Joshua 6-Jericho

 

·         All of Israel's actions commanded by God were a mockery of a ritual or pageant of the Canaanites.

·         What happened at Jericho was possibly related to the marriage festival of the “divine” king, or as part of an annual fertility festival which occurred about the time of the overthrow of Jericho.

·         At that time, the king was considered to be a God and a priest.

·         This king was referred to as “son of God”.

·         Jericho was named for the male moon God Yerech; the female shamash (sun God) was his consort. Later, their names were changed to Baal and Ashtaroth.

·         Why did God tell them to destroy everything?

o   Immorality is the first reason. The Canaanite religion was sex in all its perversions.

o   The second reason would be the sacrifice of children.

o   And the third reason would be their carnality, sodomy, and religious prostitution.

·         There is a legend of Keret.

o   This legend is a story of a king who had a dream about having a son. It provides A feast for all the people and sets out on an expedition. On his expedition, the men of war would be first, the people, then the trumpeters; all are warned to keep silent until the last day. This was over six days, with the climax on the 7th.

o   Parallels:

§ Both the celebration of the Passover and the Canaanite ritual were held at approximately the same time.

§  Israel held a great feast called the Passover.

§  The Jews began to March one time a day for six days and seven times on the 7th day.

§  All kept quiet until the last moment.

·         Jericho was the lowest and oldest town on earth at that time. Above Jericho is the traditional point where Jesus was tempted.

·         Jericho is known as the city of giants. It was inhabited by giants called gibborim.

·         The walls fell outward.

·         There is a theory that some from Jericho escaped to Africa and the Berbers are their descendants.

·         This was the spiritual battle.

·         Sin was a moon God. He had several names, one of them being Yarech, and he was depicted by the Crescent moon or by a bull.

·         Sinai was a sacred mountain to Sin.

·         At Jericho, Yahweh kept the sun from setting for an extended time to keep the moon god (Sin)out of the sky.

·         Jericho was the first city with walls. It was built about 9000 BC, about 800 feet below sea level. Jericho covered about 10 acres. If you were to walk around the 10 acres, you would cover about half a mile, and seven times around would take you approximately 3 1/2 miles. It was destroyed in 1550 BC.

·         Jericho in the New Testament

o   Tradition says John the Baptist baptized Jesus here.

o   This is where Zachias climbed the tree.

o   Near Jericho is where Jesus heals 2 blind men.

o   There were two Jerichos in Jesus' time

§  The ancient city was occupied by Jews.

§  The new city, 2 miles away, is occupied by Gentiles.

o   Jericho was mentioned in the story of the Good Samaritan.

·         Jericho in the Old Testament.

o   Jericho contained a school of prophets.

o   It was the residence of Elisha.

o   Jericho was part of the land given to the tribe of Benjamin.

o   Near Jericho is where Elisha healed the spring of waters, and near it was where Elijah went up into the worldwind.