Inconvenient Faith: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

September 6, 2019

6

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And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 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. 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." (Joshua 6:2-5)

The long-awaited moment in which the Israelites would finally receive their promised land of Canaan from God had finally come. For over forty years, they had been wandering in the desert. What should have taken a few weeks ended up taking over 2,000. Moses, their anointed leader that led them out of the land of Egypt, was now dead. Next in line to command the people was one of the remnants from the original group of exiles, Joshua. Was Joshua capable of leading them into the promised land? Only time would tell.

Before Joshua crossed the Jordan river and into the promised land, God gave him an amazing prophetic word that would find his enemies melting in fear.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9).

This verse of scripture never ceases to amaze me (and the book of Joshua). A word so strong could only mean one thing for Joshua. The journey that he was embarking upon would only be won through one vital weapon, the Word of God. As God deposited His Word within Joshua's heart, he was positioning him for victory over the enemies that would rise up against him. Joshua would soon learn the power of God's Word.

As God deposited His Word within Joshua's heart, he was positioning him for victory over the enemies that would rise up against him.

What's fascinating to me about this is that God could have given Joshua anything to fight. How about a sword, or the prophetic plans of the first shotgun? After all, God can do anything and possesses the ability to perform any supernatural miracle that would give the advantage to Joshua. Instead of a gun or a natural weapon, God gives Joshua something completely different. He gives him His Word.

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." (Joshua 1:6)

I can only imagine what Joshua was thinking. "Okay, I am going to led these people into the land God has for us, and He will give us the victory, but how is this going to happen?"

"Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success[a] wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1: 7-8)

The book of Law was the Words that God commanded Moses to write down on the mountain of Sinai. In principle, what God was saying was this. "Joshua, the victory will be won through my Word. This is how you will fight your battles."

Again, this amazes me because this is so counter-cultural. If America was faced with the same decision or any country for that matter, we would develop an atomic bomb to guarantee the victory. For Joshua and the people of God, it was completely different. God gave them His Word.

Years later, God will reveal to His prophet Isaiah the power behind His Word.

"My word, which comes from my mouth, is like the rain and snow. It will not come back to me without results. It will accomplish whatever I want and achieve whatever I send it to do." (Isaiah 55:11) (God's Word Translation)

When God speaks, He creates the capacity and power for victory. It is only when we fully receive God's word by faith; do we release that same power within us.

When God speaks, He creates the capacity and power for victory. It is only when we fully receive God's word by faith; do we release that same power within us.

When God's Word is Inconvenient

Now, receiving God's Word is easy when it's convenient for us. If God were to come up and to tell you, "I am going to give you 100,000 million dollars", that would be pretty easy to receive! It is an entirely other thing whenever His Word is inconvenient.

Through unorthodox methods, God uses His Word as a weapon for extraordinary breath through.

At the time of Joshua and the people of God, the promised land was already occupied by seven other nations. It's not like the Israelites just walked over the Jordan and stepped into the land that was "flowing with milk and honey". On the contrary, the land was already possessed. However, the promise of God still remained.

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." (Joshua 1:6)

If the promised land was going to inherited by Joshua, he would have to do it through the inconvenience of God's Word.

It was not a consequent that the first battle Joshua and the people faced is Jericho. Let's take a look at the story found in Joshua 6:2-5.

"And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 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. 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."

I am sure Joshua had no problem with the first sentence of God's command.

"See, I have given Jericho into your hand.." (Joshua 6:2)

However, I believe the second sentence would give Joshua some trepidation.

"… you shall march around the city seven times.." (Joshua 6:4)

Do what?

I can only imagine what this must of sounded like for Joshua. In my head, it would go something like this. "You want me to tell your people, the ones that have been complaining the last 4o years, to march around a city and keep quite? God, they are expecting me to be a great warrior, not the leader of a band!"

The Power of Gods Word

That was the point. What God was doing for Joshua, and the people of God was something they could have never prepared for themselves. When they marched around the walls, God was formulating for them a supernatural victory that could only be achieved by the power of His Word. Again, this formation could only become and realization when Joshua would receive it by faith. Let's read Joshua's response to God's Word.

"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." 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." (Joshua 6:6,7)

Without questioning it or even needing to understand it completely, Joshua followed God's command. By faith, Joshua received God's Word and spoke it to the people of God. Notice, we do not read that the Israelites grumbled after Joshua told them the plan of victory. This had to be because Joshua relayed the Word from God with great conviction and authority. Joshua did not have any trepidation on God's Word, even though it was inconvenient for him.

"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. 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. 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…. 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. (Joshua 6:15-17,20)

Through the most unconventional methods, God used the power of His Word to propel the people of God to victory over the king of Jericho. It was only when Joshua received God's Word by faith did the power of God's release into the natural realm. Even in the smallest detail to spare Rahab and her family, Joshua wholly followed God's instruction and revealed the grace of God.

Joshua and the battle of Jericho is more than a Bible story. Like Joshua, we have to stand on God's Word even it may seem completely counter-cultural. Perhaps God is speaking to you to pray for someone, or to believe for a personal breakthrough. Whatever the case, go to God's Word and receive the victory by your faith in God. Through unorthodox methods, God uses His Word as a weapon for extraordinary breath through.