Good evening. Please turn with me once again to the book of Joshua. Joshua, in the Old Testament, the 6th book of the bible. And we are in the 6th chapter of it.
We’ve been slowly marching through this book, not unlike the people of God marching slowly into the promised land, which is the prime narrative of this book. Joshua has been given the mantle of leadership from his master Moses.
The Lord confirmed this transfer of leadership in chapter 1, and through various events in the first portion of this book, God continues to exalt and confirm Joshua as the new Moses. That confirmation is also present in our text tonight.
The people have crossed over the Jordan river, and into the land that God had promised to them so many hundreds of years ago. And we’ve noticed multiple times, and will again see tonight, that the note of emphasis throughout this process has been on the presence and power of God. It is God that is doing the working.
And there is perhaps no better illustration of that in scripture than our story tonight. This is a well-known story, but depending upon your perspective, the story can seem disturbing and alarming, or it can be a story laced with comfort and encouragement.
That perspective will be our main focus tonight: do you see this chapter containing the wisdom of God, or is it full of total foolishness?
Let’s read the story of Joshua and the battle at Jericho, and see what perspective the Lord would have for us tonight:
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,[a] and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” 6 So 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, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”
8 And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. 9 The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.
15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.[b] Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” 20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.
22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.
“At the cost of his firstborn shall he
lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son
shall he set up its gates.”
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
PRAYER
I’d like for us to spend some time tonight reflecting upon a major theme, that’s evident not merely in this text, but throughout all of scripture, and that is the Wisdom of man vs. the Wisdom of God. The wisdom of man vs. the wisdom of God.
The broad strokes of this story are simple enough to understand. The Hebrews are now in the land, and their job is to now take possession of the land entirely. To rid the land of the wicked Canaanites, which we discussed last week. Their iniquity has come to completion, and God’s patience with that sinful people was at an end.
But the manner in which God’s people were to begin to do this is quite strange. They’re told to line up, with the armed men at the front, then the 7 priests with ram’s horns, then the ark of the covenant, then the rear guard.
The bulk of the army up front, and then in the rear, probably some of the men from the tribe of Dan, because as we see in Numbers 10:25, they were specifically chosen to be the caboose of the procession of the tribes.
Then they are to march around the city once each day, and then seven times on the seventh day. Then blow the trumpets and shout, and somehow the stone walls of the city would fall.
This is quite a peculiar method of taking a military target. Let’s examine it from the perspective of the wisdom of man, and see how foolish this plan is.
The Wisdom of man, or we might call it the wisdom of the world, in contrast to faith, says this:
That the first thing that needs to happen in this battle, is for Jericho’s leaders to lock up the city. That makes sense. We have an army coming, a military foe is marching towards us. Close it up; lock it down. Just like verse 1 says: none go in and none go out. We’ll be safe.
These walls will be enough to protect us from God and his army. Never mind, the fact that he’s already he’s already dried up the Jordan river during the time of year that it’s in flood stage. We know the king of Jericho had heard about that, look at the first verse of the previous chapter. Never mind that. In man’s wisdom, he thinks he can stop God almighty.
Moving on. The battle itself, with its strange tactics. Man’s wisdom says that walking around the city in silence for six days is pointless. If anything, it’s actually worse than pointless, it’s counterproductive. Marching around in silence is the opposite of what you’d want to do. Scary armies are loud and brash. They chant, they taunt, they yell. They are bold and loud in the face of danger. They want to intimidate.
Walking around in silence does nothing but proclaim your own fearfulness, and it would tempt the enemy to come out and attack. It exposes you to unnecessary danger.
Indeed, even the marching formation itself exposes you to unnecessary danger. The armed men are at the front, leaving the rear more vulnerable to attack. You’re leaving a clear weak spot in the defenses, and by circling the city multiple times in the same way, you’re broadcasting that vulnerability to the enemy.
Further, doing the same maneuver over and over and over, for a week does nothing but show the enemy what your plan is. There’s no element of surprise. Predictability undermines successful military campaigns. “Foolishness!” says the wisdom of man.
What about the tools that are used in this battle? Those too make no sense to the natural man. The Priests use ordinary Ram’s horns. That doesn’t seem right.
The Lord told Moses in Numbers 10 to make Silver trumpets for the priests to use to make announcements to the people, like when it was time to pack up camp and keep moving. So they had these nice trumpets already. Trumpets that would be fitting for such a military campaign, to showcase the metal working prowess of this nation, or even the financial superiority of their wealth.
Why didn’t they use those? Why did they use the kind of horns that could be found anywhere? Ordinary stuff. Doesn’t make sense.
Or even after the walls fall. Why did they devote everything to destruction? Killing everyone is not only unnecessary, indeed, it’s clearly unwise, the natural man would say.
Shouldn’t we keep some of these people to be our slaves? Why should we be forced to do all the work of building a nation in this new land? Every other army in the world enslaves their conquered foes to do menial labor, why shouldn’t we do that?
Or keep the logic going. If we do want to kill all the men, that might be understandable, so that they can’t rebel against us again, can’t rise up in strength. But can’t we keep the women as spoils of war? Surely there were men in Israel who might be pleased to have another female servant, or even a concubine, or as a wife. The women aren’t a military threat to us, why do we need to kill them? Foolishness, according to the conventional wisdom of man.
Furthermore, shouldn’t we keep some of the valuables, some of the money? Wouldn’t it be smarter to save that stuff?
I mean that money would go a long way to funding the start of the new nation. Think of all the livestock, and how many people we could feed with that. It seems wasteful to kill all those enemies.
And why should we tear down all of the houses? This land in Jericho will belong to one of the tribes, and I’m sure that they’d love to have already-built houses. It sure seems like a waste of time and money to tear down something so useful.
And lastly, think about Joshua’s words to the spies in verse 22. The worldly man’s wisdom says “Don’t bother with the trouble of getting Rahab out. Think about how much work that will be. You’ll be risking the safety of your men, sending them into the thick of the fight in order to save who, a Prostitute! We’ve gotten what we needed from her. Let her rot with the rest of the wicked Canaanites.”
Yes, all of this and more is how a worldly man would evaluate the situation in this. Almost every aspect of it is foolishness.
But let’s run through the same narrative again, but this time look at it from the Wisdom of God. Let’s see how that change in perspective leads to a total change in our estimation of the battle plan and tactics.
First with the actions of the king closing up the city tight, so that nobody can go in or go out.
God’s Wisdom says:
Please do, please lock up the city walls. Make them impenetrable. Make the battle seem as impossible as you can make it. That will make my power all the more evident and all the more glorious. The stronger the resistance and the more dire the situation, the more magnificent shall be the glory of my redemptive work.
And as for the tactics of marching around the city walls in silence for six days, putting the armed men up front, and leaving exposed the rear, God’s wisdom says:
Please do expose your army to “unnecessary” danger by walking around the city in silence; make it seem that the Hebrew victory is hopeless, and tactics reckless, that they are vulnerable and exposed.
Because in doing so, you will make the protection that I provide for my people seem that much more evident and trustworthy. My people can do what appears dangerous and risky, because they know that I am their strong tower and their mighty fortress of protection.
Indeed, Please do leave the rear flank vulnerable by having the bulk of the armed men up front. Doing that emphasizes that my vision and my vigilance is the true source of your safety and security, not your armed guards and not your watchfulness. I watch your back, I keep your enemy at bay, not your swords.
In Psalm 18 the Lord says He is true source of Israel’s security.
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Further, back in Joshua, the marching day after day, which made no sense to the natural man, that too is part of God’s wisdom. They were called to do the same thing, day after day, over and over again, even though there was no evidence of its working.
Why was that necessary? Why didn’t he just make the walls fall on day 1? Why did he chose to waste all the other days? If those people were so wicked and deserved judgment, why delay? If he had promised to give his people the city, why make them wait an extra week? Why all the extra, useless days?
They walked day after day after day, without any change, no evidence of progress, no evidence of advancement in the battle. If anything, the daily circuit around the city made the people in Jericho more convinced that the God of Israel either wasn’t going to do anything, or couldn’t do what he had promised. The six days of nothing, probably provoked more confidence in the hearts of the army in Jericho.
But the wisdom of God has a different estimation of the situation.
Those 6 days of “useless” marching and no evident progress, emphasize that the timing of victory belongs to the Lord.
The Lord’s timing is perfect, and he is rushed by no man. Human wisdom often produces an unnecessary urgency for immediate action. I need to see fruit. I need to see return on my investment. In need to see results.
That’s why, for example, the natural man can’t persist in prayer: it often seems fruitless and unproductive. But the wisdom of God trusts in God’s timing, and rests in the knowledge that God’s has chosen His timing according to the counsel of perfect divine wisdom, and not according to the timetable or preferences of fallen men.
Let’s keep going, and look at the tools of the battle. The use of ordinary ram’s horns by the priests, rather than something special, like silver trumpets, which they already had in their luggage. That’s foolish to the natural man. Natural man says that something so important, deserves something special.
That’s why the president will sign bills into law by using a fancy fountain pen, and not a 10 Cent bic pen from a hotel lobby. The gravity of the moment should be reflected in the gravity of the tools used.
But God’s wisdom is the opposite. God delights to use the ordinary. God says Please do use the ordinary and commonplace, rather than the sacred and special, so that the glory belongs to me and not the means. I don’t want anybody or anything else to get the glory or attention, nobody else can take the credit.
I don’t want anybody who hears of this story about the walls falling down to think that it was because of the special silver trumpets. I want everyone to hears of this story to come to only one, inescapable conclusion, and that is that Yahweh did it.
God often works this way. And that’s why Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” The whole story of the fall of Jericho screams that, although these jars of clay were obedient, but God was the force behind the victory.
Horns didn’t make the walls fall; the Lord did.
Marching in circles didn’t defeat the army of Jericho, the Lord almighty did.
That’s the wisdom of God. Natural wisdom can’t see it. But the Spiritual man can see it, and loves it. And that same spiritual man can see many of these same points of wisdom, in the greater victory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ:
Think about the larger picture of the Old Testament. This was a battle that seemed hopeless, with impenetrable walls shut up so tight that no man could come in or out. No hope of victory, just like the entire story of the Old Testament.
Think of all the different stories in the Old Testament that proclaim a hopeless battle. Noah building a giant boat. Abraham called to sacrifice his promised son. Joseph in the bottom of a pit. The Hebrews trapped by the Red Sea and chased by the world’s mightiest army. Tiny David in front of Mighty Goliath.
All of the battles seemed hopeless. Impossible according to the flesh. And that’s because they were. The entire Old Testament proves that man is unable to do what is required. But that’s exactly the point. God’s plan is laid out so that the glory belongs to him and not to human exertion. He’s making sure that none of his glory belongs to another. That nobody can take the credit for their salvation.
So just because things seem hopeless, doesn’t mean that God’s no longer at the wheel. In fact, for the believer, it usually means the opposite. That he’s the one still guiding the ship, and doing so in the way that brings him the most glory through it all.
Has God ever led you through a situation that made you feel hopeless, so that you’d be forced back to dependence upon him? Has he brought you to the end of yourself, so that you’d have nowhere to go but cry out to Him?
He often does that. He will lead his people to the edge of the Red Sea where they are trapped by an Egyptian army, so that we have no other option than to call out to him, pleading that He would do something, and he can miraculous and demonstrate his sovereign power.
Situations that seem hopeless are often, in retrospect, are actually immense blessings because they drive us to prayer and conscious dependence upon him. So don’t fall into despair just because you can’t see the way out yet. Cry out to God and trust him to deliver you. He is your strength and your shield.
Now back to Joshua, and the “foolish” tactic of walking around the city walls with the army up front, and the rear flank exposed to danger. Foolishness to the eyes of the world. But to the eyes of faith, there was no real danger.
Faith always exposes us to “unnecessary danger” in the eyes of the world. To believe the gospel is risky, and scary. That’s because, in believing the message of salvation, we embrace and publicly proclaim that we are a sinner and are guilty. That’s part of what it means to be a Christian, is to proclaim publicly, in our baptism that we deserve to die because of our sin.
And that makes no sense to a proud man, makes no sense to worldly wisdom, but that exposure to “risk and liability” and public humiliation, makes the sufficiency of God’s protection that much more evident. We need not fear reproach from this world, if God is our protector.
God’s promise of protection means that we can own up to our sin, and ask for forgiveness whenever we fall short.
It also means that we don’t have to be afraid when something comes along that feels frightening.
Maybe it was an unpleasant conversation with someone, that you weren’t sure how it was going to end.
Maybe it was an evangelistic conversation. Or maybe it was standing up for what you believe at work, even though it might cost you? Whatever the situation, we’ve all been through situations that felt risky, and had to trust the Lord.
And as you reflect on that event, where you obeyed God even at potential cost to yourself, can you see his kind hand of providence protecting you the entire time?
You will never regret obedience to the Lord. The smile of God is worth more than all the frowns of this world.
The gospel allows us to obey God in ways that can seem scary to us. I can sacrificially give of my limited resources, exposing myself to financial risk, because I trust that God is my protector and provider.
I can forgive others, risking that they might sin against me again, because I trust that God will ultimately protect me.
I can do what Jesus says and love even my enemies, which to the world is total foolishness, because I trust that God is my protector.
And as far as the timing, of 6 days of walking in circles no impact, 6 days of walking around without any visible fruit for your labor, we can remember in the gospel that the timing of the Lord is perfect.
How many times have you been impatient with the timing of the lord, frustrated that he’s not working things out as quickly as you’d like, only to see, usually long after, that HIS plan was actually better after all in the long run?
God’s timing is better than our timing, every time.
Young people, I’d encourage you to ask the older saints in the congregation about they’re experience waiting on the Lord. I bet there are hundreds of stories in this room about lessons learned from waiting on the Lord’s timing, and how it was actually better after all.
And the gospel enables us to trust in the timing of God, which is chosen according to perfect heavenly wisdom.
I can march, day after day, doing the same kinds of things, the same ordinary work, the same mundane labor, without any evident “fruit” or progress at times.
I can plod on, while tempted to think my labor is in vain, but remembering that God’s timing is perfect. Remembering that that timing is selected to exalt HIS wisdom, and to highlight HIS power, rather than the strength or wisdom of Men.
You see, in His perfect wisdom, God didn’t fix everything right after the entrance of sin into the world in Genesis 3. He didn’t make Revelation 21 & 22 come in Genesis chapter 4.
God chose to send Christ after thousands of years. And therefore it doesn’t surprise me at all that Christ would return after thousands of years yet again, to show that the strength of his plan rests not on any single man, nor on the exertion of his people, but the success of his redemptive plan solely rests on HIS power and wisdom.
His plan and his timing, serve to exalt His wisdom and His power. Every time.
Has God ever worked in your life to “delay” and make you wait, sometimes for years?
What has been the fruit of that waiting, in your soul?
Has it made you more patient? Or have you grown restless or frustrated or discontent?
Has the waiting made your faith more steadfast…? Or do you buck and chafe at his leadership?
Remember that God’s timing is perfect. As you march in what feels like endless circles, waiting for the Lord to act, remember this story, and remember Jesus. He came in the fullness of time, according to divine wisdom. Wait on the Lord to act, for His timing is best.
And lastly, like the use of the ordinary ram’s horn’s rather than silver trumpets, the gospel is the good news of God using the ordinary to produce an extraordinary victory.
In one sense, we can say that God chose to use the ordinary means of human nature to save his people. Christ took upon himself the same ordinary human nature that we have, with all its weaknesses. He didn’t simply come down in his divinity, shining in all of his glory.
He took on the ordinary. He was born to an ordinary carpenter, laid in an ordinary manger, worked as an ordinary Jewish man. He felt hunger. He felt pain. He grew tired. He had no palace in which to rest his head, had no glorious army or armada to fight his battles, had nothing special, humanly speaking.
And yet, through all the unimpressive, God was working to bring about a glorious and fruitful victory, so that the means would clearly rest on divine power and wisdom and not on His people’s exertion.
That’s part of the reason why Rahab is brought up again in this story. To remind us not only that God keeps his promises, but that God can use the ordinary, indeed, the sinful, the shameful, and can redeem them, and use them as part of His extraordinary plan.
If you and I were scripting the story of victory, none of us would have chosen Rahab to be part of the story.
But God delights in using the weak things of this world to shame the wise, so much so that he not only saved Rahab, but made her part of the line of Christ. From her womb came king David, and eventually Christ himself.
Rather than judging it as foolishness, we should marvel at how God works in unexpected ways, using the most mundane things to bring about miraculous results.
We should reflect upon God’s use of the ordinary to produce extraordinary results in our lives.
Maybe the ordinary bit encouragement, given at the perfect time, which has buoyed your faith in unexpected ways. A word spoken at the right time is like apples of gold set in silver, Proverbs 25:11.
Maybe, the ordinary gift of an act of kindness, which have a dramatic effect in someone’s life. You can probably point back to a time where someone was unexpectedly kind to you, and it still blesses you today.
Be encouraged, that God delights to use “ordinary” gifts, like mine and yours, to do unexpected and glorious things.
You may not feel special or unique, more like an ordinary rams horn and certainly not a silver trumpet, but remember that God often delights in using the ordinary, instead of the flashy and impressive, because using the ordinary more clearly displays his glory. Using the ordinary ensures that the credit for victory most assuredly comes from Him, and Him alone.
Therefore, I can use the ordinary and the mundane to serve God, rather than seeking the flashy and special, because God delights to use such means to glorify himself and not the means. I can use my ordinary talents, to the delight of the Lord.
I can walk in circles for days on end, I can change diapers over and over, I can serve quietly behind the scenes, I can dig and plant and water and weed, even though the harvest seems so far away. God delights in using the ordinary.
I can persist in ordinary prayers, persist in ordinary bible reading.
Even using ordinary bread and juice, all to the glory of God, to demonstrate that the power belongs to him and not to the human means.
