Joshua 6:20

_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._ So the people shouted when the priests blew. Toward the close of the seventh circuit, the signal was given by Joshua, and on the Israelites raising their loud war-cry, the walls fell down, doubtless burying multitudes of the inhabitants in the ruins, while the beseigers, rushing in, consigned everything, animate and inanimate, to indiscriminate destruction (Deuteronomy 20:16). This sudden demolition cannot be ascribed to any natural causes. It was clearly a miracle; and following immediately after the miraculous passage of the Jordan, the sudden opening up of so str

20._So the people shouted, _etc Here the people are praised for obedience, and the faithfulness of God is, at the same time, celebrated. They testified their fidelity by shouting, because they were persuaded, that what God had commanded would not be in vain, and he, in not allowing them to lose their labor, vindicated the truth of what he had said. Another virtue of not inferior value was displayed by the people, in despising unlawful gain, and cheerfully suffering the loss of all the plunder. For there cannot be a doubt, that in the minds of many the thought must have risen, For what end does God please to destroy all the wealth? Why does he envy us that which he has given into our hand? Why does he not rather gladden us by furnishing us with the materials of thanksgiving? Dismissing these considerations, which might have interfered with their duty, it was a proof of rare and excellent...

17-27 Jericho was to be a solemn and awful sacrifice to the justice of God, upon those who had filled up the measure of their sins. So He appoints, from whom, as creatures, they received their lives, and to whom, as sinners, they had forfeited them. Rahab perished not with them that believed not, Hebrews 11:31. All her kindred were saved with her; thus faith in Christ brings salvation to the house, Acts 14:31. She, and they with her, were plucked as brands from the burning. With Rahab, or with the men of Jericho; our portion must be assigned, as we posses or disregard the sign of salvation; even faith in Christ, which worketh by love. Let us remember what depends upon our choice, and let us choose accordingly. God shows the weight of a Divine curse; where it rests there is no getting from under it; for it brings ru...

Verse Joshua 6:20. _THE PEOPLE SHOUTED WITH A GREAT SHOUT, THAT THE WALL_ _FELL DOWN_] There has been much learned labour spent to prove that the shouting of the people might be the natural cause that the wall fell down! To wait here, either to detail or refute any such arguments, would be lost time: enough of them may be seen in Scheuchzer. The whole relation evidently supposes it to have been a supernatural interference, as the blowing of the trumpets, and the shouting of the people, were too contemptible to be used even as instruments in this work, with the expectation of accomplishing it in a _natural_ way....

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

SO THE PEOPLE SHOUTED WHEN [THE PRIESTS] BLEW WITH THE TRUMPETS,.... As Joshua had charged them, Joshua 6:16; AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE PEOPLE HEARD THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET, AND THE PEOPLE SHOUTED WITH A GREAT SHOUT; that is, gave a loud shout, on hearing the long blast of the trumpets blown by the priests the seventh time, as they were no doubt directed by Joshua, agreeably to the order given to him; see Joshua 6:5; THAT THE WALL FELL DOWN FLAT; the wall of the city of Jericho, as the Lord said it should, Joshua 6:5: SO THAT THE PEOPLE WENT UP INTO THE CITY, EVERY MAN STRAIGHT BEFORE HIM, AND THEY TOOK THE CITY; they went up to it from the plain, where the

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)_

FLAT. under itself. Compare Joshua 6:5. Jericho was thrice built, and thrice destroyed; no that the city of Joshua's time has not yet been reached by recent excavations. The city, rebuilt by Hiel in Ahab's reign (822-790 B.C.) was captured by the Herodians (3 B.C.) and rebuilt by Archelaus (A.D. 2). This was the Jericho of our Lord's day, which was destroyed by Vespasian,. A.D....

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....