Fall of Jericho
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that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation
thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the
gates of it.”
The utter destruction of the people of Jericho was but a fulfillment
of the commands previously given through Moses concerning the
inhabitants of Canaan: “Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy
them.”
Deuteronomy 7:2
. “Of the cities of these people, ... thou shalt
save alive nothing that breatheth.”
Deuteronomy 20:16
. To many these
commands seem to be 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, to develop among them a nation and government that should
be a manifestation of His kingdom upon the earth. 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
the foulest and most debasing heathenism, and it was necessary that the
land should be cleared of what would so surely prevent the fulfillment
of God’s gracious purposes.
The inhabitants of Canaan had been granted ample opportunity for
repentance. Forty years before, the opening of the Red Sea and the
judgments upon Egypt had testified to the supreme power of the God
of Israel. And now the overthrow of the kings of Midian, of Gilead
and Bashan, had further shown that Jehovah was above all gods. The
holiness of His character and His abhorrence of impurity had been
evinced in the judgments visited upon Israel for their participation
in the abominable rites of Baalpeor. All these events were known to
the inhabitants of Jericho, and there were many who shared Rahab’s
conviction, though they refused to obey it, that Jehovah, the God of
Israel, “is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath.” Like the
men before the Flood, the Canaanites lived only to blaspheme Heaven
and defile the earth. And both love and justice demanded the prompt
execution of these rebels against God and foes to man.
How easily the armies of heaven brought down the walls of Jericho,
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that proud city whose bulwarks, forty years before, had struck terror
to the unbelieving spies! The Mighty One of Israel had said, “I have
given into thine hand Jericho.” Against that word human strength was
powerless.