The Unusual Instructions of God

Joshua 6:1-14 ESV

1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” 6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” 7 And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”

8 And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. 9 The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

I would have to say that Christianity gives what we all would naturally call the strangest instructions concerning certain social ethics.

We are all taught from a very young age to say “please” “thank you” “yes, sir” “yes, ma’am” and not only are we taught these things, but for the most part, we are absolutely fine with using these kinds of social ethics.

But when we read the Bible, particularly Jesus’ words in what we know as the Sermon on the Mount, we see Christianity reaching into a whole new realm of social ethics and the unusual way that we are to act in certain situations.

For example, as a man who is naturally given to sin, no one ever had to teach me to hit someone back after they hit me. If you hit me, my first instinct, my natural reaction is to hit you back twice as hard.

But then on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that when someone hits us, we shouldn’t hit back, but rather, we should turn the other cheek and let them hit that side as well.

Now, of course, this has more to do than just being physically struck in the face. This has to do with any attack that someone brings to you, physically or mentally. When they attack, Jesus oddly tells us that we as Christians are not to attack them in return.

Now, I must be honest here, not attacking someone who first attacks me is not something that I would naturally practice. I would have to be taught that, and it would take a determination on my part to submit to God’s will in that situation, rather than my own will in order to carry it out.

But though it is not natural for me to not fight back, when I do as God commands me and I withhold from my natural instinct to attack when someone first attacks me, the result is always blessings all around, because God is most glorified through it, and because of my reaction, I get to enjoy God’s glorification in this situation and am most satisfied in it.

And you know, that is just one of many examples of some unusual commands that the Bible gives concerning social ethics. But every command in the Bible is always meant for the good of the Christian and for the glory of God.

And today in our reading, we see God giving what we may consider to be a most unusual command to His people, Israel, concerning the conquest of Jericho.

The commands that God gives to Israel here are concerning the most unusual battle preparations that the people are to make before attacking the city.

But before we get to the commands that God gave to them, let’s talk about the overall morale of the people of Jericho at this time, and the words of reassurance that God had given to Joshua before giving him the pre-battle game plan.

Verses 1 and 2 tell us:

*Joshua 6:1-2 ESV

1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.

It says right away that Jericho was shut up inside and outside… let’s talk about that.

Cities in ancient cultures were usually walled in order to protect themselves from outside invaders. Therefore, if you wanted to enter or exit such a city, you had to go through the city gate, which was monitored by guards.

Well, when our reading says that Jericho was shut up both inside and outside, it means that it was going to the protective measures of closing the city gate and neither letting people come in or leave the city.

Now the reason that it gives for this is found there midway through verse 1: “Because of the people of Israel.”

The city was shut up and no one could leave or enter because everyone was fearful of the Israelites who were at their doorstep.

But why were they so fearful? We find the answer to that question in verse 2 when God told Joshua that the reason why Jericho was so fearful was because He had given them into Joshua’s hand.

Now, let’s talk for a minute about the language being used there.

God had given Jericho into Joshua’s hand. Does this language infer that Joshua himself had struck fear into the hearts of the people of Jericho? That he had somehow induced this fear through his own power? Of course not!

No, it says that God had insured that the conditions were ripe for Israel to conquer and for God to be most glorified. Just as Godcontinues to work all things together for the good of His people today. Insuring that in every situation, His people benefit, and He is most glorified.

So, God tells Joshua that because He has insured the fear of the people and has made the conditions ripe for His people’s victory and for His own glory, it is then imperative that they do exactly as He commands that they may continue to experience His blessings to the full.

And we see the instructions that God gave to them in verses 3 through 5:

*Joshua 6:3-5 ESV

3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

God had instilled fear into the people of Jericho, and He made the conditions ripe for them to be defeated, for the people of Israel to be blessed, and most of all, for God to be glorified. So, as I said, now the people of Israel just needed to follow through on God’s command to them.

And look at what the command of God was:

God told Israel that in preparation for battle, for six days, the men of war, those who would fight in this battle were to march around the city of Jericho one time.

God also says that with the men of war, the priests shall march as well, carrying ram’s horns, marching before the ark of the covenant.

And so, for six days, that is what they were to do; march around the city one time each day, fighting men in the front, the priests, the horns, and the ark of the covenant in the middle, and more fighting men in the rear, all while the priests blew the horns, yet the people remain silent.

But then God tells Joshua that on the seventh day, the men were not to march around the city once, but seven times, and He tells them that after marching around the city for the seventh time, the priests were to let out a long blast from the ram horns, and at hearing this long blast, the people’s silence would finally cease, and they would shout with a great shout, and when that happened, the protective walls of Jericho would come crashing down.

Well, I don’t know, but if you ask me, that certainly sounds like an unusual plan.

But you know, the reasoning was that God had led them this far, He had placed fear in the hearts of the men of Jericho. God had made Jericho ripe to be destroyed. God had done all of this, therefore, it made sense that it was in the best interest of the people of Israel to just listen to the God Who had done all of this, and do what He had commanded them to do.

The battle was the Lord’s, it was entirely the Lord’s, and the Lord ensured that this battle, the battle of Jericho would be a battle that screamed His glory, as it was made apparent that Israel had done nothing to destroy this city, but that it was accomplished by the Lord from start to finish.

Think about it, God worked many wonders in the midst of Israel as they traveled through the desert, which put fear in the hearts of the inhabitants of Canaan, especially those who dwelt in Jericho.

Then God commanded the people to march around the city, and in the end, it would be God Who caused the walls to fall down. And because the people were already so stricken with the fear that God had instilled within them, they would be quite unable to fight. Thus, the battle was the Lord’s from start to finish.

All the people of Israel had to do in order to enjoy this blessing was to obey. And if you look at the remainder of our reading, verses 6 through 14, you see Joshua and all Israel’s obedience as they carried out the commands of God.

Now, as I said, these were indeed unusual instructions, but the results in obeying these unusual instructions were extraordinary blessings.

And you know, a life of holiness and dedication to God is also an unusual set of instructions for us today. As we said at the beginning of this message, naturally, people don’t want to do godly things. Naturally, people don’t desire to be holy as the Lord is holy. Yet, that is what God commands of us, His people.

As I said, an unusual set of instructions indeed.

Yet let us reason as Joshua had reasoned. Let us recognize that God has fought our battles all this time. He has always ensured that all things work together for our good and for His glory. And they definitely have!

So, like Joshua, let us go forward in obedience and submission to God’s commands, believing that He is worthy to be obeyed, and remembering that obeying always eventually results in blessing.

Amen?