Exploring  Jericho

Exploring Jericho

Monday - Thursday Devotional

For Adults and Teens

And

Wednesday is Children's Day!

by Beth McLendon

Our featured Bible story is found in 

Joshua chapter 2 and chapter 6.

Monday - Amazing Jericho archaeological discoveries 

Tuesday  - Rahab.... Fascinating Facts

Wednesday  - Children's Day

Thursday - Visiting current Jericho - Seeing the site of
                           Joshua's altar.

And Don't Miss this GREAT "short" video.....

A Youtube "Short" For Adults, Teens, and older children

Joshua 6:24 - Joshua burned Jericho.

Please cut and paste the following link into your browser.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ibWTW61SzL4?si=UWN4PV2otOpD3OJ5

Monday

Jericho

Archaeological

Evidence for the Walls that Collapsed.

Another Quick Video

Youtube "Short" about the bricks of the walls of Jericho.

Cut and paste into browser...

https://youtube.com/shorts/AWkcjRzEywo?si=Amnqs_2Jqj2SceZ7

My Experience of

Teaching the story of

Joshua capturing Jericho

to 7th Graders.

Several years ago, I was a 7th grade Sunday school teacher.

I woke up one Sunday morning with almost no voice.

So, I decided to show my class a children's movie about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. (It was a little young for them, but they actually enjoyed it.)

After the video,

I whispered for everyone to get up out of their seat.

I ordered them to march around the room 7 times.

You should have heard the squawking.

"This is dumb."

"I don't want to do this."

"Why are we doing this?"

And they also showed their boredom

by barely dragging

themselves around the circle.

After they only went around the circle a couple of times,

I let them sit down.

Then I shared these words with them....

"You had a hard time with marching today.

What do you think

big, adult soldiers thought

about marching around the city?

AND

they HAD to be silent. 

Those brave warriors felt dumb marching around the city. They felt that they looked stupid to the residents of Jericho. They felt ridiculous marching around each day. But they obeyed.
And they had to do it for 7 days.  And they had to be perfectly quiet!

Yet

they obeyed - and obeyed better than you did.

And then, a miracle happened.

They SAW a huge miracle.

The walls miraculously fell down!"

I also mentioned the following...

I also pointed out how unnerved and anxious the people in the city would have been as...

they saw that great army
march around the city for 7 days.

The anticipation was building as each day passed.

The city dwellers
did not know how long the marching would last -
or
what would happen
when the marching was finally accomplished.

Tuesday

Rahab's House

It appears her house has been found.

Rahab

Youtube "Short"

cut and paste into your browser

https://youtube.com/shorts/TioB7yDiEss?si=eh4PM5jQjrQ4ZKdv

More about

Rahab

Part 1 

Part 1 -

General Introduction

Rahab was an important character in the Jericho Bible story.

While living in Jericho,

Rahab had heard that

the Hebrews worshipped a powerful God.

She didn't have any knowledge about

HOW

to follow the Hebrew God.

Yet,

it is noteworthy that

she HAD heard

of the

Mighty Deeds

of the

Hebrews' Great God....

Such as the Red Sea parting.

When Rahab met the spies,

she told them that

she KNEW that

their God was the One True God.

Part 2

Part 2 -

Rahab

More Specific facts

are found in Joshua and in Psalm 136:10-26.

In the miraculous story of Rahab and the city of Jericho,

we meet Rahab - a resident of Jericho.

As Rahab talks to the Hebrew spies who are sent by Joshua,

Rahab tells the spies

that

- she knew  -

all about the victories

of God's people

over

the Egyptian Pharaoh, King Sihon, and King Og. 

(The story of Jericho takes place after Moses died and
Joshua became the leader of the people.)

The book of Joshua reveals that Rahab knew the

Mighty Works of the One True God 

Joshua 2:9-11 says,

"And she  [Rahab]  said unto the men,

I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and

your terror is fallen upon us, and

that all the inhabitants of the land faint

because of you.

For we have

heard

how

the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you,

when ye came out of Egypt;

and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites

that were on the other side Jordan,

Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

And as soon as we had heard these things,

our hearts did melt,

neither did there remain any more courage in any man,

because of you:

for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above,

and in earth beneath."

From the Scripture above,

we see that

the peoples of the region

were in awe of God

because of the defeat of the Egyptian Pharaoh,

and

because of the destruction of Sihon and Og.

~

Those rulers were impressive kings,

and their defeat

got the attention

of the other people groups in the area.

I believe that

God is showing us in the book of Joshua

that

God gained great respect

from the people of the region

because of the great kings that

He defeated using Moses and the Israelites.

I also believe that God expected Moses

-  and later Joshua - 

and the Israelite people

to be at least as impressed

with Him (God)

as

the heathens were.

Respect and awe

for God and his power

was meant

to carry the Israelites

through all their future trials as well.

And the wonderful stories of the Bible

are meant to

carry

each of us through our present and future trials.

I pray that the devotionals we read

inspire us

to keep our gaze

and our

dedication on our Savior

and not

on the things of this world. 

Part 3

Part 3 -

Rahab 's Future

~

Rahab

is in the

lineage of Jesus.

We read about the lineage of Jesus in

Matthew 1:5-6 and continuing.

Rahab married Salmon

who was a Hebrew

from the tribe of Judah.

Rahab's son was Boaz,.

who was the husband of Ruth.

And the line continues > through David >  all the way to Joseph.

We also read about the lineage of Jesus in

Luke 3:23-38.

The Matthew lineage

and the

Luke lineage

appear to show us

that one

is from Joseph's line

and one

is from Mary's line.

I believe the reason

Rahab

is in the lineage of Jesus

is because

Rahab declared to the spies

her faith in the one true God.

We know that

Rahab repented of her sins

and

turned her life toward following God Almighty.

We know this because she is listed

in

Hebrews 11

which we call

The Faith Chapter.

~

Being included in Hebrews 11 is a place of honor. 

Hebrews 11:30-31 NKJV

By faith

the walls of Jericho fell down

after they were encircled for seven days.

³¹ By faith

the harlot Rahab did not perish

with those who did not believe,

when

she had received the spies with peace.

Wednesday

Joshua

and the

Battle of Jericho

The Classic Song

of

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho 

A Youtube "Short" For Adults, Teens, and older children

https://youtube.com/shorts/ibWTW61SzL4?si=UWN4PV2otOpD3OJ5

Thursday

Joshua's altar

Joshua 8:30 NKJV says

 "Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal,"

Joshua's altar

It appears the altar was found in 1980.

At that time,

an archaeologist named

Adam Zertal

discovered and excavated

a stone altar that he identified as Joshua's altar.

Video Notes

Notes for the video below.

Hebrew is the language of the Jews.

The Hebrew language

has no "J" sound,

so they put

a "Y" sound instead.

That is why the man on the video calls Jericho > Yericho.

So the video says,

"Ancient Yericho sits at 620 feet below sea level."

The speakers in the video

use the Hebrew Bible names when speaking of Bible characters.

Moshe = Moses

Yoshua = Joshua

Yeshua = Jesus

Joshua 6 NLT translation

Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. ² But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. ³ You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. ⁴ Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. ⁵ When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

⁶ So Joshua called together the priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.” ⁷ Then he gave orders to the people: “March around the town, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the Lord.”

⁸ After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams’ horns started marching in the presence of the Lord, blowing the horns as they marched. And the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant followed behind them. ⁹ Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns. ¹⁰ “Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” ¹¹ So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.

¹² Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests with the rams’ horns marched in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time the priests were blowing their horns. ¹⁴ On the second day they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town! ¹⁷ Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed^[a] as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.

¹⁸ “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. ¹⁹ Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. ²¹ They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

²² Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.”

²³ The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.

²⁴ Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the Lord’s house. ²⁵ So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.

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Exploring Jericho was posted in August 2024.