Title: The Judgment of Jericho
Text: Josh 6

Chapter 6 of Joshua tells of the battle of Jericho. The narrative is well known. If you've been a Christian any length of time you've heard the story. It's a very popular Bible story for young and old and most of you probably know the famous song "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho."

It is a story about hearing God and obeying God. Time and again we confront in the pages of the Bible the necessity of obedience in our lives. When we talk about grace there is never a hint that grace negates the necessity of obeying God.

We are saved by the grace of God through faith, delivered from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God, justified freely, redeemed, set free from the law of sin and death. Salvation can be described by many different terms, which picture our deliverance from sin. In each case the ultimate reality is we are redeemed by the blood Christ, not by anything we do other than to place our trust in Him. It is not by works we obtain salvation but totally on the basis of His grace.

It is equally true that while we obtain salvation by grace apart from works we can never expect to enjoy the blessings of the relationship without obedience. As the hymn says trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

In Joshua 6 we find that principle demonstrated. God brought Israel into the land of Canaan and now they must follow His commands to posses the land beginning with Jericho.

We find those instructions in the first 5 verses of the chapter. Not a military strategy for attacking Jericho but a faith plan that requires obedience.

Josh 6:3-5  3 "And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. 4 "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.5 "And 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." (NAS)

Not exactly the battle plan you would expect is it? God's instructions also included some limits as well.

Josh 6:17-19  17 "And the city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 "But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, lest you covet {them} and take some of the things under the ban, so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it.  19 "But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." (NAS)

The results of their obedience to God's command is given  in verse 20. "So the people shouted, and {priests} blew the trumpets; and it came about, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city." (NAS)

The walls of Jericho miraculously fell down, Rahab the harlot and her family were saved and verse 27 tells us ". . . the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land." (NAS)

God won the battle of Jericho. It's a story of obedience and triumph. That's generally what we hear about chapter 6. That makes for good preaching and teaching we can all feel good about it. But there are two verses in the chapter which are usually overlooked, ignored or glossed over that we have to deal with. Verses 17 and 21.

Josh 6:17 "And the city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent." (NAS)

Josh 6:21 "And they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword." (NAS)

One of the things nonbelievers often point out in their attack on the Bible and Christianity is the apparent disunity between the Christian God of the New Testament a God of love and grace, and the God of the Old Testament who seemed to be a God of wrath and destruction as evidenced by what happened here. How can we reconcile the two? How can we justify the utter destruction of every man woman and child in Jericho except for Rahab and her family, by a loving God? How do we respond to such critics?

We could read the chapter talk about God's deliverance and the miracle of the walls falling down and ignore these verses. But that would be like hiding our heads in the sand. We could blame Israel by saying that was simply the middle eastern way of war and God didn't necessarily approve of what they did. But that would be intellectually dishonest since it's readily apparent they were following God's orders. We could excuse it by saying God is God who are we to judge what He does. Or we can deal with it honestly to try and understand it ourselves which I think is the best way.

There is no question, it is hard to understand.  But, this book is God's revelation. Everything included was included by His will and He choose to make this known. He could simply have omitted it. It would have been less controversial, it would have been easier for us not to have to deal with. But, He didn't, and we have no reason to be afraid of what it says or what it tells us about God.

First we must affirm the biblical truth God does not change. He did not evolve from a God of wrath in the Old Testament to a God of Mercy in the New Testament. In Mal 3:6 from the Old Testament the Bible reads, "For I, the LORD, do not change;" (NAS) The New Testament asserts this same truth in Heb 13:8 when it says, "Jesus Christ {is} the same yesterday and today, {yes} and forever." (NAS) And also in James 1:17, where it reads, "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow." (NAS) The God revealed in the Old Testament is the same God revealed in the New Testament.

6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave {the guilty} unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations." (NAS) (emphasis added)

Where then, in the Old Testament, do we see God's grace and mercy side by side with His justice? We find it first in Gen 3, the fall of man. We see God's grace after Adam and Eve fell into sin in verse 9 of that chapter. He gave them a chance to come clean, to repent and heal the relationship when He called and asked where they were? They choose instead to hide and all creation came under judgment. Even in judgment, however, God exhibited grace with the first promise of a Messiah in verse 15 of that chapter.

Later in chapter 6, mankind again chose to disobey God and to follow the desires of their own hearts rather than follow God. Again God brought forth judgment on all creation, but so too is His grace demonstrated. Verse 3 of chapter 6 says, "Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (NAS) The word strive means to plead a cause. Through the preaching of Enoch, Noah and perhaps other prophets before them God's Spirit had pleaded with man to repent and they would not, but God in mercy continued to give them yet another chance. It's generally understood that the 120 years mentioned in this verse was the period of time Noah preached while building the ark as Peter says God was patient waiting for men to repent, but they didn't and God brought judgment.

Gen 7:21-23 describes that time of Judgment:  21 And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; 22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. 23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. (NAS)  Again grace is evidenced in Noah his family and the animals were saved.

The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is yet another instance where God's grace was demonstrated as Abraham pleaded with God and God was willing to spare the cities if only as many as 10 righteous men were found there. But when there weren't, God rained down fire and brimstone on the cities and they were utterly destroyed.

In every case the God of judgment is also the God of mercy. His character while abounding in love is also holy and His holiness demands justice.

In the New Testament too the idea of judgment is not foreign. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear mankind will be judged for sin. While the focus of the New Testament is more on eternal judgment than temporal judgment the idea is the same - humanity will be held accountable for it's actions.

Jesus spoke of eternal punishment in Matt 25. Paul wrote that each of us would give an account to God.  

In Rev 20:12-15 we read of the final judgment: 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is {the book} of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one {of them} according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (NAS)

But what of the people of Jericho? Was God merciful to them? The people of Jericho were of Amorite descent, a powerful, utterly wicked people. The best evidence of the grace shown these people is found in Gen 15. God speaking to Abraham as He made His covenant with him foretold of the slavery of Israel in Egypt then in verse 16 The Lord said, "Then in the fourth generation" [generation at the time of the patriarchs represented a hundred years; so 400 years after they go into slavery] "they shall return here," [the land of Palestine, the land of promise], "for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." (NAS)

This statement implies there is a progress in the course of sin among nations as well as individuals, and although it be long permitted by the tolerant spirit God, it will reach a culminating point where the judgment of God and the punishment of the sinner is inevitable. (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary)

God's grace is evidenced by the fact He withheld His judgment for 400 years. It is further evidenced by the fact Rahab and her family were saved out of Jericho and even she was even included in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 and the genealogy of Messiah.

We don't know specifically how God dealt with the Amorites for those 400 years. The Bible explains God's natural revelation of himself through creation. The Amorites certainly had access to that.

God may have sent someone like a Jonah to them from time to time as He did Nineveh. It's certainly as possibility. Not everything God said or did is recorded for us and we know all of God's prophets and their ministries are not named in the Bible. 1 Sam 10:15 mentions Saul, after his anointing by Samuel, encountering a group of unnamed prophets. 1 Kings 18:4 tells us when Jezebel was putting the prophets of God to death Obediah hid 100 unnamed prophets in a cave. God could have sent an unnamed prophet to the Amorites.

We do know  Abraham encountered Melchizedek in Canaan in Gen 14 prior to his covenant with God. Melchizedek is called the King of Salem an old name for what was later Jerusalem, and he is called a priest of God Most High. So God had a presence in Canaan prior to the arrival of Israel.

Finally we know from Rahab's testimony the people of Jericho knew of God and His people. She said, " we know Yahweh has given you this land, we know He parted the Red Sea, we know how He destroyed the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan and we know He is God in heaven above and earth below." They knew. But, only Rahab placed faith in Him.

They had time to repent during the 400 years of Israel's slavery. They had time to repent while Israel camped beyond the Jordan. They had time to repent after Israel crossed the Jordan. Instead verse 1 says, ". . .Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. (NAS)

They refused God's grace and the time of judgment came. God used the curse, He used an angel of death, He used a flood, He used fire and now He used Israel as His instrument of judgment and verse 21 says, ". . .they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword." (NAS)

One final comment concerning the women and children in this utter destruction. The Amorites had plenty warning and plenty of opportunity to stop this destruction and chose not to do so. The blood of any innocent women and children in Jericho was on their hands. Dr. Norman Geisler of Southern Evangelical seminary also points out it is highly likely most of the women and children would have likely fled the city in advance of the city being shut up and the actual battle. But, that's doesn't mitigate or lessen the fact of Jericho total destruction. God's judgment fell on all the people, and there was in a true sense no innocent victims.

How do we understand that, what does it mean to us? It means God takes sin seriousness. It means God will ultimately judge sin, He will not leave it unpunished. It means our sin has very serious consequences to us and to others. It means God's judgment is just and it is complete. It means we must take sin seriously just as God does, because God is not mocked and what we sow we shall also reap.

But it also shows God's judgment is always tempered with His mercy. He is slow to anger and great in mercy. Where sin abounds the Bible says grace does abound much more. It means the Savior is waiting for you. Just as he waited in Egypt, just as he waited in days of Noah. Time after time the song says he has waited before and now He is waiting again. Waiting for you to come to Him in faith and repentance and allow Him to enter your heart and abide with you. Waiting for you to follow Him in obedience. Want you trust Him, and live for Him?

[Back]