The Shout and the Ban: Liturgical Warfare
Introduction: A Stumbling Block to the Modern Mind
We come now to a passage that is, for many, a great offense. It is a stumbling block, a hard saying that causes the modern, sentimental Christian to blush and stammer. We are confronted with the stark reality of holy war, with a command from God to "devote to destruction" an entire city, men, women, children, and livestock. Our therapeutic age, which has domesticated the Lion of Judah into a housecat, simply does not know what to do with a text like this. The response is usually one of three errors: to apologize for God, as though He needs our public relations team to smooth over His rough edges; to allegorize the text into a bland spiritual metaphor, stripping it of its historical teeth; or to reject it outright as the relic of a primitive, tribal deity we have since outgrown.
But we must do none of these things. We are to take the Word of God as it is given, and we are to understand that the problem is not with the text but with us. The problem is that we have lost the biblical understanding of God's absolute holiness, the cancerous nature of sin, and the reality of divine judgment. We want a God who is only a cosmic affirmation, not a consuming fire. We want a Savior but not a Lord, a blessing but not a ban.
The fall of Jericho is not, first and foremost, a lesson in military strategy. It is a lesson in liturgical worship. This is not a battle won by brilliant tactics or superior force; it is a city toppled by faithful obedience to a bizarre command. It is a demonstration that the world is not conquered by the methods of the world, by pragmatism or power politics, but by the foolishness of God, which is wiser than men. This is a story about the relationship between faith, obedience, and the sovereign power of God to execute His righteous judgments in the world. And in it, we see a profound picture of the spiritual warfare we are all called to wage.
The Text
Then it happened that on the seventh day they rose early at the breaking of dawn and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city. And the city shall be devoted to destruction, it and all that is in it belongs to Yahweh; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest as you are devoting them to destruction, you also take some of the things devoted to destruction and make the camp of Israel devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it. But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh; they shall go into the treasury of Yahweh.” So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. And they devoted to destruction everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
(Joshua 6:15-21 LSB)
The Culmination of Obedience (v. 15-16)
We begin with the seventh day, the climax of this strange siege.
"Then it happened that on the seventh day they rose early at the breaking of dawn and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. Now it happened that on the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.'" (Joshua 6:15-16 LSB)
The repetition of the number seven is impossible to miss. Seven days, seven priests, seven trumpets, seven times on the seventh day. This is the number of covenantal perfection and completion. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. This entire operation is a work of divine re-creation. God is deconstructing a center of pagan rebellion to establish His covenant people in His land. This is a Sabbath work, a work of judgment that brings rest.
Their obedience had to be patient and unwavering. For six days, they marched in silence, enduring the taunts and jeers that must have come from the walls of Jericho. This was a test of faith. It was militarily absurd. But faith is obedience to God's Word, regardless of how it looks to the world. It is a disciplined trust in the commander.
At the appointed time, the priests blow the trumpets and Joshua gives the command to shout. Notice the basis for the shout: "For Yahweh has given you the city." The verb is in the past tense. The victory is already accomplished in the decree of God. The shout is not a desperate plea for God to act; it is a confident declaration of what God has already done. This is the grammar of faith. Faith does not create the reality; it responds to the reality God has declared. We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. The shout is the audible expression of their belief in God's promise, even while the walls were still standing.
The Ban and the Exception (v. 17-19)
Next, Joshua lays out the terms of the engagement, which are the terms of the ban, the herem.
"And the city shall be devoted to destruction, it and all that is in it belongs to Yahweh; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live... But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction... But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to Yahweh; they shall go into the treasury of Yahweh." (Joshua 6:17-19 LSB)
The phrase "devoted to destruction" is the Hebrew word herem. It means to be set apart, consecrated, and utterly given over to God. Something under the ban was removed from common use and belonged to God alone. This could mean one of two things: it was either consecrated for holy use in the Tabernacle, or it was consecrated for utter destruction. Jericho, as the firstfruits of the conquest of Canaan, was entirely herem. It was the tithe of the land, belonging wholly to God.
Why such a severe judgment? Because the Canaanite cultures were not quaint, primitive societies. They were spiritually toxic. Their religion was a cesspool of idolatry, ritual prostitution, and child sacrifice. God had given them over 400 years to repent, from the time of Abraham (Genesis 15:16). Their iniquity was now "full." The conquest was not genocide; it was a divinely commanded execution. God, the author of life, has the absolute right to take it. This was a surgical act to remove a cancer from the land before it could infect and destroy Israel.
But in the midst of this total judgment, there is a stunning picture of grace. "Only Rahab the harlot... shall live." Why? Not because she was righteous, but "because she hid the messengers." Her salvation was based on an act of faith, trusting the God of Israel against her own people (Hebrews 11:31). The scarlet cord in her window is a beautiful type of the blood of Christ. Judgment is coming upon the whole world, the city of man, but all who are in the house marked by the sign of faith will be saved. The judgment is not ethnic; it is covenantal. It is against rebellion, not race.
The warning to Israel is severe. Do not touch the devoted things. To take what belongs to God is to place yourself under that same ban. This is what Achan will do in the next chapter, and it will "bring trouble on" the entire camp. Sin is never a private affair. It pollutes the covenant community. Notice also that the incorruptible metals are not destroyed but are cleansed and brought into the treasury of the Lord. This is a picture of redemption. God takes the wealth of the wicked and consecrates it for His holy purposes. The goal is not ultimate destruction, but the purification and reclamation of creation for the glory of God.
The Walls Fall Down (v. 20-21)
The climax is as sudden as it is miraculous.
"So the people shouted... and the wall fell down beneath itself, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. And they devoted to destruction everything in the city... with the edge of the sword." (Joshua 6:20-21 LSB)
The shout of faith is met with the power of God. The wall does not simply crumble. The text says it "fell down beneath itself," or "in its place." It collapsed straight down, forming a perfect ramp for the Israelite army to go "straight ahead" into the city. God did not just help them win; He won the battle for them in such a way that no one could possibly take the credit. This was an undeniable miracle, designed to teach Israel that their success depended entirely on God's power, not their own.
The writer to the Hebrews gives us the divine commentary: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days" (Hebrews 11:30). Their marching and shouting were the works that proved their faith was genuine. Faith is not a passive sentiment; it is active obedience.
And the obedience had to be total. They executed the herem completely, "both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey." This is the part that makes us flinch. But we must understand it as a picture of the totality of God's war against sin. When God judges, His judgment is complete. This is not a model for us to imitate in physical warfare. The sword of the new covenant is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). But it is a model for the spiritual warfare we must wage against the sin in our own hearts and lives. We are to be absolutely ruthless. We are to show no quarter. We are to devote our own idolatries to utter destruction.
The Gospel of Jericho
This historical event is a living parable of the gospel. Jericho is a type of the world system, a fortress of rebellion, with walls of pride and self-righteousness that seem impenetrable. Every human heart, by nature, is a little Jericho, locked up tight against the King of kings.
No human strategy can breach these walls. Our programs, our clever arguments, our moral efforts are all powerless. The victory belongs to our Joshua, which is the Hebrew name for Jesus. He has already marched around the citadel of sin and death. At the cross, He won the decisive victory.
The gospel is the trumpet blast announcing that the war is over and the victory is won. Our part is to respond with the shout of faith, to believe the good news that "He has given you the city." We do not add to His work; we rest in His finished work. And when we believe, the walls of our own rebellion fall down flat.
The command of herem is now applied to us spiritually. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5). We are to make no peace with the Canaanites in our hearts. We are to take the sword of the Spirit and devote them to utter destruction. This is not a suggestion; it is the logic of the new covenant.
And like Rahab, we are all saved by grace alone, through faith alone. We are prostitutes and pagans, rebels and idolaters. But when we hear the report of the true God and cast our lot with Him, we are brought into His house. We are marked by the scarlet cord of Christ's atoning blood, and when the final judgment falls on the city of man, we will be saved. The trumpets will sound one last time, the kingdoms of this world will fall, and our Joshua will lead us into the true promised land.