I think almost everyone would agree that of all of Israel’s battles involved with conquering the Promised Land, the battle over Jericho is by far the most famous. More kids know “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho …” than any other song about overcoming the Promised Land. Why is this so?
First, it wasn’t because it was the first battle, because it wasn’t. Now it was the first battle on the west side of the Jordan River, but the Israelites had already conquered the kingdom’s ruled by Sihon, king of the Amorites and the giant king, Og of Bashan. Numbers 21:21-35
Second, it wasn’t because of it’s huge population; Jericho only had about 2,000-3,000 people living there.
Third, it wasn’t because of it’s immense size either. Archeologists have documented the size of Jericho to be only be about 8-9 acres, the size of 6 high school football fields.
Then why was so much attention paid to Jericho? Even Joshua, when he sent the 2 spies into the land to check things out said, “Go, look over the land, especially Jericho.”
Why was Jericho such a big deal to everyone? The children’s song holds the key:
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho
And the walls came a-tumbling down
THE WALLS were why Jericho was such a big deal to everyone, why it was the most famous town in the region. Once again archeologists help us out with the walls, namely John Garstang (1930s) and also by Kathleen Kenyon (1950s).
Jericho basically had 3 walls separated by a significant inclined embankment. The first wall was on ground level and stood about 15 ft. tall and was made out of stone. On top of that stone wall stood a mudbrick wall which rested on a mound of steeply inclined dirt and was 6 ft. thick and about 25 ft. tall. So far that makes 40 ft. of walls. The steep embankment extended beyond the second wall far enough that it reached the same height (40 ft.) as the first 2 walls. Then at that point came the final wall of Jericho. It too was a mudbrick wall standing about 46 ft. high. That’s 86 ft. of walls with a steep embankment between the second and third walls. Attackers had to fight uphill and overcome 86 ft. of walls. Now can you see why Jericho was such a big deal to everyone? It was considered to be so impenetrable that foreign armies usually passed it by. After all it wasn’t that big and therefore didn’t have enough riches to steal, certainly not enough to risk the lives of thousands of soldiers only to come up empty handed.
But everything was upside-down with this God of the Israelites. Jehovah had demonstrated His power so clearly over the region that Rahab (2:9), the 2 spies (2:24) and Joshua (6:16) knew that “God has given you this city.”
When they completed God’s battle plan, “the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.”
Before the day the walls collapsed, Jericho was famous for being impenetrable. Since that day it has become even more famous. But now no one hears the name Jericho without remembering it’s destruction by the MIGHTY GOD of the Israelites. GOD receives the glory every time the word JERICHO is mentioned. God bless.
Mike Sublett is a pastor at Hi-Land Christian Church, 1615 N. Banks St., Pampa, Texas 79065. Email him at pawdad@nts-online.net.
