Day 78: The battle of Jericho

It feels good to be finally moving again. I seem to have been stuck in the desert with the Israelites for ages. It’s been frustrating, boring, confusing by turns. I guess it felt similar to the Israelites themselves. Perhaps they too were encouraged to be moving, even if it meant moving into battle.

An exhortation to fear God
Psalm 114:1-8
Camp at Gilgal
Joshua 4:19-24, 5:1
Circumcision renewed
Joshua 5:2-9
Change of food
Joshua 5:10-12
The Captain of the Lord’s host
Joshua 5:13-15
Jericho besieged
Joshua 6:1-16
Jericho is taken
Joshua 6:17-20
Rahab and her family are saved
Joshua 6:21-27
Defeat at Ai
Joshua 7:1-5
Joshua’s humiliation and prayer
Joshua 7:6-9
God instructs Joshua
Joshua 7:10-15

Camping in Gilgal, recovering from circumcision, the manna stopped. For the first time in 40 years, people were eating the produce of Canaan. Ordinary food again! What a sense of freedom it must have brought. Now the land they had been promised was supporting them.
Then Joshua has a moment of encounter with God. Moses, his mentor, had the burning bush, now Joshua has to take off his sandals and confront a soldierly figure who describes himself as the commander of the Lord’s army. “Are you for us or against us?” Joshua had asked. “Neither” was the the reply. I’m not on your side. The question is, are you on my side?
The people advance to Jericho, and lay siege to it. Normally they would have to wait for weeks, even months, for food to run out inside the city and the defenders to lose heart. But now that they are marching with God, the whole process takes only 7 days. All the marching round the city is symbolically saying “This ground is ours.” God plays his part by making the walls topple, and the battle is easy.
On to the next city. Should be easy. Joshua sends only a small force, and they are routed. In confusion and humiliation, Joshua asks God why. And it transpires that someone has helped themselves to a little bit of treasure. Someone’s heart is not pure. Someone has feathered their own nest. They thought no one would know, but God saw.
His name is preserved for us. A lesson. Don’t try to cheat God, it never works.