Joshua 6

NOW Jericho † was straitly shut up Not only by night, as before, Iosh. 2. 5. but constantly and diligently., because of the children of Israel, none went out, and none came in.

And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour Who are in it resolved and ready to defend it with their utmost strength..

And ye shall compass the City, all ye men of war, and go round about the City once At convenient distance, out of the reach of their Arrows.: thus shalt thou do six days Every day once. This and the following course might seem ridiculous and absurd, and is therefore prescribed and used by God, that they might learn to take new measures of things, and to expect success not from their own valour, or skill, or probable means, but merely from Gods appointment and blessing; and in general, not to judge of any of Gods Institutions by mere carnal reason, to which divers of their Ceremonies would seem no less foolish than this action; and that they might have a full Demonstration of the All-sufficiency of that God who can do what he pleaseth, even by the most contemptible means..

And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams horns Or, of the Iubilees; i. e. such Trumpets wherewith they were to sound in the years of Jubile, Lev. 25. 9. Either this, or one of the other six was certainly a Sabbath-day; and it is not material which was it, for the Command of the Lord of the Sabbath was sufficient to legitimate any Action.: and the seventh day ye shall compass the City seven times, and the Priests shall blow with the trumpets.

And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast As is usual in the close of musical sounds. with the rams horns, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout: and the wall of the City Not all of it; which was not only unnecessary, but inconvenient, and might have given the people better opportunity of escaping, but only a considerable part of it where the Israelites might fitly enter: for Rahabs house was not overthrown, v. 22. shall fall down † flat, Heb. under it, i. e. below the place they stood in: Or, in its place: it was not battered down with Engines, which would have made part of it fall out of its place; but it fell without any force, and of its own accord, and therefore in the place it did formerly stand in. and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of the LORD.

And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed God would have them armed both for the defence of themselves and the Ark, in case the Enemies should make a sally upon them, and for the Execution of the Lords vengeance upon that City. pass on before the ark of the LORD.

And 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.

And the armed men went before the Priests that blew with the trumpets: and the † rereward Which being opposed to the armed men, may seem to note the unarmed people, who were desirous to be Spectators of this wonderful work. came after the ark, the priests Which is rightly supplied here from v. 4. going on, and blowing with the Trumpets.

And Joshua commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout Because shouting before the time appointed, would be ineffectual, and so might give them some Discouragement, and their Enemies matter of insulting., 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.

So the Ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.

And 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.

And the second day they compassed the City once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

And 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.

And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout To testifie your faith in Gods promise, and thankfulness for this glorious mercy, and to encourage your selves and Brethren, and to strike a terror into your Enemies., for the LORD has given you the city.

And the City shall be † accursed i. e. Devoted to utter Destruction, Levit. 27. 21, 29. Deut. 12. This he spake by instinct or direction from God, as is evident from 1 King. 16. 34., even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD Partly because the first-fruits were appropriated to God; partly lest the soldiers being glutted with the Spoil of this rich City, should grow... ensual and sluggish in their work; and partly to strike the greater terror into the rest of their Enemies.: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she, and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent:

And ye, in any wise keep your selves from the accursed thing, lest ye make your selves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse By provoking God to punish them for your sin, in which they may be one way or other involved; or at least upon the occasion of your sin: for to speak properly, God will not (the case of Adams sin only excepted) punish one man for the sin of another, as he has oft declared; but the whole Camp having sins of their own, God might take what occasion he saw fit to inflict this Punishment., and trouble it.

But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron Except that of which Images were made, which were to be utterly destroyed, Exod. 32. 20. Deut. 7. 25., are † consecrated unto the LORD Being first made to pass through the fire, Numb. 31. 22, 23.: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD To be employed wholly for the service or uses of the Tabernacle, not to be applied to the use of any private person or Priest..

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.

And they utterly destroyed all that was in the City, both man and woman, young and old Being commanded to do so by the Soveraign Lord of every mans life; and being informed by God before that the Canaanites were abominably wicked, and deserved the severest Punishments. As for the Infants, they were guilty of Original sin, and otherwise at the disposal of their Creator, as the clay is in the hands of the Potter; but if they had been wholly innocent, it was a great favour to them to take them away in infancy, rather than reserve them to those dreadful Calamities which those who survived them, were liable to., and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlots house Which together with the wall upon which it leaned, was left standing, either by a special favour of God to her, or for the reason alledged upon, v. 6., and bring out thence the woman, and all that she has, as ye sware unto her.

And 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 Till they were cleansed from the impurities of their Gentile state, and instructed in the Iewish Religion, and solemnly admitted into that Church in the usual way, to which Rahabs good Counsel and Example had doubtless very much prepared them; and this stupendious work of God confirmed their purposes..

And 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.

And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive For that general commanding of rooting out the Canaanites seems to have had some exception, in case any of them had sincerely and seasonably cast off their Idolatry and Wickedness, and submitted themselves to the Israelites, as we shall see hereafter., and her fathers houshold, 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.

¶ And Joshua adjured them Or, made them to swear; caused the people, or some in the name of all, to swear for the present and succeeding Generations, and to confirm their Oath by a Curse. at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD i. e. From Gods presence, and by his sentence, as they are said to cast lots before the Lord, Josh. 18. 8, 10. i. e. expecting the Decision from God. He intimates, that he does not utter this in a Passion, or upon a particular dislike of that place, but by divine Inspiration, as appears from 1 King. 16. 34. God would have the Ruines of this City remain as a standing Monument of Gods Justice against this wicked and idolatrous People, and of his Almighty Power in destroying so great and strong a City by such contemptible means., that riseth up and buildeth i. e. That shall attempt or endeavour to build it. So this Curse is restrained to the Builder, but no way belongs to those who should inhabit it after it was built, as is evident from 2 King. 4. 18. Luke 19. 1, 5. this city Jericho, he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it i. e He shall lose all his Children in the work, the first at the beginning, others in the progress of it by degrees, and the youngest in the close of it, when the Gates use to be set up. This was fulfilled, 1 King. 16. 34..