Pictured above are drawings that according to written records, archeological evidence gathered, and comparison to other fortified cities of the time represents the city of Jericho of Joshua's time. It gives us a very probable overhead view of the city in its entirety, and a cross-section of the probable construct of the walls. Though relatively small, coupled with the fact that Jericho probably had several water sources within the walls the fortification is very nearly impregnable by normal military strategies of the time. The fact that this fortification was a construct of only three thousand men women and children is a testimony of wealth and money well l spent. This fortress though small was certainly "state of the art" for its time. What better, safer place for worldly deities based mainly on man's lust, to flourish.
Most of us are familiar with the mechanics of the battle of Jericho, but as with all things in God, the temporal is only half of the full lesson. We need to open our hearts to where God's Spirit is, because often it is the spirit or the conditions of the world around the event that determines the outcome of the event.
Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
Israel numbered about one million people giving Jericho had every reason to be afraid, but numbers alone didn't spur the terror felt by the people o Jericho. The people of Jericho were blessed with all the good things of life. The Jordan valley was a well-watered plain of rich soil that made food plentiful. Their position as a center of trade routes made Jericho a city of merchants that catered to merchants. Chances are they were community of wealthy pampered people able to afford all that the world had to offer. Lusting after wealth is a very competitive game that can destroy both unity and the need for unity. Jericho faced a slave nation driven out of Egypt and hardened by forty years isolated in the wilderness learning to live by the rigors of the Laws given to Moses. The food they ate was of God. The clothes they wore were of God. The government that bound them together was of God. Jericho was confronted by over a million religious fanatics that had just lost their God-given source of food. This was just the one of the problems that Israel brought to Jericho.
Joshua 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
Jericho was completely unaware of how thoroughly God was preparing His children body and soul for the labor they faced. He took time before the battle to create a people one in heart, mind, and body
Joshua 5:2-3
5:2 At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
5:3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
Circumcision had not been practiced during their time alone in the wilderness, because Israel was not a nation on display to the world. Once again Israel was in the world and the markings of their covenant with God were again necessary because it set them apart from the world and unified them temporally. God in His wisdom went one step further and unified their spirits also.
Joshua 5: 10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho
Passover is a celebration of all God seeks for His children. The original Passover was the final plague in Egypt. It set Israel apart from bondage to any earthly master. They were instead to labor with the God of creation. For us today Sacrament, which grew out of the Passover, allows us to remember our covenant with God, and our unity of purpose in the Lord.
Leviticus 26:12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Joshua 5:13-15
5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
5:14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
5:15 And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
From God, Joshua received the plan they would use to defeat the evil off Jericho.
Joshua 6:8-10
6:8 And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.
6:9 And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
6:10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
Full of faith Israel did as God told them to do, and in the end the walls of Jericho fell. Did this kill the Canaanite religion in the Mid East? No more than the presence of one more church will make the world a holy place, but like Jericho it is a beginning.
It was at this point of my studies of Jericho that the my labor began to bear fruit. By fully realizing the physical, temporal, mental, and spiritual conditions surrounding the labor of restoration by Joshua and Israel to Jericho, important similarities between their labor and ours for Zion became blatantly obvious. The most important was the unity of oneness.
Genesis 7:23 And the Lord called his people, Zion, because they were of one heart and of one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them.
Consider if you will what Israel had lived through that made them one. Few unite or are kept as united as a community of slaves. Because of Egypt's obsession with proper bookkeeping and proper breeding practices among their livestock, the twelve tribes representing Jacob's twelve sons were kept intact. This foundational legacy gave the oneness of Israel identity, and kept alive their history and their connection with God. When you add to their slave status forty years of both trial, training, and organizing by God through Moses you have a people that view the fellowship of unity as both survival and the only true means of meaningful growth. What's more, Israel understood completely the value of the individual excellence when applied to the group. There is no possible way a competitive urban society like Jericho could ever hope to achieve or even understand the unity of Israel. Understand that when our unity is in God and of God, He will be found at its very center.
2 Nephi 9:137 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
The next thing that stood out to me was the battle itself. With a dedicated people numbering in the hundreds of thousands unified by a common purpose of serving God and a trained army of enthused fighting men numbering thirty to forty thousand, Joshua's victory seemed to be assured, but God had other plans. He was about to offer the world a poignant testimony of open battle between the Gods of the Canaanites and the God of Abraham.
Joshua 6:2-4
6:2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
6:4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns; and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
Now, pretend for a moment that you are one of the people inside the walls of Jericho with an army that was essentially powerless against the hordes that were Israel. As a people united and ready to defend a common purpose, Jericho paled in comparison to Israel. The procession circling their city was 40,000 fighting men who never drew their swords, the Ark of the Covenant, and seven Priest blowing ram's horns known as a "shofar". Following this was a whole nation of men, women, and children that never uttered a word nor made a sound. The haunting moan of the shofar was the only thing heard and it seemed to be reaching out for the very soul of the people of Jericho and in fact it was. The shofar was an instrument of the Tabernacle used by the Priest to gather the people to both battle and celebration. Rosh Hashanah is the Hebrew New Year and a time of atonement and drawing away from the world and closer to God. During this celebration the shofar is blown 100 times to remind the people to repent and be counted as one of God's own.Temporally Israel was invading the city of Jericho. Spiritually, God sent His Priesthood to preach repentance to a people that knew not God.
Mosiah 9:51-53
9:51 And it came to pass that Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number did he ordain to preach unto them, and to teach them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
9:52 And he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.
9:53 Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.
It is written of God that He is the same yesterday, and forever. Each time I search for God, His ability to be both steadfast and patient is of great comfort to me. Each of us both Priesthood and member can depend on God to sanctify our efforts at bringing His ways to the world, and edify us in the many ways to accomplish our self-proclaimed task. I think that God's method of outreach to the Canaanites in and around Jericho far from unique. In fact it is a type and shadow of our labor with God today. For six days the Priesthood circled Jericho making no other sound that their call of repentance. On the seventh day the procession walked seven times around the city and when the horns blew, the people joined Priest in their call, and the walls came tumbling down.
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Look to this and learn the ways of God. The Priesthood of Christ has been calling the world to repentance since the days of Christ. What has happened; nothing? Well regrettably enough you are mostly right. Just like the first six days of Israel's attack on Jericho, Mighty men marched, God made His presence known, Priesthood cry repentance, and nothing happens. When in the world are we going to accept the lesson of the seventh day?
Brethren, when Joshua's people joined with the procession in the full unity of oneness bringing the word of God, walls fell down. Think about this one more time. When we as God's children join with Him and reach out to the world with His ways; Walls Fall Down. Am I asking all of you to become holy evangelist? No, because we have an abundance of people preaching the word of God. Some more accurately than others, but they are there. The Lord needs a people who will sanctify His ways before the people of the world and live in His ways with joy and honor, even when they are challenged.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer with meekness and fear to every man that asketh of you a reason for the hope that is in you:
God blessed me with so I will share with you, two passages of scripture that never fail to help me focus on the labor at hand and the purpose we serve.
Luke 10:28 And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.
Let this love be alive in your heart. Let it allow the compassion you feel in your heart become the deeds of charity that will always speak God's name. And when you run out of things to do or meet a challenge that has you stumped, trust God. He is both willing and able.
Luke 11:10-11
11:10 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
11:11 For every one who asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Praise God for all He has given us this day
And praise Him more for those things yet to come.
FRED
