Joshua And The Battle Of Jericho

Good Evening. Tonight, we’re going to look at tone of my favorite OT Bible stories. It’s one you’re probably all familiar with, which is dangerous. When we become too familiar with a story, we can fool ourselves into thinking we know everything about it that there is to know. But the thing about the Bible is, we will never be able to know everything that there is to know about it. Because it’s not just a collection of ancient manuscripts. I believe that the Bible is a message from God to his creation, and I believe that the Spirit of God was active in the writing, creating, gathering, assembling, and preserving of it. And I also believe that the Spirit of God is active in the hearts and minds of those who read it and hear it today. The Bible is bigger than the sum of its parts. The Bible is bigger on the inside.

That being said, I want to invite you to turn with me, in your Bible, to the book of Joshua, and once you’ve reached the book of Joshua, I want you to go to chapter 6. Again, most of you are familiar with this story. As soon as you see the heading over the chapter, Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, you know what story we’re dealing with, you probably remember the lessons/sermons you’ve heard about it before. It’s a popular story for many children. I love telling this story when I do children’s sermons. I will often have them build a wall of blocks, march around it, and make it fall. Maybe you sang the “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” song when you were a kid. But again, the problem with this being a popular children’s Bible story is that we often dismiss it as just that, a children’s story. When we encounter it, we, as enlightened adults, gloss over it, we’re beyond such milky stories, and want to move onto more meatier things.

But I want to challenge you a bit this evening. Forget that this is a story for kids often told by talking fruits and vegetables. Open yourself up for the Spirit of God to move in you heart and mind and teach you something tonight. Allow God to speak into your life.

So, before we get too deep into this passage, I would like us to get to know a little about this character Joshua. If you remember your Hebrew history, you will recall that Joshua enters into the Biblical narrative in the book of Numbers as an aide of Moses. He eventually rises up to become the second in command over all of Israel and becomes God’s chosen successor of Moses to lead the people into the Promised land.

Now, names are important in the Bible. They aren’t just identifiers to distinguish one person from another. Names carry meaning, weight, and purpose. Abram’s name was changed to Abraham to signify him as the Father of many nations. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, representing Israel’s struggle with God. I could go on.

So, if we’re paying attention, Joshua’s name should stand out to us. Joshua’s name means something.

In Hebrew, his name is pronounced “Yeshua.” The Greek form of this name is Iesous, translated into English as Jesus, or into Spanish as Jesus.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence. In fact, I’m sure it’s not. I don’t think God does anything by accident. I think that Joshua is meant to point us to Jesus. The literal meaning of both of their names is “to deliver, to save, or to rescue”. Joshua delivers, saves, the nation of Israel as he leads it in the conquest of the Promised Land. Jesus delivered, or saved, us when he conquered sin and death.

I believe that this passage from the OT book of Joshua reveals and points us to Jesus too. So, let’s dive in.

(Read Joshua 6)

The first thing I want us to notice tonight is that no one in their right mind would have come up with this plan to conquer Jericho. There are several ways to conquer a fortified city but marching around the walls in silence isn’t one of them. You build siege weapons, you bombard them, you knock down walls, you break the gate, you create barriers and blockades, but you don’t just take a stroll.

Except, that’s exactly what God tells Joshua to do.

God seems to take delight in doing things no one in their right mind would do. He has a man build a giant boat when it hasn’t even rained. He starts a nation with a man and a woman who have not children, and who are beyond childbearing age. He chooses the youngest, the runt, to become king. He chooses to save humans from sin by dying on a cross. It just doesn’t make sense. No one in their right mind would do these things. But God does.