The Battle of Jericho

By Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

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Joshua chapter six narrates the first battle that Israel had engaged in so that they could enter Canaan. They had to conquer the city of Jericho. God wanted them to march around the city once every day for seven days. On the seventh day, the Lord wanted them to march around the city seven times; they had to march a total of 13 times around the city wall. With a loud shout, the wall fell down, and the Israelites went up into the city. They destroyed every living thing in the city – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron were made sacred to the Lord and went into his treasury. This was the battle of Jericho.

This is a battle that had occurred thousands of years ago, what does this battle have to do with us? What truths can we learn from it and how is it relevant to us? I discovered that there are at least three eternal truths, let us learn from them:

I. This is a New Battle Pattern

From the Book of Genesis to Joshua chapter 5, have you ever seen a battle plan of this sort? March around a city once daily for seven days and then on the seventh day, march around it seven times, to total 13 times; and then, the wall will just fall down? Have you seen such war tactic? Of course not. Not only has there never been such a strategy before Joshua, there has never been such a battle tactic in the whole wide world. This a new battle pattern.

As we read on, we find that after 500 years, during the time of King Jehosaphath, the Ammonites, Moabites and men from Seir came to attack Israel. We discover that this time, the Lord used an even stranger strategy. He wanted the choir to fight the enemy. The enemy sent its army, while Israel sent forth its choir. The enemy had swords in their hands, Israel had musical instruments in their hands (drums, guitars, flutes, etc.) What is this called? This is called suicide. But the result was: As soon as the choir started to sing and praise the Lord, the heavenly army set ambushes and defeated the enemy, and Israel was once again victorious!

This teaches us an important truth. We should not be bound by any one pattern of doing things. Our God is a God of Innovations. He may use many new methods to lead and guide us.

There is an unchangeable truth in this world, that is, change must happen. We all know that change is very difficult, because man do not like change. Recently, I read a book on parenting, inside, it raised up the question: Where do our parenting styles come from?

The book says, research results pointed out that

• 82% of people learn their parenting style from their own parents. Meaning, I parent my children according to how my parents trained me.
• 11% employ parenting styles totally opposite that of their parents. Usually, these people are displeased with their parents, so they use the opposite method to parent their children.
• Only 7% used parenting styles which they had studied or learned about. This 7% are willing to change. As a result, 7% of people are more successful parents.
• 82% do not know how to parent at all. If my father used spanking, when I become a father, I will also use spanking. Sometimes, knowing clearly that it is wrong, we continue to spank, because we don’t know any new method, because we are not willing to learn and change.

Don’t we do the same thing in the spiritual aspect? Some people are not willing to change. Ask them why, and they cannot say; their strongest argument is: `it is not the way we did things back then.’ They forget that our God is a God of innovation. We must be willing to change, so that we may progress. The battle of Jericho is a new battle pattern. Under God’s leading, they won the battle. O Church! When we hear a new method, do not immediately oppose, do not forget our God is an innovative God!

II. This is a Battle of Consecration

What does consecration mean? Sometimes, some of our views are erroneous, we assume that consecration means extreme holiness and having some mystical power, such as the kind of mysticism we accrue to certain sacred things. Of course those things are precious because they have memorial and historical value, but we must not fall into superstition and believe that there are special powers in those things. Consecration actually means, ‘from this day on, everything is devoted to God, whether people or things.’

This was not an ordinary battle. This was a battle of consecration, so, everything in the city of Jericho was devoted as sacred to the Lord. Joshua 6:18-19 “But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”All the silver, gold and articles of bronze were to be sacred unto the Lord, while everything else were to be destroyed completely by fire. It seems so wasteful.

During Jesus’ time, a woman named Mary brought a jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus. She broke the alabaster jar and anointed all the perfume on Jesus. Immediately someone said, “Why this waste of three hundred denarii worth of perfume?” Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” In men’s eyes, it was wasteful; but in God’s eyes, it was a beautiful thing. Thus, we begin to understand that something is deemed wasteful or beautiful depending on how you look at it. The disciples considered Mary’s use of 300 denarii (a year’s wages) worth of perfume a total waste. They felt it was wasteful because they had been looking at it from the material point of view. The money could be used for a period of one year, and it’s used up in one sitting, what a waste! Mary used all the perfume on Jesus, yet she did not feel it as even one bit of waste, because she was looking at it from love’s point of view. Mary knew this was her only chance to show the Lord her love. She knew that if she didn’t offer him the perfume then, she will not have any more opportunity to give it to him; so, she grabbed the opportunity while Jesus was still on earth and offered him her best.

O Church! Love is the reason we consecrate ourselves and devote ourselves totally to God. Let us surrender one hundred percent to the lordship of Christ. Mary did not leave behind any perfume, she offered it all to the Lord. The city of Jericho is a battle of consecration. Everything was to be devoted to the Lord, nobody was allowed to enjoy anything from that city. Everything had to be devoted to the Lord. Those that may not be burned by fire, such as gold, silver and bronze were to go into the Lord’s treasury. Things that may be burned were all burned. This was not wastefulness, it was a sign of love for God.

III. This is a “Saved by Faith” Battle

Verse 17 “The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.” Verse 23 “So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.” Verse 25 “But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.”

These three passages in Scripture spoke of the same matter – in the battle, in the whole city of Jericho, only one family was saved. They were saved by of faith, that is, Rahab and her family. These three verses speak of the same matter at different time periods. In verse 17, at daybreak on the seventh day, before the Israelites circled the city for the last time, Joshua instructed them to spare Rahab and her family. In verse 23, before Israel attacked Jericho, Joshua instructed the 2 spies to spare Rahab. Verse 25 narrated how Rahab and her family were saved.

We can see that Joshua was determined to saved Rahab and her whole family. Why? Because Rahab saved the two spies he had sent, this incident is found in Joshua chapter two. Why was Rahab willing to risk her life to save the two spies? It was because of faith. We can say it this way: it is not the Israelites who saved Rahab and her whole family but Rahab’s faith saved her and her whole family. So, I call this a `saved by faith’ battle. He who has faith will be saved. Do you still remember when I spoke about Joshua chapter 2? I said Rahab’s faith was different from the faith of the rest of the people, that in the whole city of Jericho, only she believed that the Lord will give Canaan to the Israelites, only she believed the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below, only she took concrete actions to save the two spies. James 2:25 says, “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” True faith is coupled with deeds, Rahab’s actions proved that she had faith.

This is a dying world, Numbers 35:33 says, “Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.” When blood is spilled out on the land, the land becomes defiled. The first man who murdered was Cain, he killed his own brother Abel. Genesis 4:11, “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” From that day onwards, the land has been under a curse, later on, more and more corruption happened, more and more bloodshed occurred. As a result, during Noah’s time, God used the flood to destroy the whole generation. Our world today begun from Noah. In these 6000 years of human history, 14,531 big and small wars had been fought, an average of 2.6 times yearly. Within 37 years after WWII, 87 wars had occurred, that is, an average of 2.3 times yearly. In the span of 6000 years, we had only 329 years of peace. Within those wars, at least 36.4 hundred million people died.

This is a world of bloodshed, this world is under a curse. One day this world will be destroyed by the fire of the Lord, but there is one truth that will never change, salvation by faith. As long as you have true faith in the Lord, like Rahab, the Lord will save you and your family, the question is – do you have faith that saves?