Passage Study
Jericho Falls before the Lord’s Judgment and Mercy
Joshua 6:1–6:27
Joshua 6 narrates Jericho’s fall through a seven-day procession centered on the ark, trumpet blasts, and the Lord’s command. Israel does not capture the city through normal siegecraft; the walls fall when God acts. Jericho is devoted to destruction under divine judgment, while Rahab and her household are rescued because of the oath made to her. The chapter holds judgment and mercy together and directs readers to Christ, the righteous Judge who saves all who trust Him.
- In this study
- 27 verses · 5 movements
Joshua 6
6:1Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.
6:2The LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.
6:3All of your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.
6:4Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
6:5It 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.”
6:6Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD’s ark.”
6:7They said to the people, “Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the LORD’s ark.”
6:8It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them.
6:9The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.
6:10Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”
6:11So he caused the LORD’s ark to go around the city, circling it once. Then they came into the camp, and stayed in the camp.
6:12Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the LORD’s ark.
6:13The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the LORD’s ark went on continually, and blew the trumpets. The armed men went in front of them. The rear guard came after the LORD’s ark. The trumpets sounded as they went.
6:14The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.
6:15On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. On this day only they marched around the city seven times.
6:16At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!
6:17The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
6:18But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.
6:19But all the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They shall come into the LORD’s treasury.”
6:20So 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.
6:21They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
6:22Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from there, as you swore to her.”
6:23The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all of her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.
6:24They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.
6:25But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lives in the middle of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
6:26Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed is the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he will set up its gates.”
6:27So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.
CONTEXTUAL OVERVIEW
Jericho is shut tightly because of Israel, yet the Lord begins by declaring that He has given the city into Joshua’s hand. His instructions make the coming victory unmistakably His: warriors march, priests sound trumpets, and the ark goes before the people, but no assault occurs until the Lord brings down the wall.
The chapter also refuses to make the event a celebration of ethnic superiority or private revenge. Jericho is placed under herem, devotion to the Lord’s judgment, and Israel is forbidden to take the city’s devoted goods. Rahab’s rescue within the same chapter shows that the Lord’s judgment is not indifferent to faith-filled appeal for mercy.
HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT
Joshua’s conquest narratives belong to Israel’s particular covenant history and cannot authorize Christian violence, colonial seizure, or the destruction of present-day enemies. Genesis presents God’s patience with Canaanite iniquity, while Joshua presents a bounded act of divine judgment in the land Israel was promised. The text gives no mandate to reproduce its warfare outside that historical setting.
The seven-day pattern and priestly trumpets give the event a liturgical character. Jericho’s fall is not explained as a military innovation. Israel must obey a strange command and wait for God’s action, which guards the story from being read as human conquest baptized with religious language.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
- The ark before the army · Joshua 6:7The visible center of the march identifies the Lord’s presence, not Israel’s force, as decisive.
- Devoted to the Lord · Joshua 6:17Jericho is placed under divine judgment and withheld from Israelite enrichment.
- Rahab brought out · Joshua 6:23The rescue promised in chapter 2 is faithfully kept amid judgment.
CHRIST IN THIS PASSAGE
Jericho warns that God judges persistent evil, a truth Jesus Himself teaches with sober clarity. Yet Joshua 6 also gives a concrete picture of mercy: Rahab, a woman from the condemned city, is saved because she entrusts herself to the Lord’s promise. The New Testament places her in the line of the Messiah and remembers her faith.
Jesus does not extend Joshua’s military commission to His church. He bears judgment for sinners at the cross and sends His followers to make disciples, love enemies, and proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations. The final judgment belongs to Him; the church’s present mission is witness to His mercy.
REFLECTION
Jericho confronts both presumption and despair. Sin is not harmless, and God’s holiness cannot be managed by religious language. At the same time, Rahab’s household shows that no background, city, or past puts a person beyond the mercy God promises to those who turn to Him.
Do not use this passage to label another group as your Jericho. Bring your own sin to Christ, receive His mercy, and speak of His coming judgment with tears, humility, and a genuine invitation to refuge in Him.
Original Hebrew Word Study
Joshua 6:17
חָרַם
charam · H2763
Usually translated: devote wholly to destruction
Charam means to devote wholly. Jericho is placed under the Lord’s judgment, making the victory an act of divine justice rather than ordinary conquest for plunder.
Follow the Scripture trail
Jericho Falls before the Lord’s Judgment and Mercy in the larger story
The connection: Jericho displays the reality of God’s judgment and the mercy shown to Rahab within that judgment. Jesus bears judgment for sinners and now sends the church to announce forgiveness and refuge in His name to every people.
Respond to the passage
Renounce any use of Scripture to justify contempt for enemies. Confess your own need for mercy to Jesus, and ask Him to make your speech about judgment truthful, humble, and full of the invitation of the gospel.
- Why does the ark, rather than an assault plan, dominate the first part of the chapter?
- How does Rahab’s rescue shape the way you read the judgment on Jericho?
- Why must Christians not treat Joshua 6 as authorization for present-day violence?
Prayer
Righteous Lord Jesus, You judge evil truly and receive sinners mercifully. Save us from pride and cruelty, make us honest about sin, and send us to speak Your forgiveness to those far from You. Amen.