Joshua 6King James Version
The walls of Jericho. The Israelites are told to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day they march around seven times. The priests blow the trumpets, the people shout, and the walls fall down flat. The city is destroyed, but Rahab and her family are spared because of the scarlet cord.
God gives Joshua the tactics for Jericho: seven days of silent marching, with priests blowing rams' horns, ending in a single massive shout on the seventh day. Israel follows the instructions precisely. The walls collapse. The city is put to the ban, herem, meaning total destruction, except for Rahab's household marked by the scarlet cord.
Jericho falls not by siege or assault but by ritual obedience. The battle belongs entirely to God; Israel's role is to show up and comply.
verse 20: "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." The wall does not crumble, it falls flat, leaving every soldier a straight path in.
Jericho circa 1400 BC is a walled city of perhaps a few thousand people, its defenses the strongest in the Jordan Valley. The Israelites circle it in complete silence, priests at the center blowing horns, the ark carried between them. From the walls, the city watches an army do nothing for six days. On the seventh day the march begins at dawn and does not stop until seven circuits are complete, then the silence breaks into a roar and the walls come down.
Joshua, commanding without visible weapons; the seven priests with rams' horn trumpets; the ark as the visible center of the procession; Rahab, waiting inside the walls with her family gathered; the soldiers who maintain silence for six days then shout at command; the king and people of Jericho, trapped behind their own walls.
Jericho is the paradigm case of herem warfare, total destruction devoted to God. Gold, silver, and metals go to the treasury; everything living is killed except Rahab's family. This is one of the most morally difficult passages in the Bible and the text does not soften it. The violence is real and wholesale. At the same time, the narrative frames it as divine judgment on a city whose wickedness was notorious. The scarlet cord becomes one of the oldest prefigurings of grace within judgment.
Six days of silence with the sound of ram horns must have been surreal, soldiers walking, watching the walls, saying nothing, turning back to camp each evening. On day seven the silence breaks and so do the walls. The tension is built and released over a full week.
1Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
3And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
6And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.
7And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.
8And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
9And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
10And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
11So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
12And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
13And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
14And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
15And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.
17And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
19But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
20So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
24And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
25And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
27So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.