Joshua's Absurd Victory

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. Hebrews 11:30-31

It is one thing to have ownership of a property, quite another to take possession of it. The land of Canaan belonged to the children of Israel by God’s unconditional covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was theirs, forever. To enjoy the benefits of that land, though, the condition was to go in and possess it. We are forever saved by believing in the finished Work of our Lord Jesus Christ. To realize the spiritual blessings of our position IN CHRIST, we must yield our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit day by day, while we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord. The gift is immediate, the possession is gradual, and involves conflict with the world, the flesh and the devil. The eternal position is ours. The temporal possession is ours to win.

The possession of Canaan was accomplished by a series of battles, in which God instructed a great man of faith, Joshua, son of Nun. He had been born in Egypt and came out with his people under Moses’ leadership. He was one of the spies Moses had sent into Canaan, to see what the land was like, before they went in. He was one of two (out of 12) that had a positive report and expected to conquer the “giants” that so frightened the others.

When Moses was about to die without having entered the land, he commissioned Joshua to lead the people on in, because he totally trusted Joshua’s judgment and courage. Moses knew God and he knew Joshua, and had no doubt this was the man for the job. Joshua had no moments of squeamish second-guessing. What God ordered, Joshua would do. So city by city, they began to take possession of the Land of Promise. As they made their advance into the territory, the inhabitants were terrified of them. Joshua had sent spies into Jericho, a strongly fortified city. Jericho’s people knew they were coming and locked it down. No one in, no one out. The men met a harlot named Rahab. She helped them to hide, and told them: “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Joshua 2:9-11

When the time came to take Jericho, God gave Joshua a very peculiar battle strategy.
The LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”
Joshua 6:2-5

Joshua didn’t stammer or question the plan. He ordered his soldiers to do exactly as the Lord had instructed. What a strange procession that must have been! Those fierce soldiers silently marching once around the city walls each day. How totally terrified the Jericho dwellers must have been, watching. It might have been comical, if it weren’t so eerie. Then, on the seventh day, seven laps, and then the blasts from the trumpets and a great shout. Down came the walls. The city was destroyed and placed under a curse, and everyone living there was killed, except Rahab and her family, who were given asylum with Israel.

Joshua knew the faithfulness of God to fulfill His promises. Rahab knew the provision of God for His people. Joshua’s faith conquered a fortified city. Rahab’s faith preserved her and her family alive.

For those who find the manner of possessing the land barbaric and hard to accept as a policy of God, the reason was clearly given to Israel as they were preparing to enter the land in Deuteronomy chapter 9:

“Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
“Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. Deuteronomy 9:4-6

That’s why, when a Bible teacher says a nation’s wickedness will bring about the destruction of that nation, he knows what he is talking about. The nation that despises God will not endure. Ignore this truth at your own peril.

It is a matter of identity. Whose are you? Joshua had grown up knowing that. Rahab quickly figured it out. The world’s charms and pleasures are nothing compared to the confidence of identifying with Jehovah, LORD of the Armies.