Deeper Commentary
Jos 6:1 Now Jericho was closely shut up because of the children of
Israel. No one went out, and no one came in-
The gates which we saw shutting at dusk every day in Josh. 2 were now
shut permanently. But the idea may be that God had shut them in; He was
the one who closed that gate (s.w. Gen. 7:16; 19:10).
Jos 6:2 Yahweh said to Joshua, Behold, I have given Jericho into your
hand, with its king and the mighty men of valour-
The idea may have been that the king and his mighty soldiers were
much feared in the area. But they were to be overcome without any fighting
by Israel. The reference is to Dt. 7:24, "He will deliver their kings into
your hand and you shall make their name perish from under the sky; no man
shall be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them". But
this was conditional upon them not being afraid (Dt. 7:21), and believing
that God had already softened them up by "the hornet" (Dt. 7:20). This is
why Joshua was encouraged constantly not to be afraid (seven times in
Josh. 1). It seems that he finally came to the level of faith required,
although it's unclear whether Israel did. But thanks to his faith, Jericho
and its king was given into the hand of Joshua personally.
Perhaps the Lord had this scene in mind when He spoke of the strong man guarding his palace, and being overcome by one stronger than himself, i.e. the Lord Jesus, who was represented by Joshua (Lk. 11:21,22). We are those who then spoil his palace, making the nervous Israelites representative of us all, and making the victory over Jericho solely due to Joshua's faith; see above.
Jos 6:3 All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the
city once. You shall do this six days-
Jericho was to be circled for six days before victory on the seventh
(Josh. 6:3-5). This recalls Naaman's cure on his seventh dipping (2 Kings
5:10), and the way Elijah was only answered at his seventh prayer (1 Kings
18:43). The intention was that through the six times performing something
which had no immediate answer, faith, hope and humility were elicited.
Jos 6:4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the
ark-
LXX and :8-14 show that this was to be done on each of the six days.
These trumpets were to be blown each day (:13). Literally, "trumpets of
Jubilee". The allusion may simply be to the length of the blast made; or
the idea may be that these were the trumpets used to announce the year of
Jubilee on the day of atonement (Lev. 25:9)- announcing freedom for the
slaves and landless, which is who Israel were. It could be that the
trumpet blasts were to be understood by the people of Jericho as a call to
repentance, which they ignored (Am. 3:6; Is. 18:3). This would then
explain why the city was devoted to Yahweh in destruction which was the
punishment for a city which turned away from Yahweh (Dt. 13:12-14).
On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times,
and the priests shall blow the trumpets-
To enter covenant was literally 'to be sevened' (Gen. 21:28,30). The
city was to enter covenant- through those who didn't want to be in the
covenant being destroyed. Rahab wanted to be in the covenant (see on Josh.
2), and was brought into it through the city's destruction.
Jos 6:5 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-
This was the victory shout. They were being asked to believe that
what was promised had indeed come true, in the spirit of Mk. 11:24. They
were asked to believe that they had won- before they had. And therefore by
faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, so says Heb. 11:30.
The wall of the city shall fall down flat-
"Flat" can simply mean 'from beneath', or the idea may have been that
the rubble would be 'flat' enough for the Israelites to advance over it
into the city, straight before them. The same word is used for how Achan
hid the silver under or beneath the garment he stole (Josh. 7:21,22).
"Fall down flat" is the phrase used of enemies falling down beneath a
victorious Israel (Ps. 18:38; 45:5). The mighty wall represented the
Canaanites. The same language of a mighty wall falling is used of the
destruction of latter day Babylon (Jer. 50:15; 51:44; Ez. 38:20). Joshua
clearly represented the Lord Jesus and His conquest of all opposition to
Him in the land of the last days.
There are archaeological claims to have unearthed a wall laying flat on one of the levels of excavation. But surely a wall built from flimsy cement would have not fallen down "flat" but would have disintegrated on impact. Our faith is purely in God's word, rather than hinged solely on questionable archaeological evidence. The evidence for the city having been burnt is more solid, and indeed corroborates the later statement that Jericho was burnt.
And the people shall go up every man straight before him-
Following the Angel is the theme that lies behind God's statement
that because He had already given Jericho to Israel, therefore they should
arise and take it. So many victories have been prepared for us in
prospect- against addictions, engrained weaknesses of character, habits,
impossible situations. Israel had to follow the ark, where the Angelic
presence of God was (Josh. 6:2 cp. 6:8). The people were to go up into
Jericho "straight before them" (Josh. 6:5,20), just as the Cherubim-Angels
have "straight feet" (Ez. 1:7,9,12). They were to follow in the Angel's
steps.
It is unclear whether "the people" refers to the "armed men"; or to the ordinary unarmed people, as I prefer to think. For it would fit the whole theme of a victory being granted to the weak. If there were unarmed people in the mass of Israelites around the city, this would be another example of the strategy being very weak militarily. For masses of unarmed civilians could easily be attacked and panicked. Perhaps they are the "rearguard" of :13.
Jos 6:6 Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up
the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of
rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh-
Upon the ark was the "mercy seat", imagined as the throne upon which
Yahweh was enthroned as king, perhaps with the shekinah glory visible
between the cherubim which were over it. The trumpets going before it were
therefore proclaiming or heralding Him as king; hence the usage of the
phrase "Lord of all the earth" in connection with the ark (Josh. 3:11,13).
The idea is consistently that Canaan was being claimed as His Kingdom,
with Himself as King.
Jos 6:7 They said to the people, Go, march around the city, and let the
armed men pass on before Yahweh’s ark-
See on :13. We note that the focus of the description is upon the
ark. The armed men went before it, followed by the priests and only then
the ark. But the description begins with the ark, for this was the central
point of the procession. The archaeological excavations reveal Jericho to
have only been of 600 meters circumference. The people would have spent
the rest of the day looking at the walls, meditating upon them. This was
all intended to pique their faith in God, compared to the height of the
obstacle. They were being set up to undo the mistake of the previous
generation, who had considered the walls of the Canaanite cities an
insuperable obstacle.
Jos 6:8 It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven
priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh advanced
and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed
them-
See on :7. This is rather similar to how the ark stood in the Jordan
riverbed until the people had passed over, and then followed them. This
recalls how the Angel [who was perhaps dwelling over the ark in the
shekinah glory] "went behind" [s.w. "followed"] at the exodus (Ex. 14:19).
The word is also used in Dt. 23:14, where Israel are warned that if they
are unclean, then Yahweh will no longer follow them. They of course were
bidden follow Him, but He is also presented as following them. And thus
God's people hear His voice behind them, urging them to choose the right
path (s.w. Is. 30:21); for He is not only their vanguard, but also their
rear guard following them (Is. 52:12; 58:8). This indicates not only the
mutuality between God and His people; but the sense that we are both
following and being followed by Him, as it were sandwiched by His
presence.
Jos 6:9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and
the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went-
"Armed men" is s.w. Josh. 4:13, and could possibly refer specifically
to the men of the two and a half tribes who were to be the vanguard for
the Israelite army. See on :8.
Jos 6:10 Joshua commanded the people saying, You shall not shout, nor let
your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth,
until the day I tell you ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout-
The command to "shout" was a reflection of the belief Israel were to
have in the fact that God had already given them the city- for
the Hebrew for "shout" usually refers to a shout of victory. The word is
translated "... will I triumph" in Ps. 60:8; 108:9. The same idea of
shouting in victory over a city which has been given to God's people
recurs in Ps. 47:3,5; Jer. 50:15- "Shout against her round about [cp. compassing the
walls of Jericho]... her foundations are [present tense] fallen,
her walls [cp. Jericho's] are thrown down". And this speaks of
our latter day victory against Babylon- thus making the whole account of
earnest relevance to us who live in the last days, and who will see
Babylon fall by faith. Notice how literal Babylon fell by the water of the
river being dried up, and the walls being opened- just the same sequence
of events that occurred at Jericho. Likewise 1 Cor. 3:12-15 likens all the
faithful to material which can pass through the fire of judgment- and this
surely is a reference to the way that Jericho was burnt with fire, and
only the metals along with Rahab and her family came through that fire to
salvation. Thus according to the allusion, Rahab and her family represent
all the faithful.
Heb. 11:30 associates the circling of the walls with faith: “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been circled seven days”. 2 Cor. 10:3-4 is perhaps an allusion to the way that Jericho was taken with such a humanly weak battle plan: “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ". The point of the allusion is for us to see ourselves as those nervous Israelites desperately clinging on to their faith in God's victory rather than human strength. And we each have our Jerichos- habits, life-dominating patterns of thinking, that seem so impossible to shift.
The deliverance at the Red Sea had been intended to teach Israel these very lessons. And the account of the fall of Jericho is recorded in similar language, in order to teach the same lesson. Rahab's house had to be identified by a scarlet cord- like the blood of the Passover lamb sprinkled on the two doorposts and lintel of the Israelites' homes in Egypt. The silence demanded of the people in Josh. 6:10 was surely to recall Ex. 14:14, there the people standing before the Red Sea were assured: “The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent". Compare the command to keep silent whilst Yahweh fought, with the common practice of yelling war cries as an ancient army approached their enemy. All human convention, wisdom and strength, was placed in purposeful opposition to what seemed quite counter-instinctive- to be utterly silent whilst God did the fighting.
Jos 6:11 So he caused the ark of Yahweh to go around the city, going about
it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp-
There's a distinct theme in the record that actually, God's people
didn't do according to His ideal plan, and yet still He gave them the
victory. One wonders whether the comment that "So the ark of the Lord
compassed the city" (Josh. 6:11) could imply that the entire fighting
force of Israel didn't bother doing as commanded on the first circuit of
the city- possibly they just sent the ark around it. See on :20.
Jos 6:12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark
of Yahweh-
Joshua was characterized by rising early (Josh. 3:1; 6:12; 7:16; 8:10).
This is a much repeated characteristic of God's servants: that they 'rose
up early in the morning' and did God's work. In each of the following
passages, this phrase is clearly not an idiom; rather does it have an
evidently literal meaning: Abraham (Gen. 19:27; 21:14; 22:3); Jacob (Gen.
28:18); Job (1:5); Moses (Ex. 8:20; 9:13; 24:4; 34:4); Gideon (Jud. 6:38;
7:1). This is quite an impressive list, numerically. This can be a figure
for being zealous (Ps. 127:2; Pr. 27:14; Song 7:12; Is. 5:11; Zeph. 3:7).
God Himself rises up early in His zeal to save and bring back His wayward
people (Jer. 7:13,25; 11:7; 25:3,4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14,15; 44:4).
Yet the above examples all show that men literally rose up early in their
service to God; this was an expression of their zeal for God, in response
to His zeal for us. I'm not suggesting that zeal for God is reflected by
rising early rather than staying up late; but it wouldn't be too much to
suggest that if we are men of mission, we won't waste our hours in bed.
Get up when you wake up.
Jos 6:13 The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns
before the ark of Yahweh went on continually and blew the trumpets: and
the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after the ark of
Yahweh. The trumpets sounded as they went-
This rear guard could have just been ordinary unarmed people, as
discussed on :5. The restoration prophets may allude to this in saying
that Yahweh would be Israel's rear guard (Is. 52:12), and Yahweh's glory
would be their rear guard (Is. 58:8)- manifest in unarmed, ordinary
people. The tribe of Dan was the rear guard of the camp when it was
usually on the move (Num. 10:25).
Jos 6:14 The second day they marched around the city once, and returned
into the camp. They did this six days-
Verse 10 implies that the people maybe didn't know the battle plan-
each day they would've walked around the city in silence, and nothing
happened. They were kept on the tip toe of faith and obedience throughout
those six days, and may well have wondered whether this was not just some
bizarre ritual which would make no dent in the walls of Jericho. The
command to "Shout!" didn't come- for six days. The whole exercise was
surely to develop their faith. Again, this was the most crazy of battle
plans, in human terms.
Jos 6:15 It happened on the seventh day that they rose early at the
dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven
times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times-
As noted above, they would have been exhausted by the end of this.
The battle plan was God's and was against all human wisdom, which would
have wanted an early morning surprise attack, with troops at their most
fresh. Rather than an exhausted group of soldiers later in the day, in
full view of the enemy, having given the defenders every warning that a
major attack was coming.
Jos 6:16 It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the
trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout, for Yahweh has given you
the city!-
The command to "shout" was a reflection of the belief Israel were to
have in the fact that God had already given them the city- for the Hebrew for "shout" usually refers to a shout of victory. The word is translated "... will I triumph" in Ps. 60:8; 108:9. The same idea of shouting in victory over a city which has been given to God's people recurs in Jer. 50:15- "Shout against her round about [cp. compassing the walls of Jericho]... her foundations are [present tense] fallen, her walls [cp. Jericho's] are thrown down". And this speaks of our latter day victory against Babylon- thus making the whole account of earnest relevance to us who live in the last days, and who will see Babylon fall by faith. Notice how literal Babylon fell by the water of the river being dried up, and the walls being opened- just the same sequence of events that occurred at Jericho.
Jos 6:17 The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to
Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her
in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent-
"The prostitute" is emphasized. Those within her house, a brothel,
sound like they were her clients; although we know they were her family.
But the language is used like this to emphasize her low moral situation.
Her salvation was a strong lesson to Israel. Those whom they would
otherwise despise as the lowest of the low, a Gentile prostitute, were to
be welcomed into the covenant.
Jos 6:18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest
when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing-
This was precisely what Saul did (1 Sam. 15:3). Like so many, he
failed to learn from Biblical history. Whether we have a mean or generous spirit will affect our whole life-
an evil [stingy] eye means our whole body is full of darkness. Just let
this sink in. If we are materialistic, our whole life will be filled with
darkness, whatever our external pretensions may be, and there is a
definite link to be made here with the "darkness" of rejection. The
riches of Jericho are described with a Hebrew word which means both a
curse, and something devoted (to God; Josh. 6:18). This teaches a powerful
lesson: such riches of this world as come into our possession will curse
us, unless they are devoted to the Father.
Understanding God as creator, in its true, deep and thought-through
sense, leads to an understanding of grace. That all we have, are, were,
shall ever be, is purely His gift. Likewise, to take for ourselves what is
God’s is to play God. Materialism and selfishness are in this sense
playing God. This was Achan’s sin- to take what was devoted to God for
himself. And this was why he is described as having ‘stolen’. But from
whom? From God (Josh. 6:18; 7:11). The fact God owns everything means that
there can be no distinction between what is ours and what is God’s. To
think like that is to steal from Him. And hence the power and force of
Mal. 3:8: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me”. Have we robbed God
in this way, especially in our attitudes and perceptions?
"Accursed" is s.w. "devoted". Jericho and its wealth was to be
sacrificially devoted to Yahweh. If Israel took that wealth to themselves,
then they too would have to be handed over to Him in destruction.
And trouble it-
Ahab's denunciation of Elijah as "he that troubles
Israel" (1 Kings 18:17) effectively accuses Elijah of being like Achan,
the troubler of Israel (Josh. 6:18). As Achan brought about Israel's
defeat at the hand of her surrounding enemies, so latter-day Israel will
blame their similar defeats and the strange drought which will afflict
them, upon Elijah. Elijah's response to Ahab's accusation is typical of
his theme of the need to throw off the worship of Baal and the other local
gods, for that of Yahweh: "I have not troubled Israel, but you... in
that you have... followed Baalim" (1 Kings 18:18). The stress upon this
may indicate that the latter-day Elijah will seek to turn Israel away from
a devotion to Islam - the idol of the surrounding nations.
Jos 6:19 But all the silver and gold, and the vessels of brass and iron,
are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury-
The same phrase "of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of
brass" is used of the vessels taken from the Gentile world and dedicated
to the tabernacle (Ex. 11:2; 12:35; Josh. 6:19; 2 Sam. 8:10; 1 Kings
7:51). The generosity of others in Biblical history, their right
perspective on the wealth taken from this world, was to inspire other
believers in later history. And this is how the body of Christ should
function today, with members inspiring others to spirituality.
Jos 6:20 So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. It
happened that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, 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 before him; and they took
the city-
See on :5,11; Rev. 21:12. For "flat", see on :5. Yet according to Heb. 11:30, “by faith
the walls of Jericho fell down …”. Whose faith? What faith? Was
Joshua-Jesus' faith counted to the people? Or was their very weak,
hope-for-the-best faith all the same accepted as faith by God's grace?
Jos 6:21 They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and
woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep and donkey, with the edge of the
sword-
"Destroyed" is the word for "devoted". But actually not all was
devoted; Achan stole some of it. So this is an example of where the Bible
records things as they appeared to men, without as it were adding
footnotes to clarify. Just as the language of demons is used in the New
Testament, although they do not in fact exist.
The animals aren't recorded as being destroyed in later conquests. It's as if God recognized that the totality of devotion to Him which He so desired was just not going to be forthcoming from His people. And so He asked for less, and allowed them keep the cattle, which clearly they were tempted to covet. Yet we need to learn from this, and be inspired to at least try to rise up to total devotion.
Jos 6:22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into
the prostitute’s house, and bring out from there the woman and all that
she has, as you swore to her-
Hebrew tenses are vague, unlike tenses in Greek or English. The idea
is that Joshua "had said" this to the two men. Artists have done us a
great disservice by presenting the walls of Jericho as having fallen,
apart from the section where Rahab's house was. She had already been
brought out- perhaps by using the scarlet rope to descend the walls,
bringing her into full fellowship with the experience of the spies. But
the emphasis is that the spies 'brought her out', and entered her house.
Jos 6:23 The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with
her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also
brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside the camp of
Israel-
The family had been warned that they must remain within the house, as
if they were keeping Passover (Josh. 2:19 = Ex. 12:22). They were "brought
out" as Israel were then brought out from Egypt, the "house" of bondage
(s.w. Ex. 20:2). The king of Jericho had used the same phrase in ordering
that the spies be brought out from her house (Josh. 2:3). But it was all
turned the other way around, which is typical of God's style of working. We
see something of God's radical inversion of values in that the sanctuary
of refuge in this case was a brothel. Those within it were her family, who
swallowed their pride and reconciled with Rahab enough to come within her
home; and presumably any others there were her former clients. There would
have been a strange compulsion in the witness of a repentant prostitute,
warning of judgment to come and salvation within her house. We wonder if
some refusd to accept her preaching because they couldn't humble
themselves toenter within her home. Their concern about appearances was
absurd in that the society whose views they so cared was about to be
obliterated. We can easily translate these things into modern relevance.
As the city was closed (:1), the spies would have entered her home at some point before the walls were destroyed. We presume they did this using the red rope hanmging from her window, and that she and her family and converts used that same rope to come to salvation / safety. But red / scarlet is the colour of prostituion, and to this day, 'red light areas' refer to prostitution. The scarlet rope would have been on one hand the sign of her prostitution. And yet she was asked to use this as the sign of her commitment to the covenant, the equivalent of painting blood on the doorposts of the homes in Egypt. And it was through using that rope that those in her house were saved. Whilst of course her sin is not at all justified, the point is that it was through her sin that she had come to hear the Gospel, and she was inviting others to associate with her confession of sin in order to be saved.
Jos 6:24 They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it-
Insofar as Israel followed their Angel, they had success. We
repeatedly read that the cities they conquered were 'sent up in flames'
(Jud. 1:8; Josh. 6:24; 8:8; 11:11), surely because they were following the
Angel who was himself as a devouring pillar of fire (Dt. 9:3). Yet quite
naturally we balk at the height of our calling, to follow the Angel.
Only they
put the silver, the gold and the vessels of brass and of iron into the
treasury of Yahweh’s house-
1 Cor. 3:12-15 likens all the faithful to material which can pass
through the fire of judgment- and this surely is a reference to the way
that Jericho was burnt with fire, and only the metals along with Rahab and
her family came through that fire to salvation. Thus according to the
allusion, Rahab and her family represent all the faithful. And she was a
whore, and her family had to humble themselves to reconcile with her and
come within her brothel in order to be saved.
Jos 6:25 But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that
she had-
Family, however estranged from them she must have been, were "all
that she had", and in a secular sense that is true for even the wealthiest
people.
Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day,
because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho-
I would consider the book of Joshua to have largely been written by
Joshua, under Divine inspiration, although edited [again under Divine
inspiration] for the exiles. And the book of Judges likewise. For the
exiles too were set to reestablish God's Kingdom in the land and to
inherit it again as the Israelites first did. The phrase "to this day"
occurs several times in Joshua / Judges, and appears to have different
points of historical reference (Josh. 4:9; 5:9; 6:25; 7:26; 8:28,29; 9:27;
10:27; 13:13; 14:14; 15:63; 16:10; 22:3; 23:8,9; Jud. 1:26; 6:24; 10:4;
15:19; 18:12). I would explain this by saying that the book was edited a
number of times and the remains of those edits remain in the text. For
God's word is living and made relevant by Him to every generation. Here,
it seems that the record is being written whilst Rahab was still alive,
and so "to this day" was only a relatively short time after the events.
Again we see the spies described as messengers; and Heb. 11:31; James 2:25 say that she believed them. They preached the gospel of the Kingdom and she had faith in it.
I suggested earlier that the prince of Judah whom she married (Salmon) was in fact one of the spies, as the two spies would have reflected the tribes of the faithful spies of 38 years before, Ephraim and Judah (Joshua and Caleb). But Rahab reasons in Josh. 2 as if she herself first became intersted in Yahweh when she heard of what He had done at the Red Sea and to Egypt, informed of it by her clients. She would surely have been a teenager at this time. Now, around 40 years later, she would have been at least in her 50s. And it went with the territory of being a prostitute in Jericho that she would have had a number of children, abortions, miscarriages etc. That she could bear a child at this sage and after that kind of lifestype was clearly only possible with God's help; and we see again how fragile are the human threads through which God has worked out His purpose over the generations.
Jos 6:26 Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed
before Yahweh is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With
the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss
of his youngest son shall he set up its gates-
The idea was to build it in the sense of fortifying it; for the city
was inhabited for quite some time before this curse came true.
Was this unnecessarily extreme? However it was fulfilled at the time
of Ahab in 1 Kings 16:34: "In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho:
he laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up
its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word
of Yahweh, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun". To even attempt to
rebuilt Jericho meant a studied disregard of God's word, considering
Biblical records of Joshua's words to be merely the words of men. Hiel was
from Bethel, where the golden calf was. Jericho had been inhabited after
Joshua's time (Jud. 3:13; 2 Sam. 10:5). So this was a conscious rebuilding
of the walls with gates in defiance of Yahweh's word. And his sons died
during the building work, perhaps 'at some time between the beginning, in
laying the foundations, and the ending of the project, in hanging the
gates'. After Abiram died laying the foundations, we would rather imagine
that Hiel might have learned the lesson. But he didn't, such was his
desire to defy God's word. And so his youngest son died when the project
was almost completed and the gates were being hung. The desire to rebuild
the settlement as a walled, gated city could have been because of its
strategic position near the crossing of the Jordan river. Jericho was on
the border of Ephraim but belonged to Benjamin (Josh. 16:7; 18:21), so it
seems Ahab had taken it, and wanted to have the city and fortify it as a
boundary against the two tribe kingdom.
Jos 6:27 So Yahweh was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land-
The eretz promised to Abraham is the land / earth which the
Bible focuses upon. “The LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised
throughout all the country” (Josh. 6:27), the
eretz. Clearly the whole planet didn’t know Joshua had invaded
Canaan. Many times in Joshua and Judges we read of the people of the
eretz: “For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land
[eretz] shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off
our name from the earth [eretz]” (Josh.
7:9). Here the Israelites feared being cut off from their place in the
land. They perceived the world / earth to them as the land where their
enemies lived. In Josh. 12:1,7 we meet “the
kings of the earth”, i.e. of the land, and this must surely be the basis
of how we are to understand the references to “the kings of the earth” in
Revelation. Dt. 13:7 defines “the peoples which are round about you”
[Israel] as being “from the one end of the earth even unto the other end
of the earth” (RV). Those peoples which bordered with the Israelites were
“the earth” / eretz.
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