people do not operate on the basis of human perspective. This entire episode is a lesson in the logic of faith. God gives Joshua a battle plan that is, from a military standpoint, utterly absurd. Marching, horn-blowing, and shouting are not conventional siege tactics. But that is precisely the point. The victory over Jericho was not to be a testament to Israel's military prowess, but rather a monumental display of God's sovereign power, appropriated by the simple, obedient faith of His people.

This passage sets the stage for a central theme that runs throughout Scripture: salvation and victory are the Lord's. He does not need our clever strategies or our mighty armies. What He requires is our trust and obedience, even when His commands seem foolish to the world. The fall of Jericho is a real, historical event, but it is also a picture, a type, of a much greater spiritual reality. It is a gospel story written in stone and dust. The impenetrable walls of sin and death that stand against us are brought down not by our striving, but by the power of God in Christ, our true Joshua, which we receive by faith.

Outline

Context In Joshua

Coming into chapter 6, Israel has just experienced a profound spiritual renewal. They have crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, a miracle powerfully reminiscent of the Red Sea crossing that their fathers witnessed. They have renewed the covenant sign of circumcision at Gilgal, dealing with the reproach of Egypt. They have celebrated the Passover in the land for the first time. And perhaps most significantly, Joshua has had a personal encounter with the "commander of the army of Yahweh" (Josh. 5:13-15), who revealed that the battle for Canaan was not Israel's fight with God on their side, but rather God's fight, in which Israel was privileged to participate. This context is crucial. The strange instructions for taking Jericho do not come in a vacuum. They come after God has repeatedly demonstrated His power and reminded Israel of their covenant identity. They are prepared, not militarily, but spiritually, for what is about to happen. The battle for Jericho is to be the firstfruits of their conquest, and it must be conducted in a way that gives all glory to God from the outset.

Key Issues

Commentary

1 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out, and no one came in.

The chapter opens by stating the tactical problem. Jericho is on lockdown. The grammar here emphasizes the completeness of the closure: "shut up and sealed." This wasn't a city with a lazy gatekeeper. The news of Israel's approach, particularly the miraculous Jordan crossing, had terrified the inhabitants of the land (Josh. 2:9-11; 5:1). Their response was to bolt the doors and hide behind their massive walls. From a worldly perspective, this was a sound strategy. They had fortifications, provisions, and a defensible position. They were trusting in their walls. The verse highlights the human impossibility of the task ahead. Israel had no siege engines, no battering rams, no way to breach these defenses. The world, represented by Jericho, barricades itself against the people of God. It trusts in its own strength, its own systems, its own walls. But what appears as an obstacle to man is an opportunity for God to display His glory.

2 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.”

God's word to Joshua cuts right through the tactical problem. Notice the tense: "I have given." It is a done deal. Before a single Israelite has marched, before a single trumpet has sounded, God declares the victory as an accomplished fact. This is the language of faith. God speaks of future events in the past tense because with Him, there is no uncertainty. Joshua is commanded to "see" this reality. He is to look at the city not with the eyes of a military general assessing troop strength and wall height, but with the eyes of faith, seeing what God has already declared to be true. God doesn't say, "I will help you fight for Jericho." He says, "I have given it to you." The king and the "valiant warriors" are included. God is not intimidated by their titles or their strength. The entire power structure of the city is already defeated in the heavenly court. Israel's job is simply to walk out onto the field and enforce the verdict that has already been rendered.

3 And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days.

Here we get to the battle plan, and it is patently absurd by any human standard. No attack, no sapping of the walls, no attempt to scale them. Just walking. This command is a direct assault on human pride and self-reliance. A seasoned warrior like Joshua might have been tempted to question the sanity of this strategy. Imagine the conversations in the Israelite camp. "We're going to do what? Walk around it?" This plan was designed to strip Israel of any basis for boasting. When the walls fell, no one could say, "Our brilliant strategy paid off." No one could say, "Our relentless pressure wore them down." All they would be able to say is, "God did it." The repetition for six days adds to the test of faith. It required patient, dogged obedience. Each day they would march, and each day the walls would still be standing. It was a daily exercise in trusting God's promise over their own senses.

4 Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

The details of the procession are deeply significant. This is not just a military maneuver; it is a liturgical act. It is worship as warfare. At the head of this parade are not the mightiest warriors, but the priests. And what are their weapons? Trumpets made of rams' horns, the shofar. These were not instruments of martial music but were used to announce holy days, the year of Jubilee, and to call the people to worship. And at the center of it all is the Ark of the Covenant, the visible sign of God's throne and His presence with His people. The whole affair is a declaration. It is God Himself, enthroned on the Ark, leading a worship procession around this pagan stronghold. The number seven, repeated here, is the biblical number of completion and perfection. God is declaring that the conquest of Jericho is His complete and perfect work. This is a holy war, not in the sense of a human crusade, but in the sense that God Himself is the primary combatant, judging the iniquity of the Canaanites which was now "full" (Gen. 15:16).

5 And it will be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down beneath itself, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”

Here is the climax of the plan. After seven days of silent marching and patient waiting, the moment of release arrives. The long blast of the trumpets, followed by a great shout from the entire assembly. This shout is not a magical incantation. It is a shout of faith. It is the cry of a people who believe the promise God has made. They are shouting because they believe the walls are coming down, not to make them come down. And the result is catastrophic for Jericho. The wall will "fall down beneath itself," or "in its place." This suggests a complete, vertical collapse, not a toppling over. The foundation gives way, and the wall crumbles into a ramp of rubble, allowing the Israelite soldiers to go "up every man straight ahead." There is no need to funnel through a single breach. The way is thrown wide open for a swift and total victory. This is a picture of how God deals with the obstacles that defy Him. When He acts, the defeat is total, and the way forward for His people is made perfectly clear.

Application

The story of Jericho is our story. We all face fortified walls in our lives. The wall of a particular sin that seems unconquerable. The wall of a broken relationship that seems beyond repair. The wall of a godless culture that seems impenetrable. Our temptation is to do what the king of Jericho did: lock the doors and trust in the strength of the walls. Or, we are tempted to devise our own clever, worldly strategies to knock them down. But God's way is different.

He calls us to a life of faithful, patient, and sometimes ridiculous-looking obedience. He calls us to circle our Jerichos not with weapons of our own making, but with the instruments of worship. We are to march behind the presence of our God, our true Ark, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our weapons are the preaching of the gospel, prayer, and the corporate shout of praise. These things look foolish to the world. A sermon is just words. A prayer is just wishful thinking. A hymn is just noise. But "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor. 1:25).

The victory is already won. Jesus, our Joshua, has already declared, "It is finished." He has given the world, the flesh, and the devil into our hands. Our task is to believe it, to "see" it, and to walk in that reality. We are to march in obedience, day after day, trusting that at the appointed time, at the sound of the final trumpet, every wall raised against the knowledge of God will collapse into dust, and the people of God will go up to possess the true Promised Land, the new heavens and the new earth.