The next stop on our tour through the Hebrews 11 “Faith Hall Of Fame” takes us to one of the most famous events in all the Bible- the fall of Jericho.
“It was faith that brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down after the people of Israel had walked around them seven days as God had commanded them” (Hebrews 11:30).
It seems that most people have heard the Biblical story describing how the city walls of Jericho went down after God told the people of Israel to march around the city for a week. While the story of what happened at Jericho may be familiar, there are still lots of important things that we can learn about faith when we look at what happened a little more closely.
For example, the story of what happened at Jericho actually begins long before the people ever reached the city…
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them– to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses'” (Joshua 1:1 NIV).
If you were with us last time then you know that we spent some time talking about Moses, the man that God used to lead the people of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. But once Moses passed away, a change had to take place. The person chosen by God to replace Moses and take on this new leadership assignment was a man named Joshua, Moses’ former assistant (see Numbers 27:15-23).
Joshua’s first big test of faith as a leader took place at this city named Jericho. Now remember that God had already told Joshua, “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” and soon it came time to act on that promise by faith. This brings us to the first important lesson that we can learn from what happened at Jericho- even though the leaders changed, the faith that they displayed remained the same.
So What Was Jericho Like?
Well, Jericho was the first city that the people of Israel confronted after crossing the Jordan river and moving into the land that God had promised to give them. Archaeologists have excavated Jericho a number of times in our present day and this work has given us a pretty good idea of what the city was like. Although Jericho served as a home for several thousand people, it seems that it was also built more like a military base than a city.
For example, scholar-types believe that Jericho was more than a quarter-mile wide in diameter (about .50 km) and was situated on a good, elevated location -a definite advantage against anyone who might want to attack the city and try to take over.
Next, it seems that there were three different walls that surrounded the city to protect it from intruders. The first wall circled the outside border and was 15 feet (5 m) high and six feet (2 m) thick. Behind this perimeter wall was a second wall that was 25 feet (8 m) high and six feet (2 m) thick. Finally, a third 25-foot (8 m) high six-foot (2 m) thick wall was located inside the two outer walls.
All these things combined to make Jericho extremely difficult to invade. If you can imagine what it’s like to succeed on the most difficult level of the hardest video game you’ve ever played then you can also imagine how tough it would be for an army to break into Jericho and take over.
Now if that wasn’t enough, it’s also clear that Joshua and his army were dealing with a city full of people who were trying really hard to keep them out. You see, Joshua 2:9-10 tells us that the people of Jericho had heard how God had parted the Red Sea for the people of Israel and given them some big military victories on the other side of the Jordan river. This made the people of Jericho very concerned about Israel- so much so that Joshua 6:1 tells us that the city was locked up tight to try and keep them out.
So now that you know a little about what the city of Jericho was like, let’s take a look at the famous plan that God arranged to take out this virtually indestructible fortress…
“But the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Jericho and its king and all its mighty warriors are already defeated, for I have given them to you! Your entire army is to walk around the city once a day for six days, followed by seven priests walking ahead of the Ark, each carrying a trumpet made from a ram’s horn.
On the seventh day you are to walk around the city seven times, with the priests blowing their trumpets. Then, when they give one long, loud blast, all the people are to give a mighty shout, and the walls of the city will fall down; then move in upon the city from every direction'” (Joshua 6:2-5).
Now you can take this as just another interesting Bible story but there’s a lot that you can learn if you’re willing to think about what this story tells you about faith. One thing that should be pretty obvious is this: faith recognizes that God may choose to accomplish His will in an unusual way- like achieving a military victory by walking around and blowing a trumpet!.
Next, faith sometimes requires patience. Remember that the walls of Jericho didn’t come down right away. In fact, those walls didn’t come down for a week -and the people of Israel had to spend that time patiently following God’s instructions in order to see the result that He intended to give them.
Another thing that we can learn from this example is that faith acts on what God has promised:
“So when the people heard the trumpet blast, they shouted as loud as they could. And suddenly the walls of Jericho crumbled and fell before them, and the people of Israel poured into the city from every side and captured it!” (Joshua 6:20).
As we saw earlier with the example of Noah, notice that the people acted according to God’s instructions first, then they saw Him come through on their behalf! This is a characteristic of faith that we see repeated many times throughout Hebrews 11.
So the walls of Jericho came down, the army moved in and everyone in the city got wiped out- with one exception…
“Meanwhile Joshua had said to the two spies, ‘Keep your promise. Go and rescue the prostitute and everyone with her'” (Joshua 6:22).
What’s that all about? Well, that’s a story to be continued next time.