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See also: Sodom and Gomorrah 48–49 ■ Covenants 44–47 ■ Entering the
Promised Land 96–97 ■ The Nature of Faith 236–41provides fresh water, while the
city’s granaries are full to bursting
with freshly harvested grain.The faith of Rahab
To find out as much as he can
about the city’s defenses, Joshua
sends two followers—Caleb and the
high priest Eleazar—to spy on the
city. Once inside Jericho, the men
rest for the night in the house of a
woman named Rahab near the city
gates. Rahab, either a prostitute or
innkeeper according to different
translations, is soon faced with a
dilemma. The Israelites have been
spotted and the king’s guards are
in pursuit. Rahab hides the spies
under stalks of flax drying on her
roof and tells the guards that the
men left at dusk.
When the coast is clear, Rahab
helps the Israelites escape. She
says, “The Lord your God is God in
heaven above and on the earth
below” (Joshua 2:11). They promise
that she and her family will be
spared when the Israelites attack.
She is told to hang a scarlet thread,
or cord, out of her window as a
signal to keep her home safe. The
spies report back to Joshua that,
although Jericho’s defenses are
strong, its people are demoralized
by the Israelite threat.
While Joshua considers his best
strategy, a man carrying a drawn
sword appears before him. Some
biblical scholars say this is the
angel of the Lord, but others argue
that it is God himself. The figure
tells Joshua exactly what he must
do. He is to march his soldiers in
silence around Jericho once a day
for six days, bearing the Ark of the
Covenant and preceded by the
priests blowing rams’ horns. On the
seventh day, the Israelites are tomarch around the city seven times.
The priests must then blow a last
blast on the trumpets while the
people raise a mighty shout.
Joshua does what God has
ordered. After the final trumpet
blast and the shout, the walls of the
city crumble and fall down flat.
Joshua’s soldiers storm into Jericho,
slaughtering its inhabitants and
then burning it to the ground.
Rahab and her family are spared.God’s triumph
The Israelite victory is complete.
God has shown the Israelites
He is on their side and Joshua’s
unwavering obedience to God has
allowed them to prosper under his
leadership. However, the story of a
city razed to the ground, its women
and children slaughtered, unsettles
many modern readers, to whom
indiscriminate destruction is
incompatible with the concept of
an ethical God. The explanation,
perhaps, lies in the conquest being
a metaphor for the power of faith
and obedience. The character of
Rahab is key. Although she is a
foreigner, and possibly a prostitute,
she is redeemed through her faith
and good works. ■Archaeological finds
at JerichoOne of the oldest continually
inhabited cities in the world,
ancient Jericho is a site of
considerable archaeological
importance. Excavations
show that the first settlements
appeared about 8000 bce and
were repeatedly destroyed
and rebuilt over the following
millennia. However, while it is
clear that the city was invaded
at some point in its history,
most archaeologists dispute
the biblical account.
British archaeologist
Kathleen Kenyon, who worked
at Jericho in the 1950s,
concluded that Jericho did not
exist at the time Joshua is said
to have conquered it. Jericho,
Kenyon postulated, was
destroyed, but it was by the
Hyksos of northern Egypt in
around 1550 bce, about 150
years earlier than the biblical
account. Kenyon’s findings
also suggest that the city
wall, which previously had
been dated to the time of the
Israelites, actually dates from
the early Bronze Age, 1,000
years before. However, the
story of the Israelite conquest
may have some credence. It
is possible that the Israelites
conquered a town that had
sprung up on the ruins of an
earlier settlement.THE HISTORICAL BOOKS
Cursed before the Lord
is the one who undertakes,
to rebuild this city, Jericho.
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