Joshua (5:13-15):
Now when Joshua was near Jericho he looked up
and saw a man, that he didn’t recognize, with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua
approached him and asked are you for us or our enemy?
Neither he replied, I am the Commander of the
Army of the Lord.
I have now come!
Joshua fell face down to the ground in
reverence and asked him, what message does the Lord have for his servant?
The commander of the Lords army replied, take
off your sandals for you are on holy ground, and Joshua did so.
[The bible doesn’t
tell what Joshua was doing when he met the commander of the Lords Army; we are
told he was near Jericho and nothing more.]
Perhaps he was in prayer with the Lord?
Perhaps he was making rounds in the camp, checking with his officers and the
battle preparations. His actions were extremely important to the victory in the
upcoming battle.
The appearance of
this visitor was sudden. Apparently Joshua didn’t recognize the apparel
(uniform) of the visitor, only that he held a sword in his hand.
It is interesting that Joshua didn’t seem to
be alarmed as though he was expecting him. He asked the visitor which side he
was on. He answered neither…He was commander of the army of the Lord. Could
this visitor possibly be an Angel, perhaps Michael the Archangel?
§
In Jude 9 it mentions that the Archangel
Michael had disputed with the devil over the body of Moses.
§
Michael is also associated with the second
coming of Christ in 1 Theses
(4:16)
§
It is also Michael who battles the fallen
watchers in the Book of Enoch, again per God’s divine instruction.
Leading the Israelite s in the battle of
Jericho would fit nicely with the profile of Michael, Micheal’s sole concern
were his orders from God.
The battle of Jericho is not man’s fight but
Gods fight! The Lord then instructed
Joshua on how to structure the invasion.
The “Armed Guard”
(6:9)
was to march first
in line. They were followed by seven priests carrying trumpets of ram horns.
(6:4) these trumpets were blown continuously throughout the march around the
walls of Jericho.
The priests responsible for the Ark of the
Covenant followed behind the trumpets, with the rear guard.
(6:9)
Joshua was very precise in his instructions to
the Israelites. Their role in the Battle of Jericho was to march, in
procession, once around the city, once a day!
They were to do this for six days, with the
trumpets blowing constantly as they marched.
Joshua gave explicit instructions that they
were to march in silence without giving shouts or jeers; until on the seventh
day when I give the order to shout out your war cry, and shout!
Scriptures record that on the seventh day the
Israelites; “arose at daybreak, marched around the city in the same manor, except
on that day they circled the city seven times”
(6:15)
Once again Joshua had been very clear in his
instructions. After the seventh time that they marched around the city walls,
with trumpets blaring, Joshua was to give the order and the soldiers were to
let loose with their war cry all 8/40,000 of
them. God was then to tumble the
walls of Jericho and give the city to his people.
The Battle of Jericho was to be Gods battle
all the way. All he required was faithful obedience. Joshua issued orders that
nothing was to be touched, or taken, except for the things that had been
devoted to the Lord.
All the citizens of Jericho, men, women,
children, young and old were put to the edge of the sword and slaughtered. The
silver, gold, bronze and iron were to go into the Lords treasury; the
devastation was to be complete.
Only Rahab and her family, all those under her
roof were spared the sword. On the seventh day, on the seventh time around the
city walls, Joshua gave the command and the whole army of the Israelite s
shouted.
The Bible says the “walls fell down flat”. The
Old Testament suggests that the walls fell beneath themselves, as to form a
ramp up to the retaining walls of the city.
This is what excavations of the city by
archeologists have also found, that stones from the wall were up against the
retaining wall forming a ramp.
Joshua’s Israelite army just simply marched
into the city and commenced a slaughter. In the Old Testament it states “they
went up into the city, every man before himself”
(6:20).
The Israelite army destroyed every living
thing. The Israelites through forty years of banishment in the desert learned
incredible discipline, this discipline and military conformity was very evident
during this assault on Jericho.
“And they burned the city with fire, and all
that was in it. Only the silver, gold, bronze and iron were put into the
treasury of the House of the Lord”.
To conclude this decisive Battle of Jericho, Joshua
cast a curse on the ancient city of Jericho, in the waning verses of chapter
six in the Old Testament Joshua
(6:24)
“Cursed before the
Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho, with the loss of his
first born son, he shall lay its foundation, and with his youngest up son, he
shall set its gates.
