Jericho, Ai, and Covenant Loyalty

Joshua 6:1-27

Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the presence of the Israelites; no one was going out or coming in. And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Look, I am giving Jericho into your hand, its king and the soldiers of the army. You will march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once; you will do so for six days. And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you will march around the city seven times, and the priests will blow on the trumpets. And when they blow long on the horn of the ram, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great war cry, and the wall of the city will fall flat, and the people will charge, each one straight ahead.” So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry the trumpets of the rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh.” And he said to the people, “Go forward and march around the city, and let the armed men pass before the ark of Yahweh. And when Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the presence of Yahweh went forward and they blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed behind them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they were blowing the trumpets. But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You will not shout, and you will not let your voice be heard; a word will not go out from your mouth until the day I say to you ‘Shout!’ Then you will shout.” And the ark of Yahweh went around the city, circling once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of the rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and they blew on the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh, while the trumpets blew continually. And they marched around the city once on the second day, and they returned to the camp. They did this for six days. Then on the seventh day they rose early at dawn, and they marched around the city in this manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time the priests blew on the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city. The city and all that is in it will be devoted to Yahweh; only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction so that you do not take them and bring about your own destruction, making the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it. But all of the silver and gold, and the items of bronze and iron, are holy to Yahweh, and they must go to Yahweh’s treasury.” So the people shouted, and they blew on the trumpets. And when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell flat. The people charged, each one straight ahead into the city, and they captured it. And they utterly destroyed by the edge of the sword all who were in the city, both men and women, young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey. Then Joshua said to the two men who spied on the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you swore to her.” So the young men who were spies went and brought Rahab and her father and mother, her brothers, and all who were with her. And they brought all her family out and set them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city and all that was in it with fire; they put only the silver and gold, and the items of copper and iron, into the treasury of the house of Yahweh. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her family and all who were with her, and she has lived in the midst of Israel until this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua swore at that time, saying, “Cursed is anyone before Yahweh who gets up and builds Jericho, this city. At the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” So Yahweh was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

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Joshua 7:1-26

But the Israelites broke faith concerning the devoted things. Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted things; and Yahweh’s anger was kindled against the Israelites. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, “Go up and spy out Ai.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up and attack Ai; only two or three thousand men should go up because they are few. Do not make all the people weary up there.” So about three thousand from the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts of the people melted and became like water. And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Ah, my Lord! Why did you bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content and stayed beyond the Jordan. Please, my Lord! What can I say after Israel has fled from its enemies? The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this , and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?” And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned and transgressed my covenant that I commanded them. They have taken from the devoted things; they have stolen and acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their belongings. The Israelites were unable to stand before their enemies; they fled from their enemies because they have become a thing devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: “ There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before your enemies until you remove the devoted things from your midst.” In the morning you will come forward, tribe by tribe, and the tribe that Yahweh will select by lot will come forward by clans, and the clan that Yahweh selects by lot will come forward by families, and the family that Yahweh selects by lot will come forward one by one. The one caught with the devoted things will be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he transgressed the covenant of Yahweh, and because he did a disgraceful thing in Israel.” ’ ” So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought forward Israel, tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected by lot. And he brought forward the clans of Judah and selected the clan of the Zerahites by lot. Then he brought forward the clan of the Zerahites, one by one, and Zabdi was selected by lot. He brought forward his family, one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected by lot. And Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please, give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and give him a doxology in court. Tell me, please, what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua and said, “It is true. I have sinned against Yahweh the God of Israel, and this is what I did: I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold that weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver is under it.” Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there they were , hidden in his tent, and the silver was under it. And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites. And they spread them out before the presence of Yahweh. Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle and donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that was his, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why did you bring us trouble? Yahweh will bring you trouble on this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they stoned them with stones. Then they placed on top of him a great pile of stones that remains to this day. And Yahweh turned from his burning anger, and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.

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Joshua 8:30-35

Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, as Moses Yahweh’s servant commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: “an altar of unhewn stones on which no one has wielded an iron implement.” And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the Israelites. Then all Israel, foreigner as well as native, with the elders, officials, and judges stood on either side of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh’s servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that was written in the scroll of the law. There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel, and the women, the little children, and the traveling foreigners among them.

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