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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
imposing army marched solemnly around the devoted walls. The re-
splendent ark of God lighting the early dusk of morning, the priests
with their glittering breastplates and jeweled badges, and the warriors
with their flashing armor presented a magnificent pageant. They were
silent as the dead, save the measured tread of many feet and the oc-
casional blare of the trumpet, cutting the blank stillness of the early
morning. The massive walls of solid stone frowned darkly down,
defying the siege of men.
Suddenly the vast army halts. The trumpets break forth in a blast
that shakes the very earth. The united voices of all Israel rend the
air with a mighty shout. The walls of solid stone, with their massive
towers and battlements, totter and heave from their foundations and,
with a crash like a thousand thunders, fall in shapeless ruin to the
earth. The inhabitants and the army of the enemy, paralyzed with
terror and amazement, offer no resistance, and Israel marches in and
takes captive the mighty city of Jericho.
How easily the armies of heaven brought down the walls that had
seemed so formidable to the spies who brought the false report! The
word of God was the only weapon used. The Mighty One of Israel had
said: “I have given into thine hand Jericho.” If a single warrior had
brought his strength to bear against the walls, the glory of God would
have been lessened and His will frustrated. But the work was left to
the Almighty; and had the foundation of the battlements been laid in
the center of the earth, and their summits reached the arch of heaven,
the result would have been the same when the Captain of the Lord’s
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host led His legions of angels to the attack.
Long had God designed to give the city of Jericho to His favored
people and magnify His name among the nations of the earth. Forty
years before, when He led Israel out of bondage, He had proposed to
give them the land of Canaan. But by their wicked murmurings and
jealousy they had provoked His wrath, and He had caused them to
wander for weary years in the wilderness, till all those who had insulted
Him with their unbelief were no more. In the capture of Jericho God
declared to the Hebrews that their fathers might have possessed the
city forty years before had they trusted in Him as did their children.
The history of ancient Israel is written for our benefit. Paul says:
“But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples,