Jericho: A lesson in obedience

Our Theme for 2024 is Possessing the Land.

We are currently in a study of the book of Joshua called “Lessons in Courage.

Joshua and the Israelites have crossed the Jordan.

Joshua met the “Angel of the Lord” and submitted to His authority.

Now God is going to give Joshua instructions, but they are a little odd!

What happens next is a test of obedience - Are Joshua and the Israelites going to do things God’s way?

Ever Since Veggie Tales came out with Josh and the Big Wall, whenever I hear this story, I can’t help but imagine the French Peas taunting the Israelites in a subtle reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Veggie Tales has them throwing slushies from the wall and taunting them as they march around the wall each day for seven days. Then they are shocked when it actually works and the walls come down.

Veggie Tales is obviously trying to find a way to make an otherwise violent story appropriate entertainment for children.

The real Jericho was a wonder of the ancient world.

It was called the “city of palms” - a literal Oasis in the Jordan Valley that is otherwise very hot and dry.

Jericho is one of the oldest known inhabited cities on earth, dating back to prehistoric times.

The city was destroyed once before, in the 24th century BC - a few centuries before Abraham -

It seems that the city was rebuilt around the time of Abraham with the goal of that never happening again.

It has a strategic location guarding a mountain pass which gives access to the hill country.

The site (Tell es-sultan) has been thoroughly excavated and studied over the last century and a half.

It has a spring right in the middle of the city - an uninterruptible water source - so no fear of seige.

They had vast storehouses for grain and food, with processing mills within the city walls.

Speaking of city walls, they have excavated a portion of the inner wall which is 13 feet thick and 26 feet high.

The outer wall is 6 1/2 feet thick made of mud and brick on a stone foundation which would have sat atop a sloping embankment.

If you get over the outer wall you have better be ready for close-quarter, hand-to hand combat.

Between the walls is a labyrinth of storage rooms and secret passageways.

And apparently also, this is where Rahab lived and conducted her business.

In the “Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien, Boramir says, “One does not simply walk into Mordor.”

I’m sure Joshua also said, “One does not simply invade Jericho!”

That’s why God gave Joshua a plan that no one would have expected.

Jericho is a test - an impossible problem with an unknown solution.

The way to pass the test is to carefully follow instructions.

God requires obedience - and not “sort-of, close-enough” obedience.

God wants us to obey specifically, consistently and thoroughly.

Obey specifically.

In ancient literature, there are many stories of heroes who commit incredible feats.

One prominent feature of hero stories is that they have to pass a test.

The test is given to see if they will respond according to their impulses or use wisdom - perhaps even think outside the box!

Sometimes the shortest route is around.

Joshua 6:1–3 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.

God also tests people in the Bible.

Not so much to declare them as heroes, but to see if they are truly commited followers.

Deuteronomy 8:2 NLT

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.

Obedience is not about doing what God wants, so you can get what you want.

Obedience is understanding that God knows things that you don’t know.

It’s not conventional wisdom

Conventional wisdom is that you have the city under siege.

Wait it out - fight them when they run out of food and water and are starving.

God knows this city can last for years.

It’s not human impulse.

Human Impulse says, “we have someone who lives in the wall who is willing to help us. We can send in a small strike force.”

But God knows you are going to find find yourself in a literal maze, full of booby-traps.

You can’t breech the city in just one place and expect to take the whole city.

We know these things because Jericho has been excavated and studied

I doubt if Joshua knew all of Jericho’s secrets.

But God did.

When I lived in Denmark, I spent a great deal of time on a ship, a three-masted schooner that was used for port-to-port evangelism. I really liked taking my turn at the helm and steering the ship.

One day we are coming to a harbor and I can see the harbor lights over the port bow. But the captain is telling me to veer to starboard.

“Why? I asked. I can see the harbor right over there.”

“What you don’t know and can’t see is that the water is shallow all around the harbor. If we steer toward the harbor, we will run aground. But there is a channel into the harbor and the entrance to the channel is out there.”

When I had that experience I heard God say, “ What is the shortest distance between two points?”

I know the answer to this from math class.

“The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”

“You’re wrong!” God said, “the shortest distance between where you are now and where you are going is whatever I say it is.”

“I know what is beneath the surface that you can’t see.”

I have since learned that the path between my current situation and my goal is rarely a straight line.

It’s the path of specific obedience.

Give it the right amount of enthusiasm.

Joshua 6:4–7 ESV

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.”

Military operations are not usually conducted with a lot of fanfare, unless it is psychological warfare - intimidating your opponent.

Here is the plan - we are going to have the priest blowing trumpets.

When they give a long blast - everyone is going to shout.

Our shouts are going to knock the walls down.

Yeah. Right.

This is another test - not just whether or not they will do what God says, but will they give it the enthusiasm it requires?

if I say, “Yo, everybody make some noise!”

Yeah, that’s what I thought - if the energy is not there, nothing is going to happen.

We would definitely not be knocking any walls down!

Sometimes obedience is not just doing what God says, but doing it with enthusiasm.

2 Kings 13:14–19 NLT

14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried. 15 Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. 16 Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands. 17 Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.” 18 Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”

Sometimes God is with us and wants to bring us into a place of victory, but we are half-hearted in our response.

In this story, Elisha is like, “God really wants to help you, but you have to give it a little more enthusiasm.”

God wants our partnership and participation - He doesn’t need it - He wants it!

It’s not about the effort, this is just a prophetic act - Elisha is doing all the work.

This is about seeing what is in your heart - How bad to you want this?

“Oh, I guess you don’t really want it that badly - even though I am doing all the work!”

Follow the Lord’s timing.

Joshua 6:8–11 ESV

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.

Another way that God wants us to specifically obey is to follow His timing.

There is a time to shout and there is a time to be quiet.

Shouting when you are supposed to be quiet is not obeying God.

Being quiet when it is time to shout is not obeying God.

There is an order to things.

Doing the right things in the right order gives the right result.

Doing the right things, but in the wrong order or timing is still wrong.

To weeks ago, Marilyn Cronrath shared the story about praying about the purchase of a building for their business.

The agreement between her and her husband was that they would each pray about it.

But she waited to pray about it, because she already had an idea that she knew what God was going to say- and she didn’t want to hear it.

Was that obedience? No.

When she heard that the building was sold, she probably thought God had answered her prayer - except she didn’t pray.

Fortunately God gave her another chance.

But how often do we miss what God has for us because we are dragging our feet?

Or we get ahead of God, we have a sense of what God wants to do, but we just can’t wait.

1 Peter 5:6 CEV

6 Be humble in the presence of God’s mighty power, and he will honor you when the time comes.

You might be right about what God wants you to do - but it might not be your time.

Just take it easy, you want to be in it for the long haul.

Obey consistently.

Have you notice that there is a lot of repetition in the book of Joshua.

First the scripture tells us what the plan is.

Now we are going to read the same thing again,

only this time they are executing the plan.

Consistency mean obeying repeatedly.

Joshua 6:12–14 ESV

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.

It is one thing to obey God, it is another thing to obey consistently and repeatedly.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

17 pray without ceasing,

Why is that important?

Didn’t God hear you the first time?

Jesus told a parable about a woman who was annoyingly persistent and said that is how we should pray.

Luke 18:1–8 CEV

1 Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up: 2 In a town there was once a judge who didn’t fear God or care about people. 3 In that same town there was a widow who kept going to the judge and saying, “Make sure that I get fair treatment in court.” 4 For a while the judge refused to do anything. Finally, he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.” 6 The Lord said: Think about what that crooked judge said. 7 Won’t God protect his chosen ones who pray to him day and night? Won’t he be concerned for them? 8 He will surely hurry and help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?

The argument is a “how much more” kind of argument.

If a corrupt judge answers persistent prayer, how much more will God, the righteous judge, answer persistent prayer.

And it also shows that we are giving it the right enthusiasm.

Consistency means having the same goal.

Joshua 6:15–17 ESV

15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

I wonder, if while they were marching around the city, if any of the people thought, “why are we doing this?”

That is the other benefit of repetition, you will either forget why you are doing it and stop...

Or you will realize why you are doing it and strengthen your resolve.

A pastor friend of mine has started a side job as a coach for a weight loss program.

Yes, he has tried to get me on the program, but I’m just not ready to commit yet.

The whole purpose of a coach is to remind people of their goals.

If people forget why they are doing it, they drop out of the program.

All they need is someone to remind them of the reason why they joined the program in the first place and encourage them.

Joshua reminds them of their goal - God has given us this city!

When you march, you are marching because God has given us this city.

When you blow the trumpet, you are blowing the trumpet because God has given us this city.

When you shout.... “what do you think they shouted?!”

“God has given us this city!”

Consistency means avoiding the pitfalls.

Joshua 6:18–19 ESV

18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

It may be hard for us to understand why God would say, “you have to destroy everything and everyone!”

The short answer is because something about it was very dangerous.

We don’t know if they had some form of biological weapons.

Or if they were into some really weird occult practices.

Whatever it was, it was a very big threat - they were not allowed to take even the animals.

Only Rahab, who hid the spies, and her family were spared -

but even they were kept outside the camp, at least for a quarantine period (verse 23).

Metal vessels are OK, they can be sanitized and repurposed.

Next week we will see that someone actually gave in to the temptation to take thing that were supposed to be destroyed.

Spoiler alert: the whole community was achin’ after that happened.

Obey specifically

Obey consistently

Obey thoroughly.

The last point could have also fit into this section because they were to destroy everything.

The first part was instruction - now we read about the execution.

Take care of what is in front of you.

Joshua 6:20–21 ESV

20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

Here’s the plan that no one anticipated.

We are going to attack from all sides at once.

The walls (presumably the inner wall collapsing onto the outer wall) means you just rush straight in over the rubble.

What could do that?

Was it a resonant frequency produced by the combination of the trumpets and the shouting that weakened the structural integrity of the wall, making it collapse?

Was it the fact that Jericho sits in the Jordan valley which is on one of the world’s largest geological fault lines?

God may have orchestrated well timed earthquake triggered by their rhythmic marching.

We don’t know...

God did His part and they each had to do their part.

Each person was to charge directly into the part of the city that was in front of them?

Slash and burn everything in your path.

The thoroughness of obedience depended on everyone doing their part.

What is the task in front of you?

What is your specific assignment?

Are you doing your part?

We can disobey by worrying too much about other people’s obedience and not worrying enough about our own.

The Apostle John shares a story about Peter having such a moment.

John 21:20–22 ESV

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

It is hard to judge another person’s obedience, because we don’t know what may only be between them and God.

What we are responsible for, is what is between us and God.

Be sure to keep your promises.

Joshua 6:22–24 ESV

22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

While everyone else’s assignment is to take what’s directly in front of them, the two spies have another assignment - to make sure they fulfill their promise to Rahab and her family.

That brings up another point about thoroughly obeying God - make sure you keep your promises.

Psalm 22:25 CEV

25 When your people meet, you will fill my heart with your praises, Lord, and everyone will see me keep my promises to you.

Think about what you are promising God when we worship.

I once has a professor in Bible School who said, “Christians don’t tell lies - they sing them!”

“Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul, I live for you alone” - really?

“This is my daily bread, your very Word spoken to me” - Anyone miss their devotions this morning?

This morning we sang “Every breath I’m breathing Will be filled with praise” - Should I go on?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t sing the songs - absolutely not!

I’m just asking, have you thought about what you are singing?

Do you realize that you are making a promise to God?

Are you ready, with God’s help, to fulfill your promise?

Carry your obedience forward.

Joshua 6:25–27 ESV

25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. “At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.” 27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Not only was Jericho to be destroyed, it was never to be rebuilt.

Whatever Jericho represented - God wanted it to end - permanently.

Jericho was eventually rebuilt - during the reign of King Ahab of Israel.

1 Kings 16:33–34 ESV

33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Here is the other reason obedience is so important - it is important for the future.

Only God knows what effect our obedience or disobedience will have long into the future.

We tend to think - it’s no big deal - I’m not hurting anyone.

If we only had the perspective of eternity, we might shudder to find out what we might have unleashed by our disobedience.

Joshua’ curse was not random.

It was a message to whomever decides it s a good idea to rebuild Jericho - your disobedience will have a generational impact.

You just opened Pandora's box.

You let the genie out of the bottle - BTW - that’s not a good thing as in the children’s version of that story.

Your children are going to pay the price for your disobedience.

On the other hand, we have Rahab, whose obedience changed the lives of her whole family.

Which story line will you carry forward - obedience or disobedience?

Questions for reflection:

Can you think of something recently that God has asked you to do? If obedience is a test of our faith in God, how did you do? How might you obey more thoroughly or completely?

Think about the promises that you have made to God. Maybe it was in a song you sang or a prayer you prayed? What does that promise mean to you? What does it mean to God? How are you going to keep your promise?

Think about what your faith means for generations to come? What kind of faith will your grandchildren have if your children build upon your example? How does that motivate you as you face your tests?