On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 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.
The Israelites' abysmal failures in the Sinai Desert traced back to a simple matter of disobedience. Led by a dark cloud each day and a pillar of fire each night, they had unmistakable divine guidance. Yet they insisted on choosing their own way over God's. Will the next generation, their children, respond any differently now that they are marching through the promised land?
The residents of Canaan, who have long heard about the Israelites' plan to conquer them, brace for the worst. Citizens of Jericho, the first city in the invaders' path, barricade themselves within the walls of the city and await the expected attack. Instead, they watch, dumbfounded, as the Israelites apparently conduct worship rather than military maneuvers.
God has put the Israelites' obedience to the test. Instead of storming the walls, they must circle them in procession. Rather than swords, they use trumpets. The bizarre tactics of the Israelites in besieging Jericho leave no doubt that God alone is in charge. An army can hardly take credit for victory when it merely marches around in circles and shouts at their enemies.
And so against all odds, the walls of Jericho do fall down, and the Israelites take the city. As was true of the ten plagues on Egypt, the destruction of Jericho- probably a center for the worship of the moon god in Canaan- symbolically announces open warfare between the God of the Israelites and the pagan gods of the region.
Life Question: Do you ever feel foolish or strange when you follow what you are convinced is God's plan for you?
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Not so much now, but I do remember back in high school and college where a number of my friends used to ride me about being involved in Search (a Christian retreat program) as well as playing in the contemporary church choir each Sunday. I was never really one to go to the weekend parties, and my circle of friends were not always considered to be the "in crowd." Looking back at all of this now, I realize that Christ had a plan for me and kept calling me back into an on-going relationship with him each time I began to allow other folks to try and sway me away from him.
1 comment:
When I first came to faith at 24 years of age, I felt the necessity to make a change of vocation from being a club musician. I quit a successful group to look for something else and was not understood by the rest of my bandmates. It seemed foolish to them that I had a conviction and needed to break to another life-style. I guess at the time I felt strange about my own actions in this; but I knew it was the Lord leading me to a new life.
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