Joshua 6:15-21 meaning

In Joshua 6:15-21, Jericho falls.

At the beginning of this chapter, the LORD instructed Joshua to lead the Israelites in a procession around Jericho once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. Joshua obeyed the LORD and organized the troops. The armed guard led the way while the priests blowing the horns followed them. The priests transporting the Ark of the Covenant followed those sounding the trumpets, and the rear guard marched behind them. The Israelites circled the city once and returned to camp at the end of each day until the sixth day (Joshua 6:1-14).

Joshua 6:15-21 describes the people’s activity on the seventh day leading to the conquest of Jericho.

They rose early at the dawning of the day (v. 15). In the ancient world, daybreak was the customary time for attack (Psalm 46:5). Soldiers often refrained from attacking at night because it was risky. The Israelites rose early because they were enthusiastic and eager to complete the task and see the results. This was the final day of marching, and God’s promise to deliver Jericho to the Israelites would be fulfilled.

The host of Israelites marched around the city in the same manner seven times. In other words, the armed guard walked ahead of the army, and the seven priests sounding the trumpets followed them. The Hebrew word here for trumpets is “shophar” and means rams horn. The Israelites were also in possession of metal trumpets (“hasosra” in Hebrew) made from silver (Numbers 10:2), but only the rams’ horns were used in the conquest of Jericho.

Next, the priests holding the Ark of the Coventant followed those blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard came after them. For the first six days, the soldiers circled the city once. Only on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times. They circled it with trumpets of rams’ horns blowing and voices silent.

Nevertheless, at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people: ‘Shout!’ (v. 16). He then gave them the reason for the war cry: For the LORD has given you the city. This statement shows that the LORD played a vital role in Israel’s victory over Jericho and its inhabitants. To be sure, Israel’s siege against Jericho was purely spiritual because there were no weapons involved. God commanded His covenant people to do a seven—day ritual and granted them access to Jericho. He did that to show Israel and the other nations that He is the true and sovereign God. He is all—powerful. Because of Israel’s obedience, God blessed them with victory.

The Hebrew word for shout here is “ruah” and is used in several notable places in scripture. The feast of trumpets in the Bible is “yom teruah” in Hebrew and means “the day of the shout.”

“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing [rua] of trumpets, a holy convocation.”
(Leviticus 23:24)

The phrase “of trumpets” does not appear in the original language of Leviticus 23:24. Many associate this feast of Israel with the return of Jesus based on the following verse,

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Joshua in many ways foreshadows Jesus. Joshua leads the Israelites to inherit the Promised Land (also known as “the rest”—Psalm 95:11, Hebrews 3:11) that God was giving them. Jesus also will cause God’s people to inherit a more profound “rest” in the Messianic Kingdom (Hebrews 4:3, 9). Jesus and Joshua also both share the same name. “Jesus” translates “Iesous” which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name “Yeshua” translated to English as “Joshua.” We can see this in Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 where “Iesous” is translated as “Joshua” in English because context indicates the Old Testament character Joshua is being referred to. The English name “Jesus” comes from the Latin translation of the Bible, where “Iesous” was transliterated as “Jesus.”

Having commanded the people to shout, Joshua next stated, The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD (v. 17). The term translated as ban [Hebrew, “sherem”] carries the idea of something devoted to destruction. It speaks of an act of obedience, which dedicates the enemy or their objects to God (Numbers 21:2; Deuteronomy 7:26; 13:14-17). In our passage, Israel was to destroy everything in Jericho to remain holy to the LORD (Deuteronomy 7:6). But there was one exception: only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

The story of Rahab hiding the Israelite messengers occurs in Joshua 2. There, the new Israelite leader sent two men from Shittim to scout Jericho to gather information about the enemy movements and troop sizes and their general preparedness for the battle. Upon their arrival, they lodged at the house of a prostitute named Rahab. Her house was likely a tavern or an inn, so the spies stayed there to keep a low profile and remain unnoticed. Despite all their efforts, the king of Jericho heard about their visit and sent his messengers to Rahab’s house to halt the scouts’ mission. However, Rahab hid the men. She misled the king’s messengers by saying the men left her house, and she did not know where they came from (Joshua 2:1-4).

That Rahab hid the men to rescue their lives demonstrates her loyalty to Israel’s God and her renunciation of allegiance to the Canaanite gods. God blessed her for protecting His servants (James 2:25). Because of her help, the Israelite spies swore to spare her life when they returned to destroy Jericho (Joshua 2:15-21). Joshua remembered the vow made by the spies to Rahab and told the soldiers to protect her and her family household. Rahab is an example of a woman of great faith given in the book of Hebrews,

“By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.”
(Hebrews 11:31)

After urging the soldiers to devote everything in Jericho (except Rahab and her family) to the LORD, Joshua told them how to remain holy. He said, But as for you, keep yourselves from the things under the ban (v. 18). The Israelites were to stay away from the things devoted to destruction. The purpose, Joshua declared, was so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. The Israelites were to destroy everything devoted to the LORD. They were not to keep anything in the city, for doing so would bring calamity to them. Unfortunatley, we will see in the next chapter that some Israelites disobeyed this command and took some items from Jericho that were supposed to be destroyed or left behind, thus incurring the wrath of God (Joshua 7:1).

However, God listed some items that His people could preserve: All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD (v. 19). Since these articles were sacred, they would go into the treasury of the LORD. The covenant people would use those metallic items in worship ceremonies. They could not utilize them for ordinary purposes.

Once Joshua finished instructing the Israelites regarding the ritual for the seventh day, the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets (v. 20). Finally, their silence was over; they were free to issue their battle cry. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat.

Although God’s instructions may have seemed foolish from a human perspective, Joshua followed them because of his faith. God told him to have the Israelites march silently around Jericho once for six days and then, after seven circuits on the seventh day, to shout. Hence, at the sound of the rams’ horns, the people shouted, and the walls of Jericho collapsed so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead. They won an easy battle because the LORD their God is all—powerful. He is faithful to His words. He promised to give Jericho into the hands of His people (Joshua 6:2). Though the city was a secure fortress, God destroyed its high and formidable walls effortlessly. His people did not have to besiege it. It was opened up to them to conquer by God’s hand. Thus, they took the city. The victory belonged to God.

Once the Israelites captured Jericho, they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword (v. 21). The word pairs man and woman and young and old to show the totality of the destruction. The Israelites killed everyone except Rahab and her family (vv. 22-25). They destroyed the animals too, but kept the precious metals of silver, gold, bronze, and iron.