Israel 2012 Bible Tour Day 5

Jericho


2012 Israel Bible Tour Day 5 Part 1 from Charissa Robertson on Vimeo .

Jericho is the oldest city in the world, and is also the lowest in elevation in the world. When Abraham came to Jericho, it would have already been 7,000 years old. 

"Joshua 3:14-17
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge,16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground." 

In the time of Joshua, and even now, the Jews are not water people, they do not go to rivers, lakes and the ocean for leisure. They most likely did not know how to swim, so approaching a river at flood stage would be very intimidating. My pastor preached a sermon on this a few weeks ago, where several places in the bible when God causes bodies of water to split and the ground to dry up its is never when the people are on the shore waiting for God to move. They always have to first get their feet wet and press on trusting that God will move. With just this information alone, I could end the blog and let you chew on this thought for a while, but we have more to cover.  Back in the day when Joshua was written, there were several cultures living in the land that is now known as Israel... hence why the Israelites had to roam the desert for 40 years because they were scared of the giants who inhabited the land. All of these cultures had their own gods that they worshiped. One being Baal who was the god of water and fertility. They believed that water was his sperm, because where there was an abundance of water, things grew. The inhabiting cultures also believed that gods were regional gods. So they believed in the God of Israel, but only as the desert god. So imagine you are one of the officials of the Fortified City of Jericho watching this group of potentially a million Jews approaching in the distance. You would probably feel secure because 1. the Jordan is at flood stage (Baal is protecting us), and their god can not leave the desert and 2. the wall around the city was built to be impenetrable, even if they did manage to get past the river some how. Now you might get a little worried when you see that the river has dried up and the desert people are walking across without any problems, but you still find security in the wall.

Lets take a step back and get more background from Joshua 2

"Rahab and the Spies
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.)7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. 8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.” 14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.” 15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.16 Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” 17 The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.19 If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him.20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.” 21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window. 22 When they left, they went into the hills and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had searched all along the road and returned without finding them.23 Then the two men started back. They went down out of the hills, forded the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them.24 They said to Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”"

Ok so did anyone else notice that these "holy" men of Israel went straight to the Prostitutes house? Many pagan cultures would have temple prostitutes, and it would be no surprise for traveling men to visit the prostitutes when they came through town to "worship", although the Israelite men conducted themselves differently and demonstrated to Jericho, Rahab and the world took notice. Because of her faith, she was saved for saving them using a scarlet chord in the window of her house which was part of the wall. Perhaps its part of God's sense of humor, but of the 4 women named in Jesus' genealogy, Rahab is one of them. But lets get back to the story of Jericho. I don't know about you but I have never physically encountered what Joshua encounters when approaching Jericho as described in Joshua 5:13-15 when I am approaching spiritual battles.

Joshua 5:13-15

 "13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so."

I may be a little freaked out if I ever came across a man in modern culture standing in front of me with a drawn weapon... be it a gun or a sword, but I am often reminded by God that I can do nothing by my own power, and that it is not I who am making an impact, but God making an impact in the world through me, I am just one of the many tools in his tool shed.

Joshua 6

 "Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the people, “Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.” 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord's covenant followed them.9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding.10 But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. 22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord's house.25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. 26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates.” 27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land."

 When I was growing up reading about the story of Jericho and how the Israelite people marched around it for seven days and finally blew the trumpets and the walls fell, I imagined that it was a huge fortified city, equaling in size to the city I grew up in (Reno, Nevada) which would have taken quite a long time. However when we pulled up to the old city of Jericho and began our trek around it, it was not very big, we walked around its ruins once, and it took a little over 10 minutes. We walked the same path that the Israelite people would have walked each day, and the whole story of Jericho shows that the battle was the Lord's, not Joshua's. Just to awe and amaze you at this fact, here are some archaeological facts about the old city. When excavating the ruins of this city archaeologists found evidence that they believe the walls of the city were banked at a inward angle and when the walls fell they fell outward not inward and the retaining walls crumbled outward creating a ramp for the Israelites to gain easy access to the city. There is some fascinating information on this at  http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/cm/v21/n2/the-walls-of-jericho if you are interested in knowing more details about what the archaeologists found.

Ruins of old city Jericho

God says to leave the ruins where they are, and not to rebuild the city over the ruins. With the consequence being the death of all your children

Joshua 6:26 " 26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates."

When the Israelites came to Jericho, they had just finished wandering in the desert for 40 years, they owned the clothes on their backs and the livestock that survived in the desert, but they had no land or permanent homes. Imagine after wandering in the desert you not only reach, but concur this beautiful oasis. If this were me, I would be praising God for his provision in giving me a land of abundance. But God tells the Israelite people "no that is mine. I want you to show me, that you know who is giving it to you, and that you trust that I will give you the rest."... Wait... What?! If this was me, with my selfish entitled heart I would be mad! I would be arguing with God about how I worked so hard for it (by walking around the city and really doing nothing to take the city other than be at the right place when God moved). Isn't that how we react when our pastors preach on tithing? Well I earned this money... its mine! Why should I have to give God the first fruits of my labor... I will just give him whatever is left over at the end of the month. This is a important principle to embrace. Its not that God needs our money, our land, our crops. Its a act of faith on our part and a proclamation that we trust in God above our own means. This city was to remain in Ruins as a reminder to the world what there is a God of Israel, and that they were to trust Him to provide for them even if they gave Him their First Fruits.

In 1 Kings, King Ahab decided that it was okay to rebuild Jericho despite what God had said about doing so. He gave permission to Hiel to rebuild Jericho, and he did indeed suffer the loss of his children in the process.

1 Kings 16:34
"In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun."

Modern Jericho

There are several feasts throughout the year that God commands the Jews to celebrate... (Why we as a Christian church abandoned this practice is beyond me, God commands us to party and celebrate who He is, and over time the church has become a somber place. Lets bring back the parties!) There is Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Schavout, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Succoth. For the feast of First Fruits, you would pick the first ripening fruits from your vineyards and bring them to God symbolically saying "I trust you God that this is just the first to come, but even if my crops are destroyed tomorrow, I trust you will provide for me." Jericho was the first fruits of Israel as they were coming into the promise land. Do you practice giving God a portion of your first fruits? If not Why? Are you serving God with the talents, gifts and abilities He has given you every day, or are you using them only for your own enjoyment?

Elishas Spring

Israel 2012 Day 5 part 2 from Charissa Robertson on Vimeo.