Joshua 6

¹Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

²And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

So de lard wants Josh and his band of bastards to play ring o' roses round Jericho

³And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

⁴And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

⁵And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

Sounds like a plan. After all these great walls will fall down at the sound of trumpets.

⁶And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.

So lets think about this. The people of Jericho are fearful of these murdering bastards, so they shut up the city........A sensible option.

Josh wants the city.....The surrounding terrain is too uneven for any seige engines known to exist at that part of the world at that time.......If his men go near the walls they can expect siege defence tactics.....Arrows, rocks and probably night buckets or potties......So what will walking round and round achieve?

The first time round will achieve two objectives

First reconnaissance.

Second . A major distraction.

⁷And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.

⁸And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.

As the parade passes the sentries watching would naturally followed them with their gaze. This would have enabled small groups to get to previously identified hollows and weak points for their skills.

⁹And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rearward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

With the next circumnavigation the noise created by their passing would enable them to tunnel under the walls without being noticed. Possibly also allowing supplies of wood to be brought in for props. Not to mention the vague possibility of "strange fire".

¹⁰And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.

¹¹So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

¹²And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.

¹³And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rearward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

¹⁴And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

¹⁵And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

¹⁶And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

¹⁷And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

I thought they were spies

¹⁸And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.

¹⁹But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

²⁰So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

Even without "strange fire" The undermining of the walls kept up by props while the work continued. Until a large enough hole to guarantee enough destruction to the wall to gain access. The props could then be burnt causing the wall to collapse.

You might have thought that this would have been recorded. But had it been de lard wouldn't have got the credit, with yet even modern investigators suggesting yet another coincidental earthquake.

²¹And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

²²But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.

²³And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

²⁴And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

²⁵And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

So we have known for ages that de lard rewards traitors,

²⁶And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.

That worked then....Jericho I believe is the longest known continually occupied settlement

²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

Joshua 3

¹And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

²And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;

We know from the previous chapter that word of the Israelites escapades has reached the inhabitants of Jericho, and I think it would be fair to assume the ruling administration would have even more knowledge. So as I asked earlier why are they not preparing for an invasion, questioning the odd stray donkey.

³And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.

⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

Considering Noah's ark was only 300(450-500ft) cubits long that is a great distance(almost half a mile)It certainly makes me wonder.....Why ?

⁵And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

⁶And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁷And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

⁸And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

⁹And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

¹⁰And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.

¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

¹²Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

¹³And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.

On first reading I thought the 12 men were the priests, but are they ?

If they are not the priests, is it not conceivable that they were selected for another mission ? A mission so secret it was not recorded, perhaps not even told to any others, a mission that would just about explain why there was such a distance between what was thought to be the ark and the rest of the army.

Intrigued ?

Remember the death of Aarons sons

I said at the time it sounded like an early gunpowder or fire flash.

With me now ?

Perhaps they got the quantities wrong and had inadvertently discovered an explosive. If this was the case, would it have been that difficult to go dam the Jordan, at least temporarily.

I am not suggesting how or where they did it or whether or not there was any preparation, what I am suggesting it is more convincing than godidit, or a coincidental earthquake that amounts to the same thing.

¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;

¹⁵And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

¹⁶That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

I think it is highly feasible that they had seen or knew of a weak overhang or an avalanche waiting to happen at some point.

¹⁷And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.