My Bible reading today took me into Joshua 6 where the walls of Jericho fell down. You know, for some reason I had either always been taught (or just thought) that the entire wall all around the city just came down that day...but I found that most likely wasn't the case.
Rahab's place of residence was actually a part of the city walls (Joshua 2:15), and she was told to stay in her house with all her relatives on the day the children of Israel attacked (Joshua 2:18). If all the walls fell down, everyone that was in her household would have died that day if all the walls fell, yet we know that not only did that not happen (Joshua 6:23), but that she went on to become the Great, Great Grandmother of King David !
Joshua 6 tells us that each of the children of Israel outside of the city of Jericho (when the walls fell), went into the city straight before him. The bible doesn't really tell us if they attacked from all sides at once or not, but if they did, a very different picture than what I had thought was probably true. They would have formed a circle on all sides of the city....except for a gap in this circle just big enough to allow the portion of the wall where Rahab's house stood to remain standing.
As amazing as the walls just falling down is, the fact that a portion stayed up to protect one of the members of the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 is more amazing still.
It seems that God shows me new things every time I read his word.
November 4
3 years ago
I had wondered something similar a few months back as I read Joshua. Our class did an in depth study of Joshua in 2007, but this didn't come up. Often as I come across things like this in Scripture, I too stand amazed at how God took special precautions for those who follow Him.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you and I share a desire to write and it happened at the same time.