Joshua steps out in faith, following every divine directive so that Israel can witness the LORD’s faithfulness and power in conquering Jericho.
“So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.’” (v.6)
In this verse, we see Joshua—Moses’s successor, anointed by God to lead the Israelites after Moses’s death—calling on the priests to prepare for a momentous act of obedience in the conquest of Canaan. Joshua, who served as the military commander throughout Israel’s entry into their new homeland, was entrusted to continue implementing God’s instructions to claim the Promised Land.Here, his direction to have the priests take up the ark of the covenant underscores God’s guiding and holy presence among the Israelites, for the ark represented the LORD dwelling in their midst (Exodus 25:22). By carrying seven trumpets of rams’ horns, the priests would announce a sacred and powerful call to battle, ultimately tied to the miraculous victory that would come at Jericho (Joshua 6:5).
Jericho lay just west of the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea, and served as a strategic gateway into the land of Canaan. At this moment in history—around the late fifteenth or early fourteenth century BC, depending on one’s dating—the Israelites were newly arrived in Canaan after decades of wandering in the desert. Joshua’s leadership bridged the era of Moses and the establishment of the Israelites in their promised inheritance. In calling the priests to bear the ark and the trumpets, Joshua was faithfully enacting the LORD’s command, demonstrating a posture of worship, dependence, and readiness for battle in God’s strength rather than human might.
This verse also highlights God’s pattern of using symbolic acts to show His power. The priestly procession, featuring the ark of the covenant and the rams’ horns, set the stage for Jericho’s walls to crumble by divine intervention. The people’s trust in God’s presence and in Joshua’s godly leadership would prove decisive for victory and emphasize that God alone is the true deliverer of His people.
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Joshua 6:6 meaning
“So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.’” (v.6)
In this verse, we see Joshua—Moses’s successor, anointed by God to lead the Israelites after Moses’s death—calling on the priests to prepare for a momentous act of obedience in the conquest of Canaan. Joshua, who served as the military commander throughout Israel’s entry into their new homeland, was entrusted to continue implementing God’s instructions to claim the Promised Land.Here, his direction to have the priests take up the ark of the covenant underscores God’s guiding and holy presence among the Israelites, for the ark represented the LORD dwelling in their midst (Exodus 25:22). By carrying seven trumpets of rams’ horns, the priests would announce a sacred and powerful call to battle, ultimately tied to the miraculous victory that would come at Jericho (Joshua 6:5).
Jericho lay just west of the Jordan River, north of the Dead Sea, and served as a strategic gateway into the land of Canaan. At this moment in history—around the late fifteenth or early fourteenth century BC, depending on one’s dating—the Israelites were newly arrived in Canaan after decades of wandering in the desert. Joshua’s leadership bridged the era of Moses and the establishment of the Israelites in their promised inheritance. In calling the priests to bear the ark and the trumpets, Joshua was faithfully enacting the LORD’s command, demonstrating a posture of worship, dependence, and readiness for battle in God’s strength rather than human might.
This verse also highlights God’s pattern of using symbolic acts to show His power. The priestly procession, featuring the ark of the covenant and the rams’ horns, set the stage for Jericho’s walls to crumble by divine intervention. The people’s trust in God’s presence and in Joshua’s godly leadership would prove decisive for victory and emphasize that God alone is the true deliverer of His people.