To the Victor …

Finally, after Israel’s soldiers have marched mutely around Jericho 13 times over seven days, the moment comes for action. The priests give a long blast on the rams’ horns and Joshua commands the people to break their silence and to “ ‘Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.’ ”

But Joshua pauses just at the decisive moment to reiterate the rules that are to govern this attack. Some scholars believe Joshua must have spoken these words earlier, reasoning that he hardly would have waited until the instant before battle was joined to give such important instructions. It is also possible that he gave his men these warnings earlier and here reissued them in a summary form. In any case, summing up all God’s instructions for the taking of Jericho, he reminds his men that the city is to be totally destroyed and all its inhabitants put to death, the lone exceptions being Rahab and those who are with her in her house. And as for the material goods of the city, the Israelites must keep hands off. It is sometimes said that “to the victor go the spoils,” and that is the case here. Israel is not about to overthrow Jericho—God is. It is He who is giving the city into the hands of the Israelites. Therefore, they have no claim to any of the plunder of the city. The only things that are to be salvaged from the destruction are gold, silver, and objects of bronze and iron, and God has claimed them as His and dictated that they be brought into the treasury. As for other material goods, God has placed a curse on them because they are possessions of the accursed Canaanites. “ ‘By all means,’ ” Joshua says, “ ‘abstain from the accursed things.’ ” Those who do not will themselves become accursed and, like a spreading cancer, will bring the curse on all the people. Thus, they shall “ ‘trouble’ ” Israel.

So it is that when the horns sound and the Israelites shout, the mighty walls of Jericho suddenly begin to sway and then fall down flat. These great stoneworks, the last, futile hope of the Canaanites, are toppled by the finger of God. With the city now exposed and unprepared for their onslaught, the soldiers charge into Jericho and begin the awful work of extinguishing all life within it. They thoroughly carry out the commands of God, for “they utterly destroyed all that was in the city” and “they burned the city and all that was in it with fire.”