Last week, AJ (Author of Joshua) began chapter 5 by messing with us. He reminded us that all the kings of the land were terrified by the Israelites, and their hearts had melted. It was then, at that time, that Yahweh commanded Joshua to make swords.
We were all excited, thinking, NOW. NOW they will take Jericho. But the book of Joshua is about something bigger than the conquest and settlement of the land. Yahweh's bigger concern is that his people will live rightly in covenant relationship with him.
They will be circumcised rightly, as the sign of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel.
And they will observe the Passover, out of gratitude for what Yahweh did in freeing them from Egypt.
What does Yahweh want? He's never wanted people who legalistically obey him. That's a crude caricature of the OT. Yahweh wants people who live faithfully toward him, keeping the covenant they've made with him. He wanted the same thing then, that he wants now.
It's at this point, once Israel has done this, that Israel is now ready to take the land. And it's at this point, that we read this, in verse 13:
(13) And then , when Joshua was in/at Jericho, he lifted up his eyes
and he saw,
and LOOK! A man standing before him,
with his sword being drawn in his hand,
Let's stop here. This is a complicated little story. And if we get this wrong, we will get chapter 6 wrong as well. Where is Joshua? My translation says Joshua was "at" Jericho. Normally, this preposition is translated "in." He's in, or at, Jericho. Technically, we'd say he's at the outskirts. But this is very important for the story. Don't miss this detail. Joshua is "in" Jericho.
Joshua lifts his eyes, and he sees, and LOOK! A man. There's no warning. He didn't see him approach from far off. He's just there. And his sword is drawn.
No one walks around with their sword drawn. Swords are heavy; they tie up a hand (or two?). You draw your sword when you think you're going to need it. It's like a gun. Police only draw their guns when they think they will need them.
So who is this man? Why is he approaching Joshua, sword drawn?
Let's read a little further:
and Joshua went to him,
and he said to him,
"Is it for us that you are, or for our enemy?",
Joshua shows no fear here. Why should he be afraid of some dude with a sword, when Joshua knows Yahweh is with him, and has promised to protect him? Why be afraid, when you saw what Yahweh just did to the Jordan River? (#swagger). So Joshua personally goes out to him, with a simple question-- are you for us, or for our foes? Because everyone in the promised land is one or the other; this is very straightforward. And the dude is either dead meat, or he's a new ally.
Verse 14:
(14) And he said,
"No.
For I am commander of the army of Yahweh. Now I have come,"
And Joshua fell on his face toward the earth,
and he bowed down/worshipped,
and he said to him,
"What does my Lord say to his servant?,
This man, is not a man. He's the commander of the army of Yahweh. And he's coming, prepared to fight with Joshua. There's something he wants from Joshua, and he's not sure Joshua is going to give this willingly. So his sword is drawn, ready for trouble.
Joshua, though, shows total submission. He bows down, worshipping. This word, worshipped, is used almost exclusively for worship to Yahweh in the OT, or to describe Israelites worshipping other gods. The exception to this, is that a few times, it's used to describe people's response to the angel of Yahweh. And here, it's used for the commander of Yahweh's army. I would love to rabbit trail down this. I think there's a pretty decent chance that the commander of Yahweh's army is Jesus. But I haven't studied this with as much detail as I'd like, so I'm going to be kind of mean, and just drop it like that. Maybe it's Jesus. Maybe it's not. And maybe it's worship, and maybe it's just a posture of total submission, without the idea of worship here. I don't know.
However we answer that question, one thing is clear. Since Joshua has shown total submission to the commander, we know the sword isn't going to be needed. But what is it that the commander wants? We find ourselves expecting something big. Something costly.
Verse 15:
(15) And the commander of the army of Yahweh said to Joshua,
"Take off your sandal from on your foot,
For the place where you are standing on it, holy/consecrated it is,
and Joshua did thus.
How many sandals is Joshua supposed to take off?
Interesting, right? He's supposed to take one sandal off of one foot, because the place where he is standing is holy.
We read this, without thinking, and we think, there's something about sandals that are inappropriate for holy ground. For some reason, and we don't pretend to know what that is, we are supposed to be barefoot. We instinctively read Moses and the burning bush into this story (Exodus 3:5).
But Joshua isn't barefoot. He's got one sandal on, and he's holding the other sandal. Why?
Our natural reaction, as lefties, is to assume there is something wrong with people's right foot. But maybe there's a better explanation.
Let's turn to Ruth 4:
4 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you[a]will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth[b] the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”
When you take off your sandal, and give it to someone else, you are giving up your rights to something. It's a symbolic act, that transfers ownership of something.
Now let's turn to Joshua 1:3-4:
3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.
The book of Joshua began with Yahweh making a promise to Joshua. Every single place that Joshua's foot touches, is his. And where is Joshua? Joshua is "in" Jericho. His feet are touching Jericho. So now Jericho is his; it belongs to him. God promised him. And now the commander of Yahweh's army shows up, sword drawn, saying, "Take off your sandal. The ground where you are standing--which is where?--Jericho-- is holy to Yahweh. What this means is that it's dedicated to Yahweh. Yahweh is claiming this land for himself.
I'd like to say, the commander is asking Joshua to take his sandal off. Or, he's commanding him politely. But there's no "please" here. Yahweh is claiming Jericho for himself. And he's ready to fight Joshua over this. He sends the commander of his army-- the 5 star general-- to take it from Joshua. But Joshua submits, and obeys. He takes his sandal off, and gives ownership of it back to Yahweh.
This story should raise all sorts of questions for you. Why does Yahweh claim Jericho for himself? Why won't he let Joshua own it? Maybe AJ will eventually answer us, if we keep reading. :)
(1) Now Jericho was closed up, and it was closed up from before the sons of Israel.
There was no one going out and there was no one going [in].
(2) And Yahweh said to Joshua,
"Look! I give into your hand Jericho, and its king, mighty warriors of the army,
(3) and you shall surround/encircle the city-- all the men of war --going around the city one time.
Thus you will do six days,
(4) while seven priests shall carry seven ram's horns before the ark,
while on the seventh day you shall encircle/surround the city seven times,
while the priests shall blow on the horns,
(6:5) And then, at the long blast on the ram's horn, when they hear the sound of the horn, all the people will shout a great shout,
and the wall of the city will fall under it,
and the people will go up, each man straight ahead,"
In verses 1-5, Yahweh gives Joshua instructions for how to take the city of Jericho. They cover the entire process, up to the point the people breach the (collapsed) walls. For six days, the people, and the ark, will circle the city one time. But on the seventh day, they will circle seven times. The walls will collapse, and the people will go up to the city, each one straight ahead into the city.
This brings us to verse 6. Here, Joshua now turns to the priests, and passes along Yahweh's commands. He obeys, as we've come to expect:
(6) And Joshua the son of Nun called to the priests,
And he said to them,
"Carry the ark of the covenant,
while seven priests will carry seven ram's horns before the ark of Yahweh.
Here, the ark of Yahweh again comes into focus. Yahweh is enthroned upon the cherabim on the ark. Where the ark is, Yahweh is.
In verse 7, the priests now command the people. So Yahweh commanded Joshua, who commanded the priests, who commanded the people:
(7) And they said to the people,
"Cross over and encircle/surround the city,
while the ones equipped for war will cross over before the ark of Yahweh."
(8) And then, as soon as Joshua had spoken to the people, with the seven priests carrying seven ram's horns before Yahweh, they crossed over,
and they blew on the horns,
with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh walking/going after them,
(6:9) with the ones equipped for war walking/going before the priests blowing the horns,
with the rear guard walking/going after the ark
to walk and to blow on the horns,
(10) while the people, Joshua commanded, saying,
"Don't shout
and don't let your voice be heard,
and a word can't come from your mouths
until the day I tell you, "Shout!,"
and (then) you will shout,"
In verses 8-10, the people obey Joshua's command. AJ works very hard at giving us a picture of the entire scene. We see the ark; we see the soldiers walking in front of and behind the ark; we see the people quietly walking. And what we see, above all else, is perfect obedience.
Verse 11:
(11) and the ark of Yahweh was caused to encircle/surround the city, going around one time,
and they went to the camp,
and they spent the night in the camp,
We had this big picture, and we find our expectations building up... and then everyone goes back to their camp, and spends the night there. We knew this was coming; Yahweh explained all this up front. But still... a little bit of a bummer, maybe. What a modest ending to the day.
Verse 12:
(12) And Joshua rose early in the morning--,
Joshua has proven himself, over and over, to be a great leader. Here, he rises early in the morning, before everyone else. He's eager to obey; he takes his responsibility seriously.--
And the priests carried the ark of Yahweh,
(13) with the seven priests carrying seven rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh walking,
and they blew on the horns,
with the ones equipped for war walking before them,
with the rear guard walking after the ark of Yahweh to walk and to blow on the horns,
(14) and they surrounded/encircled the city on the second day one time,
and they returned to the camp.
Thus they did six days,
So at this point, we have the rhythm of this down. The ark, and the priests, and the warriors, circle the city. They blow the horn, and go back the camp, and spend the night. And they do this six days. And then, we get to verse 15:
Verses 15-19:
(15) And then, on the seventh day,
they rose early in the morning,
and they encircled/surrounded the city as customary seven times.
Only, on that day they encircled the city seven times,
(16) And then, at the seventh time, the priests blew on the horns,
and Joshua said to the people,
"Shout! because Yahweh has given to you the city,
(17) and the city shall be kherem-- it, and all that is in it-- to Yahweh.
Yahweh's initial commands to Joshua covered the entire process, up to the moment the Israelites breached the walls. I'm sure he told Joshua the rest of the details then, but AJ has deliberately put them here.
I would guess that many Christians think the people of Jericho were all lined up under the walls of Jericho, and they all got killed when the walls collapsed on them. Our children's Bibles all gloss over the gory details of this story. The whole city is "kherem" to Yahweh. English Bibles usually translate this as something like "dedicate to destruction" or "put to the ban." The idea is that every single thing in the city is supposed to be dedicated to Yahweh by destroying it. I'll come back to this in a bit. But notice, Joshua starts by making this big blanket statement in verse 17. Everything is "kherem."
Joshua then talks about a few exceptions. The first exception is Rahab. Rahab must live--she and everyone else in her house-- because she hid the spies that "we" sent. She risked her life to save the spies; she aligned herself with Israel, showing loyalty and commitment (khesed) to them. And so we read, at the last half of verse 17:
Only, Rahab the prostitute will live-- she, and all who are with her in the house--
because she hid the messengers whom we sent."
In verse 18, Joshua clarifies the meaning of "kherem," and gives the people a warning:
(18) while, only, you, keep (yourselves) from the kherem,
lest you are devoting to destruction (khereming),
and you take from the kherem,
and you make the camp of Israel for a kherem,
and you bring trouble on it,
The idea with kherem, is that everything in Jericho is supposed to dedicated to Yahweh by destroying it. There's a good chance, as you enter the city, you're going to see something in the city that you want. You've been in the wilderness for 40 years. You don't have a lot of nice things. But there's something you need to know. If you take from kherem-- from the things dedicated to Yahweh through destruction-- it will bring terrible trouble down on Israel. Take anything, and Yahweh will make you into kherem-- he will dedicate you and all of Israel to destruction.
Yahweh is determined that you Israelites will do this the right way. There's something about Jericho that Yahweh is determined to absolutely, totally destroy it. And you will do this right.
Joshua's last special instruction comes in verse 19:
(19) while all the silver and gold, and all the copper/bronze vessels, and iron, holy/consecrated, it is to Yahweh.
To the treasury of Yahweh it shall go,
[FWIW: "Holy/consecrated" is fronted here in Hebrew, making it the focus. When you're reading my translation, if words seem out of order, with commas, that's what's going on. In my own handouts, these words are also underlined/bolded to help show this].
The precious metals are dedicated to Yahweh is a positive way. They aren't supposed to be destroyed; they belong to Yahweh, and will go in his treasury.
Verse 20ff:
(6:20) And the people shouted,
And they blew on the horns,
And then, as soon as the people heard the sound of the horn, the people shouted a great shout,
and the wall fell under it,
and the people went up to the city, each man straight ahead,
and they captured the city,
(21) and they kheremed all that [was] in the city,
both from men up to women, from youth up to old, and up to ox and donkey by the mouth of the sword,
(22) while to the two men spying/exploring the land Joshua said,
"Go to the house of the woman-- the prostitute--
and bring her out from there-- the woman and all who belong to her-- just as you swore to her,"
(23) and the youths-- the ones spying/exploring-- went,
and they brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all who belonged to her,
while all of her clan they brought out,
and they put/set them outside the camp of Israel,
(6:24) while the city they burned with fire, and all that was in it.
Only, the silver and the gold and the copper/bronze vessels and the iron they gave (to the) treasury of the house of Yahweh,
(25) while Rahab the prostitute and the house of her father and all who belonged to her Joshua caused to live,
and she lived in the midst of Israel up to this day
because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to explore Jericho,
(26) And Joshua swore at that time, saying,
"Cursed is the man before Yahweh
who rises and rebuilds this city-- Jericho.
By his first born he shall lay its foundation,
while by his youngest, he shall set up its gates,"
(27) and Yahweh was with Joshua,
And his fame was in all the land.
Before talking about these verses, let's back for a minute. Why is Yahweh giving Israel the land? Let's read Deuteronomy 6:10-12.
Deut. 6:10-12:
10 “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The whole point of the conquest looks like it's to give the Israelites cities they didn't build, houses full of good things that they didn't fill them with, cisterns they didn't dig, and fruit trees they didn't plant. And what did the Israelites do to Jericho? They torched the place. The walls were destroyed. Nothing could be kept. And the city was supposed to stay abandoned forever.
Why did Yahweh claim Jericho for himself?
Why is Yahweh so determined that the city be completely destroyed?
Why did Yahweh send his commander with a sword to Joshua, to take back a promise he'd made to Joshua?
Why did Yahweh threaten Israel with kherem, if they didn't do this right, and kill everyone and everything?
We were hoping AJ would tell us. There is at least one clue in the text, and maybe 2 if we squint. But AJ doesn't make this easy for us. He assumes we already know the answer. And his focus, honestly, is elsewhere.
What did Jericho do? What's wrong with Jericho?
The kind thing to do would be to try to explain this. But...we are out of time.
What we know, for sure, is that Yahweh demands that Israel perfectly obey him, and completely wipe out Jericho.
And Israel does this perfectly. They kill everyone. They kill all the animals. They torch the city. The one exception to this was found in verse 24. Let's reread this:
Only, the silver and the gold and the copper/bronze vessels and the iron they gave to the treasury of the house of Yahweh.
[The discourse function of "only" is to place a limitation/qualification on a point just made].
Even this, Israel did exactly right. Stuff that's useful to God, is dedicated/made holy to Him. Stuff that's not useful to God, is dedicated to Him for destruction ("holy" vs. "kherem").
And Joshua caps all of this by pronouncing a curse over the city, to make sure no one every lives there again.
We read all this, and we breathe a sigh of relief. We have no idea what's wrong with Jericho. We don't know why Yahweh reclaimed the city. We don't know why God's so determined to kill and torch the entire city.
We have lots of questions, and these questions bother us. But we relax a little, knowing that Israel isn't going to fall under the kherem. The Israelites killed everyone and everything. They burned everything. They gave all the precious metals to Yahweh.
We were scared Israel wouldn't do this right, and Yahweh would dedicate them to destruction. But the people are once again obedient, as we've come to expect. And we once again marvel at Yahweh's power. We serve a magnificent God. Scary, maybe. But magnificent.
