Joshua 6:15 – 27 “Then on the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. That was the only day they circled the city seven times. After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it. For all the silver and gold and all the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they must go into His treasury.” So, when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people charged into the city, each man straight ahead, and captured the city. At the edge of the sword, they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her. So, the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel. Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house. And Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. So, she has lived among the Israelites to this day.
At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn, he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
So, the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.”
It’s one of the most dramatic stories in the Old Testament. After six days of silently marching around the city with only the sound of the rams’ horns and the sound of 40,000 pairs of marching feet echoing across the plains, this time the Israelite fighting men make a seventh trip around the walls of Jericho. (Estimates of the size of the Israelite fighting force are difficult to come by.) At any rate, when the rams’ horns blew at the end of the seventh trip around Jericho, the Israelites gave a mighty shout, and the mud brick walls of Jericho collapsed outward. Did God arrange a small earth tremor to coincide with the shout? Quite possibly. At the same time, there is also anther phenomenon to be considered, the law of harmonic vibrations or harmonic resonance “jeopardizing structural integrity. “The build-up of constant vibrations on a structure can, eventually, lead to structural integrity being compromised. A worse-case scenario would be the complete collapse of the structure and is the reason some bridges insist that marching troops break step before crossing. Crowds jumping in time to music or in response to a goal in a stadium are also dynamic loads that might damage an under-designed structure.” (https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/opinion/opinionwhy-engineers-must-always-consider-human-induced-vibration-7973889/).
While some authors discard these theories and attempt to claim that the walls never collapsed at the time of Joshua, the accuracy of other Biblical accounts would support the notion of a combination of factors. As 40,000 fighting men marched around the walls in cadence with rams’ horns blowing for six days in a row, the mud bricks were probably weakening. Seven trips around the walls plus shouting and the blowing of rams’ horns on the seventh day, plus an earth tremor were probably all combined to bring down the walls of Jericho. And since much of the walls were mud bricks, a few rainy seasons would help wash away that evidence. It took hundreds of years before Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho while sacrificing two of his sons to do so, thus fulfilling Joshua’s grisly curse cum prophecy.
What is really important about this story is not the collapse of the walls, but the obedience of the Israelites afterwards. Remember that these people were still hiding Egyptian idols in their tents. But the Israelites really did save Rahab and her family and turn all the gold, silver, iron, and bronze objects over to the Lord’s temple while destroying everyone and everything else. By the time the Israelites had finished, there wasn’t so much as a single sheep left. For once, the Israelites really did follow orders completely.
Rahab eventually married an Israelite husband and became an ancestress of both King David and Jesus. The Israelites returned safely to their camp.
APPLICATION: There is so much to learn from the story of the fall of Jericho.
- When God calls you to do something, don’t hesitate or have second thoughts. For once, there is no record of anybody arguing with Joshua about destroying all the people and the animals.
- Leave devoted things to God and don’t keep them for yourself. When offered to the Lord, the gold, silver, iron and bronze were blessings; however, had anyone attempted to keep anything back for themselves, they would have been cursed for disobedience and greed. Sometimes God gives us money or other possessions, not so that we can be blessed ourselves, but so that we can pass these things on to others. I was once at a church gathering when someone came up to me and told me that God had ordered them to give me $50. I was shocked but pleased; however, the next day, I found that friends needed new tires that they couldn’t afford. That $50 purchased $49.50 worth of new tires. (Obviously, this was a long time ago!)
- When you do your part, God will do His part. The Israelites had to march around Jericho seven days in a row. There were probably people on that seventh day who wondered what the point was, since nothing had happened on the previous six days. But they were obedient, and they got their miracle.
- Sometimes God tests our obedience. Were there any soldiers who dropped out after the sixth day? We don’t know. Certainly, anyone who dropped out would have bitterly regretted it afterwards because they would have been back at camp with the women and children. Obey God and see what He will do!
Perhaps you feel as if you have been stuck in “sixth day mode” forever with no end in sight. But if you are being faithful to do what God has called you to do, rest assured that at the right moment, He will step in.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You that Your timing is perfect. Help us to trust where we cannot see. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
February 16, 2022 at 9:41 pm
Sixth day mode, been there, done that. My mom said almost exactly the same thing you said about Jericho and the vibrations. I can almost see her talking about it as I read your post. Thank you, for all that.