D G¹ 6:1-27. The Taking of Jericho. G² 7:1-26. The Trespass of Achan.
G¹ H¹ 1-19. The City Given.
H² 20-27. The City Taken.
H¹ d 1,2. The City given.
e f 3,4. Encompassing.
g 5. Promise.
e f 6-15. Encompassing.
g 16-. Promise.
d -16-19. The City. Exceptions of gifts.
1451 B.C.
Joshua 6)
1: Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the sons of Israel (Heb. "was shutting up and was shut up". thus beautifully rendered. See Gen. 26:28): none went out, and none came in.
2: And the Lord said to Joshua (this is the continuation of the Captain's words, 5:15. See 3:7), “See, I have given into your hand Jericho (it was Yahaveh's to give), and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
3: And you all shall compass the city, all you men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shall you do six days.
4: And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns (= trumpets of Jubilee, or long sound. Ex. 19:13): and on the seventh day you all shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5: And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you all hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down under it (probably to the ground. Cp.11:13. Jer. 49:2. See v.20), and the People shall ascend up every man straight before him.”
6: And 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 the Lord.”
7: And he said to the people, “Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord.”
8: And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the ark of the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of Yehovah followed them.
9: And the armed men marching before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rearward (= the main or central body. Cp. Num. 10:25) came after the ark, the priests marching on, and blowing with the trumpets.
10: And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You all shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice (= cause your voice to be heard), neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall you all shout.”
11th April, 1451 B.C.
11: So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
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 marching before them; but the rearward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests marching on, and blowing with the trumpets.
17th April
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 (cp. Heb. 11:30), when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said to the People, “Shout;
for the Lord has given you the city.
17: And the city shall be devoted (probably because this was the "first-fruit" of the conquest. Num. 31:54. cp. v.19), even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18: And you all, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you all make yourselves accursed, when you all take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. (a warning of Achan's sin [7:25])
19: But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron (= utensils or weapons), they are set apart to the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
H² h 20. The city taken.
i k 21. The city destroyed.
l 22,23. Exception. Rahab.
i k 24-. The city burned.
l -24,25. Exception. Rahab, &c.
h 26,27. The city cursed.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 under itself (cp. v.5. Jericho was thrice built, and thrice destroyed; so that the city of Joshua's time has not 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 [2 A.D.]. This was the Jericho of Yahshua's [our Lord] day, which was destroyed by Vespasian, 68 A.D.), so that the People went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21: And they utterly devoted to destruction (ellipsis supplied) all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword (= according to the mouth. "Mouth", put by Fig., = without quarter).
22: But Joshua had said to the two men that had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot's house, and bring out from that place the woman, and all her household (see v.17), according as you all swore to her.” (cp. 2:14. Heb. 11:31)
23: And (note the many "ands" in vv.23-25) the young men that were spies went in, and brought Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them outside the camp of Israel.
24: And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein:
only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
25: And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive (cp. Matt.1:5. Married to Salmon, in the line of Messiah), and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwells in the midst of Israel even to this day (written therefore during her lifetime); because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26: And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that rises up and builds this city Jericho (i.e. its walls and gates [v.26], for Joshua himself gave it to the Benjamites, 18:12. Cp. 2 Sam. 10:5. see v.20): he shall lay the foundation thereof in the death of his firstborn (prophecy fulfilled in Hiel the Beth-elite. 1 Kings 16:34), and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.”
27: So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.