Joshua 6:27

. Lightfoot {k}; our Lord himself honoured it with his presence, Luke 19:1. {g} Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 50. {h} Geograph. l. 16. p. 525. {i} Antiqu. l. 17. c. 8. sect. 1. 2. {k} Chorograph. Cent. c. 47. Joshua 6:27 Ver. 27. So the Lord was with Joshua,.... Counselling and directing him what to do, prospering and succeeding him in all that he engaged; the Targum is, "the Word of the Lord was for the help of Joshua;'' the essential Word, Christ the Son of God, called the Captain of the Lord's host, Joshua 5:14; and who, continued with him speaking to him and giving him orders, Joshua 6:2; and his fame was [noised] throughout all the country; for his wisdom and courage, for the wonderful things done for him and by him, and the great success that attended him, through the power and presence of God with him; which struck terror into the inhabitants of the land, and made his conquest of it the more easy. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Joshua 6:1 INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 6 In this chapter Joshua is assured, though Jericho was closely shut up, it should be delivered into his hands, Joshua 6:1; and he is directed, with the army, to go round the city six days together, seven priests bearing the ark of the Lord, with seven trumpets sounding; and on the seventh day to go round it seven times in like manner, when its wall should fall, Joshua 6:3; which order Joshua communicated to the priests, and to the people, and which was put into execution by them, with some other instructions he gave them, Joshua 6:6; particularly that the city, and all in it, should be devoted to the Lord, and none spared, but Rahab and her family, Joshua 6:17; the success was according to the assurance given by the Lord, Joshua 6:20; when all in the city were destroyed, and that was burnt with fire, and the gold, silver, brass, and iron, brought into the house of the Lord, and Rahab and her father's household were saved alive, Joshua 6:21; and the chapter is closed with an adjuration of Joshua, cursing the man that should rebuild the city; and with this observation, that the fame of Joshua upon this was spread abroad throughout the country, Joshua 6:26. Ver. 1. Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of the children of Israel,....

6:17-27 Jericho was to be a solemn and awful sacrifice to the justice of God, upon those who had filled up the measure of their sins. So He appoints, from whom, as creatures, they received their lives, and to whom, as sinners, they had forfeited them. Rahab perished not with them that believed not, Heb 11:31. All her kindred were saved with her; thus faith in Christ brings salvation to the house, Ac 14:31. She, and they with her, were plucked as brands from the burning. With Rahab, or with the men of Jericho; our portion must be assigned, as we posses or disregard the sign of salvation; even faith in Christ, which worketh by love. Let us remember what depends upon our choice, and let us choose accordingly. God shows the weight of a Divine curse; where it rests there is no getting from under it; for it brings ruin without remedy.

So the Lord was with Joshua,.... Counselling and directing him what to do, prospering and succeeding him in all that he engaged; the Targum is,"the Word of the Lord was for the help of Joshua;''the essential Word, Christ the Son of God, called the Captain of the Lord's host, Joshua 5:14 ; and who, continued with him speaking to him and giving him orders, Joshua 6:2 , and his fame was noised throughout all the country; for his wisdom and courage, for the wonderful things done for him and by him, and the great success that attended him, through the power and presence of God with him; which struck terror into the inhabitants of the land, and made his conquest of it the more easy.

27 . So the Lord was with Joshua ] He and He alone had achieved the victory for His people, and they had “stood still” and “seen the salvation of Jehovah” ( Exodus 14:13 ; 2 Chronicles 20:17 ):— ( a ) The entrance into Canaan itself had been effected by the miraculous receding of the waters of the Jordan; ( b ) The walls of the city had fallen down flat, not before Israel, but before the Ark of Jehovah, Whose presence was ever connected with its golden Mercy-Seat; ( c ) When it had been bestowed upon the people as a free gift , without any effort on their part, all that it contained was devoted entirely to the Lord, nothing in the way of gain was to be made out of it; ( d ) The means they had been allowed to employ as preliminary to the capture were such as could not fail to make them a scorn and derision to the proud warriors of the Doomed City, and so called into exercise, in a striking degree, their faith, patience, and obedience. Joshua 6:27

Jos 6:26, 27. The Rebuilder of Jericho Cursed. 26. Joshua adjured them at that time—that is, imposed upon his countrymen a solemn oath, binding on themselves as well as their posterity, that they would never rebuild that city. Its destruction was designed by God to be a permanent memorial of His abhorrence of idolatry and its attendant vices. Cursed be the man … that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho—that is, makes the daring attempt to build. he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it—shall become childless—the first beginning being marked by the death of his oldest son, and his only surviving child dying at the time of its completion. This curse was accomplished five hundred fifty years after its denunciation (see on [182]1Ki 16:34).

Adjured - i. e. put an oath upon them; or, perhaps, actually caused them themselves to take an oath (compare Matthew 26:63 ). The words of the oath have in the original a rhythmical character which would tend to keep them on the lips and in the memory of the people. Buildeth this city - i. e. rebuilds the fortifications. Jericho was at once occupied by the Benjamites. Joshua 18:21, and the natural advantages of the situation were such that it would not be likely to be left long desolate. Joshua speaks in the text as a warrior. He lays a ban on the re-erection of those lofty walls which had bidden defiance to God's host, and been by God's signal interposition overthrown. Hiel, the Bethelite, reckless of the prophecy recorded in our text, began and completed the circumvallation of the city a second time (see the marginal reference). Hiel did not found a new city but only fortified an existing one. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born - i. e. when he begins this work his eldest son shall die, when he completes it his youngest shall die (see 1 Kings 16:34 note). This chapter read in the light of the New Testament has indications of a further import and bearing than such as concerned Joshua and the Jews. As Joshua, the leader and captain of the Jewish theocracy, is a type of Christ, so is Jericho to be taken (with all Christian expositors) as a type of the powers opposed to Christ and His cause.

The times which prepare for the close of God's present dispensation are signified in the days during which the people obeyed and waited; as the number of those days, seven, the number of perfection, represents that "fullness of time," known only to God, at which His dispensation will culminate and close. Thus the circumstances which lead up to the fall of Jericho are an acted prophecy, as was that fall itself, which sets forth the overthrow of all that resists the kingdom of which Christ is the head; and particularly the day of judgment, in which that overthrow will be fully and finally accomplished. Paul, in describing that day, seems to borrow his imagery from this chapter (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16).