Overcoming Walls
Got some walls you can’t get around? Joshua had them too.
40 Years of wilderness wanderings had brought Israel to a mountaintop overlooking the land of promise. But there was a problem – the promised land was occupied. Jericho had to be conquered (see Joshua 6).
Impenetrable City
The city of Jericho was inhabited by a powerful race with a powerful military – they stood ready to oppose the invasion of their land. Their horses, iron chariots, their knowledge of the country, plus their training in war, gave them great advantage. And the country was further fortified by two tall, supposedly impenetrable walls.
Jericho sat on top of a small hill known as a “tell.” If you tried to enter Jericho from outside, you’d get to a wall at least 10-12 m high sitting on a retaining wall at least 2m high. If you were able to climb and descend the first wall, you then had to journey uphill towards the city, where the residents could see you coming. Tired from your uphill journeying and climbing over the first wall you would then face another 6-8 m wall which surrounded the city. Nobody could conquer the walls of Jericho.
Not only were the walls high – the soldiers of Jericho were veteran soldiers. The Israelites were ex-slaves and not trained for battle…by all outward appearances it looked like they would fail on their conquest. Their opposition was stronger. Their opposition had more experience.
God of the Impossible
BUT the Israelites had God on their side – and nobody can handle walls like He can! God instructed them to march around the walls 13 times. Surely after the first time they’d understand the magnitude of the walls they cannot conquer! God wanted them to clearly see (13 times) the obstacle in front of them and come to the realisation that they could not bring this wall down by themselves….and this is exactly where He wanted them to be. When those walls came a-tumbling’ down they couldn’t praise themselves…they could praise Him alone.
God told Joshua that although there were HUGE walls, although the inhabitants were skilled at war, although the city had never been conquered before, He would deliver the city into their hands (6:2). Joshua believed God.
Shout to the Lord
Just before the walls of Jericho came down, the people were instructed to shout (6:20) and then the walls collapsed! God is so good that you can praise Him while the walls are still up. You can praise Him when there seems to be no way. And while you’re praising Him for who He is, He will make a way! It might be an unconventional way (ie. marching around blowing trumpets and shouting seems like a strange way to overtake a city?) BUT the lesson here is that we can still send shouts of joy even when there’s a wall in front of us.
Got walls? Give praise! He is faithful and can handle the walls you can’t handle yourself.
Joshua faced the walls of Jericho, but he didn’t have weapons, or even a well devised plan that passed the Israelite executive/board…so how did they claim a city that was fortified so strongly?
They were instructed to march around the city 13 times blowing trumpets. An unconventional plan, yes – God’s way of doing things are sometimes a bit out of the box. What’s interesting to note is that these weren’t just regular trumpets; they were rams’ horns aka “shofars.” Trumpets were used by anybody and everybody – for music, to call people to assemble together etc. But shofars were only used for one reason – to mark God’s presence. Shofars were sounded to signal the beginning of Sabbath. As shofar was sounded at Mt. Sinai. A shofar was sounded on the Day of Atonement.
The Israelites didn’t win the war with weapons – they gained victory over the walls by seeking His presence.
Have you been trying to overcome your walls by your own strength? By your own wisdom?
The battle belongs to the Lord. Be still and KNOW that He is God. If He is for you, who can be against you?
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Amen, thank you!