The "Battle" of Jericho

The Battle of Jericho  (spark bible, pages 102-105)

Last week, we followed the Israelites out of Egypt—finally!  God helped them no longer have to work in such bad conditions!  He had promised them a land of their own and so they started walking. And walking. And Walking.  They walked for 40 years. 

How long is 40 years?  It’s older than I am—it’s older than a lot of your parents.  That’s a long, long, LONG time to walk, and they were very tired. In fact, before they got to the place they had been promised,  Moses died!    Finally God brought them to the place they’d been promised—it was called Jericho-- and you know what?  There was another group living there!  Not only that, they had built a HUGE wall around their  city. 

Now, Joshua was in charge after Moses had died.  God spoke to Joshua and told him how they could claim Jericho as theirs and how to make the wall fall!

How would YOU make a HUGE wall fall?  Well, what God asked Joshua to do didn’t involve hitting it or smashing it at all!  Let’s try this together and follow Joshua’s instructions:

Joshua: Here’s what we will do! (Count off 7 people and tell them they’re priests)—You will each play a shofar, a big horn! Keep blowing all the time, even if your lips get so tired you think they’ll fall off!

(point to another group): You!  You’re our soldiers.  Grab your weapons and walk in front of the priests.  The rest of you, walk behind the priests.  Everyone needs to walk quietly.  Okay.  Let’s Go!

Narrator:  Now, if you were an Israelite, and you’re told to walk, blow horns or carry weapons, what would you think would happen?  Attack, right?  But what happens when Joshua says “be quiet!”  Are you excited?

Joshua:  Blow your horns, priests!  Wow, are they LOUD!  Keep walking, everyone (walk in place).  Left, right.  Left, right.  Left, right.

Narrator:  Now, we’re a bit confused.  We’re just walking in circles, around and around the city and playing horns---but nothing is moving.  That wall is so thick that there’s no way it’s coming down.  But we just keep going.  Six days.  Six days we keep marching.  The people of Jericho are watching—and laughing.  How silly does it look to never attack, but to walk and make a LOT of noise?  Are you tired?  Listen---Joshua is speaking to us.

Joshua:  It is almost the seventh day.  At sunrise, we’ll  march.  We’ll only march around the city seven times today.  When we finish marching around 7 times, the priests—blow your horn one last time.  Everyone else--give a big shout.

Narrator:  The Israelites shouted so loud the ground began to shake!  The thick, stone walls began to shake too!  And then, brick by brick, bit by bit, they fell to the ground in a big cloud of dust and rubble! Let’s cheer together because the land God promised the Israelites is now theirs!  The walls fell, and the people in the city scattered, afraid of the power of God who had made their thick, stone walls fall with the shout of the trumpet and the shout of a people!   

Now, I’m sure God hasn’t knocked down the walls of your house this week, but let’s talk about other ways you may have seen God at work.  What are your God sightings this week?