In Joshua 6, we have the siege of Jericho, God devoting it to destruction and the preservation of Rahab. Here now the reading of God's inspired word, profitable for us. Joshua 6, starting at verse 1. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times. And the priests shall blow with the trumpets, and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout. And the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said unto them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, pass on and compass the city and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns, passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rearward came after the ark, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout, then shall ye shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about at once, and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up the ark of the Lord, And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rearward came after the Ark of the Lord, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once and returned into the camp. So they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner seven times. Only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the cursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets, and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. So that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. But Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she hath, as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had. And they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein. Only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass, and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's house, and all that she had. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city, Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noised throughout all the country. Thus far the reading of God's holy word from Joshua chapter 6, verses 1 through 5 of this chapter, God gives directions. How are they to conquer this land? God gives the assurance of victory as well. God had inflicted terror on the city of Jericho we see in verse one. And notice there, verse two, the Lord said unto Joshua, who is speaking to God but the Lord? But you'll recall from the end of chapter five, this is the captain of the Lord's host. This is in the appearance of an angel or a man with his sword drawn. This is the one who told Joshua, loose your sandals from off your feet for the place where you are is holy. This is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate captain of the Lord's host. Notice Christ says, see, I have given into thine hand Jericho. God is the one who gave them this land. God is the one who exalts. God is the one who throws down. And he has all the hearts of men and all the circumstances of our lives in his almighty power. Let us then trust in God. Let us rely upon his providence as our forefathers did. Let us not be fearful, but rather let us do precisely what he has said. And what did he tell them to do? Wage a mighty battle with sword and fire, with cannons, with the might of your legs and the strength of your arms? Is that what he said? No. John Chrysostom says, God gave them the city by dancing, not by fighting. Ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. The Westminster Annotations say, Most weak, contemptible, and even to human reason, most ridiculous means. thereby first to manifest the glory of his wisdom and power, so much the more, and to show that this miraculous work was acted by himself alone. Seeing the means used could no way conduce thereto." You see that? No way you can dance around a city and cause the walls to fall. No way you can take a mighty, built up on the hills, they've got a wall that's going to fall flat because you walk around the city. It doesn't make any sense. Did you know that God has ordained the foolishness of preaching to change the obstinate, hardened heart? The rebellious, stiff neck? You know how God changes that? The foolishness of preaching. It has no way to change the heart, but God's power is at work, not the power of men. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1.25 Notice also what kind of trumpets did they use. Big, beautiful brass trumpets? Did they use the silver trumpets for convocating all the hosts of Israel on their holy days? No. Ram's horns. That's it. You butcher, you slaughter, you take the horns off. Just take that and bore a little hole and you use that for your shouting mechanism. Contemptible. Despicable. And all the people have to keep silent for all six days. They can't say a peep. No words proceed out of their mouth until God says, shout. Verse five, all the people shall shout with a great shout. And what's going to happen? Nothing. The walls will fall down of this great city of Jericho. Hebrews 11.30 tells us that by faith the walls of Jericho fell after they were compassed about seven days. They believed in God's power, they trusted in His means, and therefore they submitted themselves to His means. Faith, then, I note, is rooted in what is promised and commanded by God. Faith is not rooted in what you see or can sense. Faith is not rooted in the reason of man, what it comes up with on its own. Faith is rooted in what God reveals in His Word. They believed that if they shouted and compassed the city for seven days, God would cause the walls to fall flat. Verses 6-14 give us the trial of the people's obedience on the six days. Notice, Joshua the son of Nun, verse 6, called the priests, and he said unto them. And what did he say unto them? Did he make up some new things that God had not told him, that our Lord Jesus Christ had not said? He had an oral tradition he wanted to pass down? No. Whatever God told him, that's what he said to the people. That's it. He is faithful. Then after speaking these words to them, the priests obey. They believe. They cheerfully follow the instructions. Now notice verse 8. It tells us, And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of rams horns, passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. Did you see what scripture did there? It says that God and the ark of the covenant are the same thing. It's a parallelism. What went behind them was the ark. What they went before is the Lord. What then is the ark but the Lord himself? And what exactly does this mean? The Ark is the sign of God's covenant, as we saw in question 163 of our larger catechism, didn't we? There are two parts to every sacrament. There's a visible or a sensible sign, the Ark of the Testament. Then there is the thing that is signified, God Himself. and all of His benefits, the mercy seat, the forgiveness of sins, the law contained inside of the ark, the pot of manna for God's almighty preservation, the rod of Aaron that budded, saying, this is my divine ordinance of church government. All these things in that testament, all these holy signs, are called by the name of the thing they signify. We call the bread what? The body of Christ. What do we call the cup? We call it the New Testament in His blood. Is it the actual body of Christ? No. Is it the actual testament in the silver chalice? No. But scripture constantly gives us to believe that these two things must be spoken of together. Meaning, when you see the Ark of the Testament, do not believe in the sign, believe in the Lord Himself, the thing signified. Do not believe in bread, believe in Jesus Christ, whose body was broken for you. Believe in the promise of God, the Testament, sealed in the blood of Christ, sprinkled in the heavenly sanctuary. That's what faith teaches. Let us then believe in God's promise. And they did this six days, compassed about this city. Does this sound familiar? What did God do in six days? He created all things, didn't He? And what did He do on the seventh day? He rested. And so the people of God will walk around six days, and on the seventh day, they'll walk around seven times, and they will shout, and the inheritance will begin to unfold before them. Verses 15 through 25, Jericho delivered up on the seventh day and a solemn charge regarding the devotion of goods in Jericho. Notice again, they rise early. They're diligent in God's business on the seventh day. Verse 16 tells us Joshua said for them to shout, for the Lord hath given you the city. This was the time for shouting. And now because they believed God, they would shout right when he told them to. They boasted in his power, in his promises, in his precepts. Note verse 17, the city shall be accursed, even all that are therein to the Lord. Now it's very interesting this word accursed in the Greek Septuagint is anathema. That means something damned to destruction. The whole city was to be like hell. God's judgment coming down on them so that the holy people of God, the chosen people might inherit all. The city was accursed. It was devoted to destruction except for God's rights. Why is that? You think dancing got you the city? Walking around blowing trumpets and shouting makes walls fall down? Of course not. God receives all the credit. God receives all the glory. And anyone who tries to take his glory, he says, is cursed. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. There is a curse on these people. Should they take from God and say, no, I want to give your glory to a graven image. I want to give the glory that belongs to you to myself. I want it. As we'll find in chapter seven, and they bring a curse upon themselves. Now notice here, Rahab the harlot, she is saved alive. Verse 17 tells us, she and who else? All that are in her house because she hid the messengers. Her faith is rewarded. She and her household will be saved. But note a warning. In Anywise, verse 18, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed. When we rob God of His credit, when we rob God of His glory, what does God say? I will curse you. I will not bless you when you take my glory and give it to another, when you give it to yourself, when you give it to your strength or your wisdom or your faith or whatever, you take the credit away from God, he says, you are cursed. So keep yourselves, he says, from it, glory in this that you know God, don't glory in your works. Those goods, he says, shall come into the treasury of the Lord, not for common or profane use. They are God's goods. Therefore, if you steal those goods, what are you doing? Do you know what we call that? Sacrilege. Taking those things that are holy and profaning them, stealing from God himself. Notice God's great power. Verse 20, the wall fell down flat, just as God said. Verse 21, the Lord tells us, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city. That word utterly destroyed there is they anathematized. Just as God said, you'll be cursed if you take the cursed thing. So they cursed everything. They devoted it to destruction. Nobody touches their hands on one piece of item that had any value whatsoever. The whole thing is destroyed. Then notice another curse, verses 26 and 27. Joshua adjured them at that time. Now, later in the Bible, we find out this is a divinely inspired revelation. In 1 Kings 16, 34, we see, this was the word of the Lord that Joshua speaks here. Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city of Jericho. Now, why was that? Wasn't it part of their inheritance? Yes. But God said, this first fruits is mine, and I'm going to destroy it. And I want you to remember that I destroyed this city and you danced, you walked around the city, you blew trumpets and shouted, and I destroyed this city so that I could give you the land. The first fruits symbolizing that the whole land of Canaan, how did they get that? By their sword? By their bow? By the legs of man? By his arms of strength? Not at all. The Lord gave them the land because He had a delight in their fathers, because He chose them, called them, and gave them His gospel. That's why they got the land. So he's going to remind them, and if you are so sacrilegious that you want to build this city that I destroyed, God says, what's gonna happen to you and to your children? He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it. Yes. Hiel the Bethelite. He dared God. Oh yeah, God? Ha! Watch this. I'm going to rebuild Jericho. And guess who was buried in the stones of that foundation? His firstborn son. This curse was verified. Let us then be cautious to have reverence to preserve God's memorials. Remember Jericho stand or stood as a cursed city. Why? To remind them of the greatness of God's power, that their inheritance was from him. And when we have memorials of God's power and his salvation, we ought to keep them before our eyes, not cover them over with layers and layers of our own hardness of heart or superstition or profanity from the wisdom of men. Did you know there were heretics who said that they should not drink wine? And when they came to the Lord's table, do you know what they did? Did they drink wine like Jesus had? No. They put water in there. Why? Well, because our wisdom says this. Christ's commandment says that. So let's choose our wisdom. We're wiser than God. We don't need to remember that his blood was spilled for us. All we need is a little water. We're holy people. We avoid, as we'll see later, the meats and drinks that defile us. Let us not cover over with ingratitude or base superstition the memorials of almighty God in boldness of sacrilege. And thus far the explanation of Joshua chapter six.