Sermon Tone Analysis
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They are now finally ready to go into battle.
They are prepared in their position, they are prepared physically, they are even prepared spiritually.
Now they begin to make their way to the city of Jericho.
And before they do, God has some final instructions for the battle that is about to take place.
And it is these instructions that will test the faith and the trust that the Jews have for the Lord.
The secret to success at Jericho was not Joshua’s military genius or his army’s skill in warfare.
Victory came because he and the people fully trusted God and obeyed His commands (1:6–9)
Stop to explain that the word there is “have given, have given.”
It is a word that means that one person has ownership and the full rights to give it to whomever they want to.
Guess what?
God owns it all.
The world and everything in it.
That means that Joshua can trust God.
No matter what instructions God gives him he can trust God.
No matter how God tells him to proceed.
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Okay, this is a pretty non-conventional approach to war.
Let’s march around the city one time, go back to camp.
Then go back the next day and march around it again, one time and go back to camp.
Kind of a weird thing.
This is supposed to happen for 7 days in a row.
Hard to imagine that is is really what God wants.
Did God really mean that?
It’s so odd.
One of the really weird things here is that they are instructed to carry the ark of the Lord.
Actually, the ark of the covenant is a pretty big character in the old testament.
The ark was built by Moses and we read about the specifics of how God wanted it built in Exodus 25.
Symbol of God, some even say that it is an extension of God’s presence.
The ark is a big character in the story.
Symbol of God, some even say that it is an extension of God’s presence.
Ark means box or chest.
Noahs ark was a floating box.
The ark of the covenant Moses, made after God’s precise instructions.
It was a holy article.
So holy that there were special instructions regarding how to transport it places.
There were two poles that slid through rings so that it could be carried, only by the priests.
If anyone touches the ark they will die.
We actually see this happen years later when David and a group of his men are transporting the ark (incorrectly) on a cart.
The ark was going to fall off the cart and a man steadied it and died because he touched it.
What was in the ark?
We are told that Two tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aarons staff that budded, Manna
Two tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aarons staff that budded, Manna
But the ark symbolized God’s presence and the ark was part of this processional that was marching around the city of Jericho once a day.
It is a very important part of their worship.
But see, that is the weird thing about this battle.
It just doesn’t look like a battle.
For all intents and purposes it looks more like a worship service.
It looks more like a religious ceremony.
And that is actually what this was.
The ark would come to be looked at as the footstool of God, and other armies would look at it as a God and there are stories in the bible about how they tried to steal it.
How they tried to use it against Israel.
The ark was a powerful symbol of God and what Joshua was told to do would reinforce what that symbol meant.
7 Priests go before the ark blowing trumpets.
The trumpets remind them of Gods presence.
Again,This was not just military but religious undertaking.
This wasn’t a war but a religious exercise which was a war.
So here they are, worshipping the Lord their God as they circle the territory.
Being very patient, being very vulnerable.
Joshua told them, “don’t say a word, don’t utter a sound with your mouths until I tell you.
It probably took about a half hour to march around the city once.
All those men, all those banners they were carrying, waving.
In the middle of it all, the ark of God.
The only sound made will be thew trumpets by the priests.
They do this for six days in a row.
Six days not knowing when they are supposed to shout.
Six days.
Joshua 6
This was the moment.
After a week of walking and worshiping the call came for them to shout.
To shout.
That was how they were going to take the city.
Not with a battering ram, not with fire, not with explosives, but with their voices.
Not because they had particularly loud or powerful voices but because that is how God told them to do it.
They trusted in God’s instructions.
And when they follow God’s instructions walls fell down and a city was defeated, with their voices!
We don’t really even see a battle here, we don’t see much of a war, what we see is people trusting in the instruction of God and following it and having complete and total victory.
This is God’s doing, not Joshua’s.
The victory is an act of God.
(It is important to understand because the people would see that this is Gods’s doing not their own.)
Probably took around half an hour to march around.
It must have been freaky.
On the 7th day about 3 1/2 4 hours.
Probably took around half an hour to march around.
It must have been freaky.
On the 7th day about 3 1/2 4 hours.
Instead of battle we have an exhibition of Yahweh’s command and Israel’s performance.
military/religious command
b.
The sequence of the conquest of Jericho (6:8–21)
6:8–9.
It was perhaps a little after dawn when a long procession began to unwind out of the camp of Israel.
First came the armed guard marching under tribal banners, then seven priests with trumpets; next the ark of God, and last the rear guard.
The army thus had prominent places in the procession but Jericho would fall not through their prowess but because of the power of God.
probably took around half an hour to march around.
It must have been freaky
Joshua doesn’t question it.
HE goes with it.
The people don’t question it, they go with it.
How does this story, I should say, this history speak to us today?
Because it is a really fun story and it is a fun thing to talk about and it is in the top 10 bible stories that we teach our children.
But what relevance does it have for a person living in Delaware, or Maryland in August of 2019?
It think it really does.
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