Miraculous Fall of Jericho
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to be devoted as a sacrifice to God. In the conquest of Canaan the
Israelites were not to fight for themselves, not to seek for riches or
self-exaltation, but for the glory of Jehovah their king. The command
had been given, “Keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye
make yourselves accursed ... and make the camp of Israel a curse, and
trouble it.”
All the inhabitants, with every living thing, were put to the sword.
Only faithful Rahab with her household was spared in fulfillment of
the promise of the spies. The city palaces and temples, its magnificent
dwellings with all their luxurious appointments, the rich draperies and
the costly garments, were given to the flames. That which could not
be destroyed by fire, “the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass
and of iron,” was to be devoted to the service of the tabernacle. Jericho
was never to be rebuilt as a stronghold; judgments were threatened on
anyone who should presume to restore the walls that divine power had
cast down.
The utter destruction of the people of Jericho was a fulfillment
of commands previously given concerning the inhabitants of Canaan:
“Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them.” “Of the cities of
these people, ... thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.”
Deuteron-
[349]
omy 7:2
;
20:16
.
To many these commands seem contrary to the spirit of love and
mercy enjoined in other portions of the Bible. But they were in truth the
dictates of infinite wisdom and goodness. God was about to establish
Israel in Canaan. They were not only to be inheritors of the true
religion, but to disseminate its principles throughout the world. The
Canaanites had abandoned themselves to debasing heathenism, and it
was necessary that the land be cleared of what would surely prevent
the fulfillment of God’s gracious purposes.
The inhabitants had been granted ample opportunity for repentance.
Forty years before, the judgments on Egypt had testified to the power of
the God of Israel. The overthrow of Midian, of Gilead and Bashan, had
further shown that He was above all gods. His abhorrence of impurity
had been demonstrated in the judgments on Israel for their participation
in the abominable rites of Baal-peor. All these events were known to
the inhabitants of Jericho. Many shared Rahab’s conviction, though
they refused to obey it, that the God of Israel “is God in heaven above,
and upon the earth beneath.” Like the men before the Flood, the