1 Now Jericho was shut up and was barred, because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2 And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the valiant men.
3 And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4 And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5 And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Carry the ark of the covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah.
7 And he said to the people, Pass on, go round the city, and they that are armed shall pass on before the ark of Jehovah.
8 And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before Jehovah passed on and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went after them.
9 And the armed men went before the priests who blew with the trumpets, and the rearguard came after the ark; they blew with the trumpets in marching.
10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, Shout; then shall ye shout.
11 And the ark of Jehovah went round the city, encompassing [it] once; and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Jehovah.
13 And the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah went on and blew continually with the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rearguard went after the ark of Jehovah; they blew with the trumpets in marching.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 6
Commentary on Joshua 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
Joshua opened the campaign with the siege of Jericho, a city which could not trust so much to the courage of its people as to act offensively, and to send out its forces to oppose Israel's landing and encamping, but trusted so much to the strength of its walls as to stand upon its defence, and not to surrender, or desire conditions of peace. Now here we have the story of the taking of it,
Jos 6:1-5
We have here a contest between God and the men of Jericho, and their different resolutions, upon which it is easy to say whose word shall prevail.
Jos 6:6-16
We have here an account of the cavalcade which Israel made about Jericho, the orders Joshua gave concerning it, as he had received them from the Lord and their punctual observance of these orders. We do not find that he gave the people the express assurances God had given him that he would deliver the city into their hands; but he tried whether they would obey orders with a general confidence that it would end well, and we find them very observant both of God and Joshua.
Jos 6:17-27
The people had religiously observed the orders given them concerning the besieging of Jericho, and now at length Joshua had told them (v. 16), "The Lord hath given you the city, enter and take possession.' Accordingly in these verses we have,
Lastly, All this magnified Joshua and raised his reputation (v. 27); it made him not only acceptable to Israel, but formidable to the Canaanites, because it appeared that God was with him of a truth: the Word of the Lord was with him, so the Chaldee, even Christ himself, the same that was with Moses. Nothing can more raise a man's reputation, nor make him appear more truly great, than to have the evidences of God's presence with him.