The Jericho Miracle
Text: Joshua 6:1–16
1 Now the gates of
Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went
out and no one came
in.2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your
hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once
with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry
trumpets of rams’ horns in front of
the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the
priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the
trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will
collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”6 So Joshua son of Nun
called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the
LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered
the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of
the ark of the LORD.8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests
carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their
trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard
marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed
the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded
the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word
until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the
LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp
and spent the night there.12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the
priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven
trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the
trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark
of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they
marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six
days.15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city
seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city
seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet
blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
Context:
A six-foot wide lower wall and fifty-foot high upper wall
encircled the ancient
metropolis. The mudbrick walls were so thick and so tall
that the twelve-acre city
appeared to be an impregnable fortress. It seemed like God
had promised something
impossible and His battle plan seemed nonsensical.Your entire
army is to march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day
you are to march around the city seven times. Every soldier in the army
wondered why. Why not use a battering ram? Why not scale the walls? Why not cut
off the water supply or shoot flaming arrows over the walls? Instead, God told
the Israelite army to silently circle the city. And He promised, after circling
thirteen times over seven days, that the wall would fall.
The first time around, the soldiers felt a little foolish.
But with each circle, their
stride grew longer and stronger. With each circle, a holy
confidence was building
pressure inside their souls. By the seventh day, their faith
was ready to pop. They
arose before dawn and started circling at six o’clock in the
morning. At three mph,
each mile-and-a-half march around the city took half an
hour. By nine o’clock, they
began their final lap. In keeping with God’s command, they
hadn’t said a world in six
days. They just silently circled the promise. Then the
priests sounded their horns
and a simultaneous shout followed. Six hundred thousand
Israelites raised a holy
roar that registered on the Richter scale … and the walls
came tumbling down.
After seven days of circling Jericho, God delivered on a
four-hundred-year-old
promise. He proved, once again, that His promises don’t have
expiration dates. And
Jericho stands, and falls, as a testament to this simple truth:
if you keep circling the
promise, God will ultimately deliver on it.
What Is Your Jericho?
written by and permission granted by Mark Batterson-author of Circle Maker
