And The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Series

(SING) “Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. VERSE: You can talk about the men of Gideon, you can talk about old King Saul. But there's none like good old Joshua at the battle of Jericho.”

Jericho is commonly believed to be one of the oldest cities ever been built and it is said to be oldest known WALLED city ever built. It was formidable. Heavily fortified. Encircled by 2 rings of walls. The 1st wall stood between 12 to 15 feet high and the inner wall was 32 to 41 feet in height. The illusion created by the two walls from ground level, would have seemed to stand nearly 10 stories in height. Nobody would have thought that anybody could destroy it.

But then one day - the walls just came tumbling down. And the once mighty symbol of paganism was destroyed. You know, I got to thinking about how those walls came down, and I ran across this set of videos I wanted to share:

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ea267502e9e23089&sxsrf=AE3TifM4rGsbd47NARXEwVWzYJu8e0IRwA:1754345031238&udm=7&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeuYzzFkfneXafNx6OMdA4MQRJc_t_TQjwHYrzlkIauOKj9nSuujpEIbB1x32lFLEvHqOmFe_-41rWC15qkwKqyh1Adl28caI-H4UkF8vEkZPiKeLm1-IF950TIh8vlACO2mbTPf8VBxPKSqKtr1s8uQjQLdEjaVIu_0_-ZWXvwTw3fTWnw&q=pLANNED+DEMOLITION&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS5pnDlPKOAxWFj4kEHYMUARkQtKgLegQIEhAB&biw=1280&bih=607&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:292cc1e2,vid:XYb5IGm2K3E,st:0 TIMESTAMP 4:09-5:36

What you just saw was something that’s called a “planned demolition.” Sometimes a building just has to come down, and the bigger buildings require experts who know how to strategically place explosive material in just the right places, and those explosives are detonated in such a way that the structure collapses straight down in a matter of seconds!

But when the walls of Jericho fell, Joshua didn’t have a team of engineers. There were no explosive charges. In fact, Joshua didn’t have do much that actually brought those walls down. It was God that destroyed the city - all Joshua and the Israelites had to do was show up.

So, here’s a question – Did this really happen? Was Jericho destroyed the way the Bible says it was? You know, there are people who scoff at stories in the Bible like this, where something dramatic and miraculous occurs. It doesn’t make any sense to them that the Israelites just marched around Jericho a few times and the walls collapsed. They just can’t believe that would happen, so they dismiss it as… a myth.

BUT was it? Was it just a myth … or did it really happen?

ILLUS: Back in 1990, Time Magazine had an article that said: “(Jericho’s fall was) one of the most dramatic events chronicled in the Old Testament. But for generations scholars have debated whether the Israelites’ assault on Jericho was a fact or a myth…. (Recently though) discoveries at Jericho were largely consistent with the Bible story.” (Time March 5, 1990)

So WHAT did the Bible say that was “largely consistent” with the evidence? Well, for one thing, archaeologists found that the walls of Jericho fell straight down in a way that was suggestive of a sudden collapse. You see, when most cities were conquered – their enemies breached the walls from the outside so that the walls would be caved INWARD. But as you can see from this artist’s rendering of what archaeologists discovered Jericho’s wall FELL DOWN… not inward. Just as the Bible said.

The Bible ALSO says that the Israelites were told to set the city on fire. Archaeologists found that much of Jericho was covered by a thick layer of soot (which is a black powder that’s formed when something’s burned). When they used radio-carbon dating on that soot, they found the soot was formed about 1400 B.C. (the date Bible indicates Israel invaded Canaan).

A question: How Long Did It Take Israel To Conquer Jericho? (7 DAYS). Now, one way to conquer an ancient walled city was to starve it out. Just surround the city and wait till they ran out of food. But the evidence shows that Jericho had plenty of food. Archaeologists found several jars full of barley throughout the city. In other words, they weren’t starved into submission. They had plenty of food to last for weeks. So, the city fell within days… just like the Bible said.

So, Jericho fell just the way the Bible said it did…. but now what? It’s a cool story but what did God want to teach us by destroying that city?

Well, first - Jericho was a great city. It was imposing and it was virtually impregnable. There was no city quite like it anywhere in Canaan. And yet God told Israel to destroy that city FIRST - BEFORE they did anything else. (pause) WHY?

Well, God had Jericho destroyed FIRST because it WAS an imposing and virtually impregnable city. It was a little bit of SHOW and TELL. First, it was a little show and tell for Israel. If Israel could take Jericho nothing could stand before them. Conquering Jericho was to be a faith builder for them.