"The
seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before
the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead
of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the
trumpets kept sounding."
Joshua 6:13 (NIV)
I
love teaching this story to children. We taught this story to little
Honduran children on a mission’s trip several years ago; they acted out
the story and they loved it. The walls are standing and the Israelites are
marching around the perimeter, looking pretty foolish, blowing their
trumpets, carrying their golden ark, and then they stop marching and let
out great big shout. The walls come tumbling down and the children
(Israelites) charge in and completely destroy every living thing,
including children and animals.
Questions pop into our minds like: How
could a shout bring down strong walls of stone? What role did the
trumpets play in this great victory? Yet this story is about the LORD,
about His power, about His ability to completely destroy the enemies of
His people. It is about His people being tested to see if they
really trust Him enough to obey Him, and wait for Him to move in power.
I
chose this passage for us to read this week because of the central role
of the trumpets in this story. The trumpets are man-made trumpets, just
simple ram’s horns, but there are seven of them. We know that there
are seven trumpets revealed in the Book of Revelation that angels will sound and bring about the complete and utter destruction of the
Lord’s enemies and the possession of the land.
Men and women have mocked
this story in Joshua for years, relegating it to a children’s story; calling it
lies and propaganda, and calling us foolish and stupid for believing it.
They point to the ‘fact’ that modern archeologists have not discovered
the ruins of this city, as if this somehow proves that the Bible is not
true. Let them laugh, let them mock us, let us look foolish in their
eyes, YET, we will believe the Word of the Lord over the ‘wisdom’ of
humans. We will wait for the Lord. We will trust Him and obey Him, and
listen for the sound of His trumpet.
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