The Warfare of Tedium: Joshua 6:12-14
Introduction: God's Strange Battle Plans
We live in an age that worships at the altar of pragmatism. We want what works, and we want it now. We want the five-step plan to success, the guaranteed method for victory, the life hack that solves the problem. If a strategy seems inefficient, repetitive, or just plain strange, our modern sensibilities dismiss it as foolishness. We are results-driven, and we believe the results are largely up to us, our ingenuity, and our effort. We want to build the biggest battering ram, devise the cleverest strategy, and muster the strongest army. We believe that the way to make a wall fall down is to hit it very hard.
And this is why the conquest of Jericho remains such a profound offense to the natural man, and such a glorious lesson for the people of God. God's people had just crossed the Jordan on dry ground. They were poised to take the promised land. And the first great obstacle was Jericho, a fortified city, shut up tight. And what is God's divine strategy? What is the secret weapon He reveals to Joshua? It is, from a human point of view, the height of absurdity. He tells them to go for a walk. He commands a liturgical procession. Priests, trumpets, the Ark of the Covenant, and a silent army are to circle the city once a day for six days. This is not a military tactic; it is a worship service on the move.
The world looks at this and scoffs. The men on the walls of Jericho must have gone from terror to confusion, and then to open mockery. "What is this? A parade? Do they mean to bore us into submission?" But we must understand that this is precisely the point. God consistently chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chooses methods that have no inherent power in themselves so that when the victory comes, there can be no dispute as to who gets the glory. The central lesson of Jericho is this: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. And sometimes, the mightiest weapon God gives us is the discipline of patient, repetitive, and seemingly unproductive obedience.
The Text
Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Yahweh. And the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh, and they continued to blow the trumpets. Thus the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days.
(Joshua 6:12-14 LSB)
The Discipline of Day Two (v. 12-14)
We are looking at the description of the second day, which was a repetition of the first, and the pattern for the next four after it.
"Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Yahweh. And the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh, and they continued to blow the trumpets." (Joshua 6:12-13)
The first thing to notice is the faithful obedience of Joshua. He "rose early in the morning." This isn't just a quaint detail about his sleep schedule. It signifies diligence and a lack of hesitation. God had given a command that made no military sense, and Joshua's response was not to debate, not to form a committee, not to poll his generals. His response was immediate obedience. This is the nature of true faith. Faith does not demand that God's commands make sense to us before we obey them. Faith obeys because of who gave the command. Joshua knew that the God who parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River was not in need of his strategic advice.
Now, look at the composition of this parade. At the very center is the Ark of Yahweh. This is crucial. The Ark was the tangible symbol of God's presence and His covenant throne on earth. This was not Israel's army surrounding Jericho; this was Yahweh, enthroned on the Ark, leading the charge. The battle belongs to the Lord. Israel's role was to be the honor guard for their King. The armed men went before and the rear guard came after, but the power was in the middle. This is a permanent principle. In all our spiritual warfare, the presence of God must be central. Our strength, our singing, our activity must all be arranged around Him. When we put our own strength or cleverness at the center, the walls do not fall down. They mock us.
Then we have the priests with the trumpets. Seven priests, seven trumpets. The number seven in Scripture is the number of completion, of covenantal perfection. These were not battle horns for signaling troop movements. They were ram's horns, the shofar, used to announce high holy days, the year of Jubilee, the presence of God. The priests "went on continually and blew the trumpets." This was a constant, liturgical blast. It was a declaration. It was worship as warfare. They were not blowing at the walls; they were blowing before Yahweh. They were heralding the King who was marching to reclaim His property. This is what our worship does. When we gather to sing the praises of God and hear His Word preached, we are blowing trumpets in the spiritual realm. We are announcing that Jesus is Lord and that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
The Warfare of Repetition (v. 14)
Verse 14 gives us the summary of this strange and holy work.
"Thus the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days." (Joshua 6:14 LSB)
Here is the part that would test the patience of any pragmatist. They did this on the second day. And then they did it again on the third day. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth. Six days of marching, trumpeting, and then... nothing. They went back to camp. The walls did not tremble. No bricks fell. From the outside, it was a complete waste of time. Six days of pointless marching.
But God was doing at least two things here. First, He was working on the inhabitants of Jericho. The first day was terrifying. The second day was puzzling. By the fourth or fifth day, it was likely infuriating and contemptible. God was hardening their hearts in their pride, setting them up for the fall. He was giving them space to mock His methods, which is always a precursor to judgment.
Second, and more importantly, God was training His own people. He was teaching them that victory comes through faith and obedience, not through human effort. He was forging a character of patient endurance in them. It is one thing to obey a command that yields immediate, spectacular results. It is quite another to obey a command day after day when nothing appears to be happening. This is the warfare of tedium. This is where most of us fail. We pray for a week and see no change, so we stop. We practice a spiritual discipline for a month and feel no different, so we quit. We march around our personal Jerichos a few times, see the walls standing as strong as ever, and conclude that it isn't "working."
But God's kingdom does not operate on our timetables or according to our metrics of success. He is building something in us through the process. He is teaching us to walk by faith, not by sight. The six days of silent marching were an essential part of the victory. It was in those six days that Israel's faith was being forged. It was in those six days that they were learning to trust God's Word over what their eyes could see. The victory on the seventh day was not disconnected from the obedience of the first six. It was the fruit of it.
Conclusion: Keep Marching
The story of Jericho is our story. We are all confronted by fortified cities in our lives, in our families, in our culture. We face walls of unbelief, strongholds of sin, and fortresses of rebellion that seem utterly impenetrable. And our temptation is to resort to carnal weapons. We want to argue, to manipulate, to strive, to scheme, to fight in our own strength.
But God's battle plan has not changed. He calls us to place His covenanted presence at the center of our lives. He calls His ministers to be priests, continually blowing the trumpet of His Word, proclaiming the crown rights of King Jesus. And He calls all of us to the patient, disciplined, and often tedious work of faithful obedience.
What does this look like for us? It looks like rising early for prayer and Scripture reading, day after day, even when you don't feel like it and the heavens seem like brass. It looks like gathering with the saints for worship, Sunday after Sunday, singing the psalms and hearing the Word, even when the sermon feels dry or your heart is cold. It looks like the daily grind of family worship, of catechizing your children, of speaking the truth in love to your spouse, day after day, year after year. It is the warfare of tedium.
Each act of obedience is another lap around the city. Each prayer is another trumpet blast. Each faithful Lord's Day is another circuit complete. And though the walls may seem unmoved, and the world may mock our "pointless" routines, we have the sure promise of God's Word. The victory is already given. Our job is to keep marching. Our job is to trust the foolishness of God, which is wiser than men. For on the day of His choosing, at the sound of the final trumpet, every wall will come crashing down.