Devoted to Destruction. — KEN D. MILLER

15 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. 16 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. 17 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. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” 20 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. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.

“At the cost of his firstborn shall he
lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son
shall he set up its gates.”

27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. – Joshua 6:15-27 ESV

The seventh day finally arrived, and it was on this day that the people of Israel were to march around the walls of Jericho seven times. We are provided no explanation for this change in protocol, except that it was the will of God. He had commanded it. So, they marched as they had the previous six days, but on completion of their seventh circuit around the wall, the priests blew their shofars and the people broke their silence with a collective shout of victory. And when the did, the walls of Jericho crumbled and fell. There is no logical reason for this to have happened. Nothing the Israelites had done over the past seven days had contributed to the weakening of the walls of Jericho. Their marching had not weakened the foundations of the walls. The constant blowing of the shofars by the priests had not damaged the structural integrity of the walls. This was a work of God. And the seven days it took for the walls to fall had been less a battle than a religious rite. The priests, the ark of the covenant, the shofars, the ceremonial procession – it was all a visual reminder of God’s power and presence. He was going before them. He was leading them. And their faithful following of the ark of the covenant provides a tangible expression of the peoples’ dependence upon God. The walls standing between them and the city of Jericho were too great for them to overcome. They had no means by which to breach the defenses of Jericho. But by faithfully following God, they were able to see Him do what only He can do. He brought down the walls. He removed the barrier. Like the Jordan River held back by the hand of God, so the people could cross over on dry ground; God leveled the walls of Jericho so the people could enter into the city unobstructed and unhindered. The walls of Jericho represented the hope of the people of Jericho. That stone barrier had been their protection for generations. They had placed their faith and hope in their mighty wall on many occasions and had yet to be disappointed. Until this fateful day.

God was greater than their wall. He was more powerful than some stone structure erected by the hands of men. He destroyed their great wall and exposed the unreliability of all man-made forms of salvation.

Once the wall had collapsed, the people of Israel had clear instructions from Joshua as to what they were to do. And his instructions echoed those given by Moses many years earlier.

16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. – Deuteronomy 20:16-18 ESV

Joshua had told them, “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction” (Joshua 6:17 ESV). They were to destroy anything and everything. There were to be no inhabitants spared or spoil taken. Only Rahab and her family were to be protected, in keeping with the agreement made between her and the two spies. All the gold, silver and other forms of precious metals were to be dedicated to God and placed in the treasury of the Lord. And the text records that the people obeyed the command of Joshua.

Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. – Joshua 6:21 ESV

We find these verses hard to read and even more difficult to justify. They seem barbaric and unjust to our modern sensibilities. They appear to paint God as some kind of heartless and vengeful monster who shows no regard for the lives of men. How can a God who demands justice and mercy from His people also demand that they completely destroy another people group, including their innocent women and children. But what we fail to recognize is that this is far less a battle between two people groups than it is a war between righteousness and wickedness. The real enemy here is sin. The nations occupying the land of Canaan were known for their wickedness and moral corruption. God had chosen the people of Israel and given them His law, in order that they might display to the rest of the world what living in a right relationship with Him might look like. But God knew that the influence of sin was going to be a constant threat to their testimony. The presence of these pagan nations and their immoral practices would make it next-to-impossible for the people of God to keep themselves set apart for Him. So, He demanded the removal of the temptation. He commanded the destruction of anything and everything that might cause His people to fall away. It is a picture of the way in which believers in Christ as to purge their lives from their old ways of living. The apostle Paul provides us with similar admonitions to eliminate anything that would hinder or harm our relationship with God.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. – Ephesians 4:31 NLT

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. – Colossians 3:5 NLT

But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. – Colossians 3:8 NLT

…put to death the deeds of your sinful nature… – Romans 8:13 NLT

Sin is contagious. It is a dangerous and deadly disease that, if allowed to exist, will spread throughout the body of Christ infecting all with whom it comes in contact. The same was true for the people of Israel. God knew that the people of Jericho were infected by sin and the pagan practices of their false religions. To treat the residents of Jericho with kid gloves was to invite destruction. To wink at the wickedness that permeated the city of Jericho would prove to be a deadly mistake. And God knew it.

And God had Joshua put a curse on the city of Jericho, demanding that it never be rebuilt. It was to be a permanent reminder of God’s judgment against sin. The broken walls would form a perpetual memorial to God’s righteousness and the ultimate fate of all who stand opposed to Him. The rubble of Jericho would form a monument to the folly of sin and a life lived without God.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Ken Miller