13.3.11 - God, obedience and the unusual

This is an unusual story. When we stop to think about what happened, it is all really rather unusual. Lets look at what lies behind it all.


The inhabitants of Jericho and of the whole land live in fear of what God will do. Israel’s God has already given Jericho over to Joshua’s power. It is only necessary for him to claim that victory.

So the King and the Warriors are already at Joshua’s mercy. Only the walls remain an obstacle.

The walls of Jericho did not tumble just because of a shout of the people walking around. There had been preparation for the shout of victory. Some of that preparation had started forty years earlier in the preparation of Joshua and Caleb and the soldiers that had been trained in the wilderness. There was more preparation after the Jordan had been crossed. There had been a renewal of the rite of circumcision and a new observance of the passover. The hearts of the people had to be right before there could be a full outpouring of God's blessing.

Let’s ponder that – the hearts of the people had to be right before there could be a full outpouring of God’s blessing. As individuals, as families, as a church, as a wider community – we want to be in a place where we can receive God’s blessing – our hearts need to be right. How is the state of your heart? Do we struggle with bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, greed, the list goes on.

Do you recall the ad for Vogel bread that used to a TV awhile back? There’s the couple who live in New York and he used to preciously to guard his Vogel bread – she apparently let someone else get at it, he is still going on about it and she says – “Let it go – it was over a year ago” How do we hold onto things - Let it go – it was over a year ago!!

If we want to receive God’s blessing, our hearts need to be right – we need to let things go.

But the preparation did not stop with the circumcision and celebration of Passover. It continued right up to the moment of the victory shout. Everything that went before that moment was the preparation of the hearts of the people. The story stresses three steps.

Silence
In v.10 we find the command to the people to keep silent. They were to be utterly quiet as they circled the doomed city. Their lips were not to speak a word. Verse 10 says:

Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" (6:10)

That must have been a difficult thing for the people to do. We are talking about a large number of people here – the whole nation of Israel. It is hard to imagine any large group moving anywhere without an increasingly noisy hum, then roar of voices. There were soldiers to get in line, a route to be pointed and taken. How this could be accomplished in silence I'm not sure, but this is what the people did. You can see why they only took the fighting men and not the kids. The kids would be saying:

Are we there yet, Dad?
How much longer, Dad?
Dad, we gotta stop, I need to go to the toilet””

By the 7th day Joshua Junior would have been saying “Hey, Dad, are you sure you know where you are going – we have been past this palm tree five times already today!”

Now the people would have difficulty ignoring the taunts of the people of Jericho. On the first day the Canaanites would probably have been silent too, watching to see what this army might do.

It must have been bizarre: a silent attacking force watched by silent defenders. But silence would hardly have lasted beyond the second day. By the then the people of Jericho would have begun to mock the Jewish soldiers, imagine what they might have said:

Are you getting good exercise marching round our walls?
Are you lost?
You've crossed the Jordan River, is that all your're going to do?
Are you checking to see if we've left a door open?
Are you afraid to fight?
Why don't you try to get in?
You're just cowards!"

Under such circumstances it would have been difficult for the Jewish people to have kept silent.

What do you think they were thinking about? I suspect they were thinking there is no way of conquering this city unless God delivers it to us. Jericho's walls were high. The gates were shut.

Each time they walked around the walls would have helped them to realize that if there was to be a victory, it would have to be given by God.

Silence before God is a lesson we all need to learn. If we are not speaking aloud, then there are a thousand mental voices inside our head, each wanting to have the last word. Listen to God? How can we possibly hear what he is saying when we ourselves never stop. This passage seems to be saying, "Hush, don't talk so much. Let God speak!”

2. Obedience
The second step in the preparation of the people for the conquest of Jericho was obedience.

Obedience is an essential part of true faith, which is why, I suppose, the actions of the people of Jericho are cited in Hebrews as a demonstration of faith.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days (Hebrews 11:30)

What is it that most honours God and which God takes delight in honouring? Is it powerful statements of faith? No, many people have loudly proclaimed his name, only to later fall away and cease to serve him. It is not about exercising our natural talents and abilities? No, Many people have had great ability but waste them on worthless projects. Is its attractive appearance or personality? No, Saul stood out amongst others, but he finished badly.

Samuel's words after Saul had sinned reveal the true answer. We find this in 1 Sameul 15:22:

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the word of the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

That is the answer. The thing that most honours and that most delights God is obedience.

Even Jesus was honoured and given a name above every name because he was obedient "obedient to death – even death on a cross"

Obedience to the very end
The third step in the preparation of the Jewish people for victory was obedience to the very end.

This is involved in the previous point, of course, because obedience that is not total, is not real obedience; it is disobedience.

It is necessary to point this out, because how often do we start on the path that God has directed us, then for a variety of reasons fail to continue on that path.

The conquest of Jericho emphasizes the point. The people were given their instructions one day at a time, and at the end of their assignment for that day, they returned to their camp. And nothing happened!

They had encircled the walls. But when they reurned to the camp, the walls were still standing, no one surrendered, and the Jewish armies seemed to be no closer to the final conquest of Canaan than they had been the day before. So it was after the second day... and the third... and the fourth... and the fifth... and the sixth...

We need to learn the lesson that the Jewish armies learned at Jericho. There is no substitute for obedience to God, and in that obedience we are called to be obedient to the end. And when God does not act as quickly as we think he should or precisely in the way we are convinced he should act, we are still not justified in pulling back or starting off with our own methods and techniques.

One of the cornerstones of being a disciple of Christ is that of obedience and taking up our cross and being prepared to go to wherever that may lead.

It was only when the people had obeyed God faithfully that victory came and the walls tumbled.

Demolishing Strongholds
As disciples of Christ, as soldiers in the army of God we are engaged in a war where enemy strongholds need to be conquered. We see them everywhere. There are fortresses of evil in the world, in the church, and when we are honest - in ourselves.

They are surrounded by high walls. And like Jericho the gates they are sealed. How are we to respond? How do we respond to evil? The answer is that we are to assault them in the way God has told us to carry out warfare: by prayer, by the Word of God, by our behaviour, and by our testimony. We might look at the forces of evil and think the ancient weapons of the church are inadequate, and we may be tempted to abandon them and use the world's tools.

The apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians in Ch.10 v.4:

The weapons we fight with, are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

And the book of Revelation in Ch. 12:11 says of the battle against Satan:

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

We need to listen to God and obey faithfully to the very end. When we do, then in God's own time the walls of Satan's strongholds will tumble.