Stories & culture
The walls of Jericho
Israel’s first battle in Canaan is won by marching, trumpets and a shout, and the one household saved belongs to a Canaanite woman.
Key verse
So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they took the city.Joshua 6:20
World English Bible (public domain)
The story in brief
Joshua 1:9God told Joshua, "Be strong and courageous... for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go."Joshua 2:1-4Joshua sent two spies to Jericho. Rahab hid them on her roof.Joshua 2:11Rahab said, "Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath."Joshua 2:18The spies told her to tie a scarlet cord in her window to save her family.Joshua 3:15-17The priests' feet touched the Jordan, the water stood still, and Israel crossed on dry ground.Joshua 6:3-5God's plan: march around the city once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh, then shout.Joshua 6:20The people shouted, the trumpets sounded, and the wall fell down flat.Joshua 6:25Rahab and her family were spared and lived in Israel.Matthew 1:5Rahab appears in Jesus' family line in Matthew's genealogy.
The culture behind the text
Jericho and the devoted thingsHerem meant "devoted to God": everything in the city belonged to God, as a firstfruits of the land. Achan's theft wasn't just greed but stealing from God. Archaeologists debate the dating of Jericho's destruction, and the evidence is still contested.Joshua 6:17-19; Joshua 7:1
Rahab, the scarlet cord, and the roofFlat roofs were used for drying flax, the material for linen, after harvest, which fits the season. Rahab's house in the city wall matches houses built into the casemate walls of ancient cities. A Canaanite prostitute becomes an ancestor of David and Jesus.Joshua 2:6, 2:15-21; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31
Study notes
Shittim and Jericho · Joshua 2:1Shittim ("acacias") lay east of the Jordan; Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world, guarded the route into the hill country.The walls of Jericho · Joshua 6:20Archaeologists disagree on dating Jericho's destruction layers (Garstang, Kenyon, Wood). Hebrews calls the fall an act of faith.
How the Bible connects it
Every cross-reference in Lampstead says why it’s linked. A few from this page:
Joshua 6:20 → Joshua 6:5Why: The walls fall as promised
It shall be 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; then the city wall will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight in front of him.Joshua 6:20 → Hebrews 11:30Why: By faith the walls fell
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
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Sources behind these notes: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), "Jericho"; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), "Jericho". Bible text: World English Bible (public domain).