Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho
Christians fight every day to overcome enemies just like Joshua did. Once we give our lives to Jesus Christ we can gain a victory just like the children of Israel did over Jericho. We need to have faith and trust in the LORD and choose to follow Him and to serve Him all our lives. That is the only way the victory can be ours.
Joshua 2: 1-24; Joshua 5: 13- 6:1-27
Joshua was by Jericho after the death of Moses when he saw a man standing next to him with his sword drawn. Joshua asked who he was and the man said he was the captain of the host of the LORD. The captain of the host of the LORD said to Joshua “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.” (Joshua 5:15).
The LORD told Joshua that He had given Jericho, the king, and mighty men of velour into the hands of Joshua. Joshua was told to surround the city with all his men of war and go around the city once. Joshua was to do this for six days. The seventh day seven priests were to carry before the ark seven ram horn trumpets. The seventh day they were to surround the city seven times and the priests should blow the trumpets. When the priest’s make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when they heard the sound of the trumpet, all the people was to shout with a great shout. That is when the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall bring up every man before him.
The people did what they were told the first through the six days they rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD and they marched once around the city then they returned to the camp. It came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and surrounded the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they marched around the city seven times.
Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD has given you the city. Everything in the city had been utterly destroyed. Only a harlot called Rahab and all her family had been spared. Rahab hid two of the messengers, or spies, that Joshua had sent into Jericho to gain knowledge of the city.
Joshua 2:1-24 tells about how the two spies were lodged in the house of Rahab when the king of Jericho heard about it and commanded Rahab to send them out. Rahab hid these two men telling them that they came to her and she would not tell the king where they were. When the king shut the gate so the two men could not escape and tell all they had discovered Rahab took the two men up on the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof.
Rahab knew that the LORD had given the land to the children of Israel. She knew that her people were afraid of them because they had heard how the LORD had dried up the water of the Red sea for them when they came out of Egypt. They knew what the children had done to the two kings of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan and that Sihon and Og were utterly destroyed. The LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
The men answered her in Joshua 2:14; “Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.”This was enough for Rahab and she let them down by a cord through the window it was convenient that her house was upon the town wall. Rahab told them to go the mountain and hid there for three day until the pursuers who had been sent out had returned.
Once Rahab and her family were brought out of Jericho and left by the camp of Israel they burnt the city of Jericho with fire only the silver and gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron that has been consecrated, or blessed for treasury of the house of the LORD was spared.
Joshua said that there would be a curse of any man who rises up and builds the city of Jericho. The LORD was with Joshua. The fame of Joshua was known throughout all the country.
What Can This Story Teach Us?
The children of Israel had to have faith and trust in the LORD and the instructions they were given in order to conquer Jericho. Who do you have faith and trust in when you need something?
Rahab stood alone in her faith and is a wonderful example of what it means to be faithful and trusting in an unseen LORD God who gave us Jesus Christ our Lord as a Savior. It is easy to believe in the LORD when everyone around you believes. Yet Rahab stood along apart from her countrymen she did not ask what was right or wrong she just knew and believed and trusted. What a powerful example she is to all of us.
Rahab was puts Christians who have grown up learning about Jesus and the LORD who decide to not heed or accept the teachings of the LORD to shame. She was a “”heathen and a harlot” yet she had faith and trust in the LORD. We should have more faith and trust because we have been saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and we know about His sacrifice for us.
Joshua was dedicated to the LORD. Joshua 25:15 tells us what Joshua spoke to the children of Israel when they started to serve other gods. “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
We should choose this very day who you will serve. Will you serve the little gods of this world like money, movie stars, partying, even the electronic games. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD! How about you?
Once we give our lives to Jesus Christ we can gain a victory just like the children of Israel did over Jericho. We need to have faith and trust in the LORD and choose to follow Him and to serve Him all our lives. That is the only way the victory can be ours.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Jan 2015.<https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1941,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, January) “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1941,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (January), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1941, (accessed).
