Joshua 6:14

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

6-16 Wherever the ark went, the people attended it. God's ministers, by the trumpet of the everlasting gospel, which proclaims liberty and victory, must encourage the followers of Christ in their spiritual warfare. As promised deliverances must be expected in God's way, so they must be expected in his time. At last the people were to shout: they did so, and the walls fell. This was a shout of faith; they believed the walls of Jericho would fall. It was a shout of prayer; they cry to Heaven for help, and help came....

Verse Joshua 6:14. _SO THEY DID SIX DAYS._] It is not likely that the whole Israelitish host went each day round the city. This would have been utterly impossible: the fighting men alone amounted to nearly 600,000, independently of the people, who must have amounted at least to two or three millions; we may therefore safely assert that only a select number, such as was deemed necessary for the occasion, were employed. Jericho could not have been a large city: and to reduce it could not have required a hundredth part of the armed force under the command of Joshua....

EXPOSITION THE VICTORY.— JOSHUA 6:1 This verse (see above) is parenthetical. It explains why the captain of the Lord's host appeared unto Joshua. The inhabitants of Jericho, though in a state of the utmost alarm, were nevertheless fully on their guard against the children of Israel. The commencement of hostilities imposed a great responsibility on Joshua. Success at the outset was, humanly speaking, indispensable. We may see what defeat involved for him by his distress in consequence of the check at Ai. The alternative was victory or annihilation, for the Israelites had no homes or fortresses to which they could retire. Joshua was therefore encouraged by a visible proof that he was under the protection of the Most High, to be yet farther assured by the marvels that were to follow. The use of the Pual participle with its

AND THE SECOND DAY THEY COMPASSED THE CITY ONCE,.... Went round it one time only; as on the first: AND RETURNED INTO THE CAMP: which was at Gilgal, Joshua 5:10; SO THEY DID SIX DAYS: four more after these two successively, and proceeded in the same order and manner as on those two days....

6. THE FALL OF JERICHO CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The divine instruction (Joshua 6:1)_ 2. The instructions followed (Joshua 6:6) 3. The fall of Jericho (Joshua 6:20) 4. Rahab remembered (Joshua 6:22) 5. The curse upon Jericho (Joshua 6:26) We do not enlarge upon the history of the chapter, which needs no comment. The fall of Jericho by the power of God, as described in this chapter, has also been ridiculed by infidels. Others have tried to explain the occurrence in a natural way. It has been said that the marching Israelites, b

JOSHUA 5:13 TO JOSHUA 6:27. THE CAPTURE OF JERICHO. The narrative begins at Joshua 5:13; Joshua 6:1 is an insertion (observe that RV places it in brackets), so that Joshua 6:2 should immediately follow Joshua 5:15. The captain of Yahweh's host is therefore Yahweh Himself. In the rest of the chapter we have a composite narrative, so skilfully compiled that at first sight there is not much fault to find. Closer inspection, however, shows that there are two signals for the fall of the walls (_a)_

Capture and Destruction of Jericho 6. _And Joshua_ In obedience to the commands thus received Joshua implicitly carries out the instructions given him and issues the needful orders to the host....

_VER._ 13-15. _AND SEVEN PRIESTS,_ &C.— Whether Jericho was taken on a sabbath-day, as the Jews pretend, or on another day of the week, it is very certain, that the procession was made on the sabbath round about the city; and, consequently, that the rest of that solemn day was then infringed. _He,_ says Kimchi, _who had ordained the observation of the sabbath, commanded the sabbath to be broken for the destruction of Jericho:_ so that, according to the principles of this learned Jew, we are perfectly established in ours, namely, that the Angel who shewed himself to Joshua was that Almighty Angel who issued the law of the sabbath from mount Sinai; and that, as our Saviour remarked afterwards to the Pharisees, He who enjoined the sabbath is always the Lord and disposer of it. _Note;_ 1. We must patiently persevere in the use of the means of grace, though we see not their immediate good eff...

_The City Destroyed Joshua 6:12-21_ 12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord 13 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 rearward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. 14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days. 15 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. 16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city. 17 And the city sh