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Joshua Circled Jericho Seven Times and the Walls Fell

The first city in the promised land fell not to siege engines or scaling ladders but to seven days of silence and a single commanded shout.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Moses' Trumpets Stayed Hidden
  2. Six Days of Silence
  3. The Seventh Circle
  4. The Curse That Held for Centuries

Jericho locked its gates the moment it heard Israel had crossed the Jordan. No one came in. No one went out. The city sat sealed on a plain with Israel camped on its western side, and it waited to see what a nation that had just crossed a river on dry land would do next.

What it did was walk.

Moses' Trumpets Stayed Hidden

Joshua did not use the silver trumpets God had commanded Moses to make. Those trumpets were for Moses, said one tradition, and for no one else. The words God spoke were: make for yourself two trumpets. For yourself. Not for your successor. Not for the generations after. When Moses died, those instruments were hidden away, and no hand after his was permitted to touch them. So Joshua came to Jericho carrying a different sound. Priests took plain shofars, ram's horns, rough and unornamented, and that is what walked around the city.

That distinction was not accidental. It made Jericho a succession story before a battle story. Joshua could not inherit Moses' tools. He had to lead with the instruments given to his own moment in history. The shofar was older than the silver trumpet, less refined, and its sound came from an animal that had been killed rather than from metal shaped by craftsmen. Joshua's version of Moses was always going to be rougher than the original.

Six Days of Silence

For six days Israel circled the city once each day. Priests led with the Ark and blew the shofars. Soldiers walked. The people said nothing. The text is explicit: do not shout, do not let your voice be heard, not a word from your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. For six days the only sound coming from the Israelite side was the shofars and footsteps.

The city watched from its walls. They had heard what happened to the Egyptians at the sea. They had heard about the Amorites and about the Jordan opening before this people. The woman Rahab had told the spies that when she heard what God had done to Egypt, the hearts of the people melted. Six days of silent circling from an army that had already done the impossible was not a comfortable thing to watch from a wall.

The Seventh Circle

On the seventh day Israel rose at dawn and circled Jericho seven times instead of one. Seven circles on the seventh day, with the priests blowing continually. Then Joshua gave the command that had been held back for a week: shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

Israel shouted. The walls fell flat. Every man went up straight ahead, directly into the city, because there was no wall left to climb over or walk around. The only standing structure was Rahab's house. She had been told to gather her family inside it and to hang scarlet threads in her window so the soldiers would know to leave it standing. When the city was taken and burned, her house remained.

The Curse That Held for Centuries

Joshua pronounced a curse on Jericho as the smoke rose. Whoever rebuilt the city would lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest. The curse sat there in the ruins for roughly four hundred years. Then in the reign of Ahab, a man named Chiel of Beth-el decided to rebuild. He laid the foundation and his eldest son died. He set up the gates and his youngest son died. The book of Kings records it without elaboration. Joshua had said exactly this would happen. It happened.

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Antiquities V.1Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

Joshua inherited an impossible job, replace the greatest prophet in history and lead a nation of former slaves into enemy territory. According to Josephus, he did not hesitate for a single day.

The moment the thirty-day mourning for Moses ended, Joshua ordered the Israelites to mobilize. He dispatched spies to Jericho, the first fortified city standing in their path. These men slipped inside undetected and surveyed every weak point in the walls. When the king of Jericho got word that Hebrew spies were hiding in the inn of a woman named Rahab, he sent soldiers to seize them. But Rahab hid the men under stalks of flax drying on her roof and lied to the king's messengers. In exchange, the spies swore to spare her family when the city fell. She was to hang scarlet threads from her window as a signal.

The Jordan River itself posed the first great obstacle. It ran strong, with no bridges and no ferry boats. But God parted the waters. The priests carrying the Ark entered first, and the river dried up before them, just as the Red Sea had dried up for Moses a generation earlier (Joshua 3:15-17). Josephus notes that the Israelites crossed on the very day that the river was at flood stage, making the miracle unmistakable.

Then came Jericho. Joshua ordered the Ark carried around the city walls for six days, with priests blowing rams' horns. On the seventh day, they circled seven times. The walls collapsed. And the Israelites poured in, destroying everything except Rahab and her household, exactly as promised (Joshua 6:20-25).

What followed was a relentless campaign across Canaan. Joshua defeated thirty-one kings in total. He burned Hazor to the ground. He conquered the hill country, the Negev, and the coastal lowlands. Josephus describes the Gibeonites tricking Joshua into a peace treaty by disguising themselves as travelers from a distant land, wearing worn-out shoes and carrying moldy bread. When Joshua discovered the deception, he honored the treaty anyway but made them servants.

At the end of twenty-five years of leadership, Joshua gathered the people at Shechem and delivered his final warning: everything you have came from God. Forget that, and you will lose it all. He died at 110 years old and was buried at Timnah in the territory of Ephraim. Eleazar the high priest died around the same time, passing the priesthood to his son Phineas.

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Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Beha'alotcha 18:1Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Beha'alotcha

Another interpretation of "Make for yourself" (Numbers 10:2): from what is yours. "Make for yourself", you make them for yourself and not for others; you use them, and no other uses them. You may know this, for behold, Joshua his disciple did not use them, but rather shofars. When they came to wage war against Jericho, seven nations gathered within Jericho, as it is said, "And you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite and the Perizzite [and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite], the Hivite and the Jebusite" (Joshua 24:11). But were the citizens of Jericho seven nations, that it says "the citizens of Jericho: the Amorite," and so forth? Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani said: Jericho was the door-bolt of the Land of Israel. They said: If Jericho is captured, the whole land is captured. Therefore the seven nations gathered into it. What is written? "And the people shouted, and they blew with the shofars" (Joshua 6:20), this teaches that even Joshua his disciple did not use them. And do not say this only of Joshua, but even of Moses our teacher himself: while he was yet alive they were hidden away. Rabbi Isaac said: Behold, when Moses came to depart from the world, he said, "Assemble to me [all the elders of your tribes and your officers]" (Deuteronomy 31:28). And where were the trumpets, that he did not say "Blow on them and let them assemble"? Rather, while he was yet alive they were hidden away. Rabbi Joshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: to fulfill what is said, "and there is no authority on the day of death" (Ecclesiastes 8:8). Thus "Make for yourself", and no other uses them all your days.

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Sifrei Devarim 96:1Sifrei Devarim

I’m talking about Jericho, the ancient city whose story is far more than just walls tumbling down. It’s about oaths, consequences, and a chilling fulfillment of prophecy.

The familiar story centers on Joshua leading the Israelites, the walls of Jericho miraculously collapsing after the shofar blasts (Joshua 6). But what happened after that victory? The Book of Joshua tells us he placed a curse: "Cursed before the L-rd is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: With his firstborn son he will lay its foundation, and with his youngest he will set up its gates" (Joshua 6:26). Heavy stuff. Now, fast forward several centuries. King Achav (Ahab) reigns in Israel, a king not exactly known for his piety. And a man named Chiel of Beth-el decides to rebuild Jericho. Why? (1 (Kings 16:3)4) chillingly recounts: "In his days Chiel of Beth-el built Jericho. With his firstborn son he laid its foundation, and with his youngest son he planted its gates, according to the word of the L-rd that He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun." The very act of rebuilding, of trying to restore Jericho to its former glory, cost Chiel his sons. It wasn't just a tragic coincidence; the text explicitly links it to Joshua’s curse. The Sifrei Devarim, an ancient collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, points out that we might think Joshua’s curse was unintentionally fulfilled, but the text in Kings emphasizes that it was "according to the word of the L-rd." This wasn't random; it was divine decree playing out in history.

What exactly did Joshua mean by "It shall not be built again"? Did he mean it could never be used for anything? That’s where we get a fascinating debate in the rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Yossi Haglili argued that "It shall not be built again" meant absolutely no use – not even for something as simple as gardens, orchards, or even a pigeon coop! He took the prohibition to its absolute extreme.

However, Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure in Jewish law and thought, had a slightly different take. He believed that the curse meant Jericho couldn't be restored to its original state, as a fortified city. But using the land for agriculture? That, according to Rabbi Akiva, was permissible.

So, what do we take away from this story? Is it just a historical anecdote about a curse fulfilled? Or is it something more? Perhaps it's a reminder of the power of words, the enduring nature of oaths, and the very real consequences of our actions, both intended and unintended. Maybe it's a warning against defying divine pronouncements. Or perhaps it's a evidence of the enduring power of prophecy, even centuries after it was spoken. Whatever your interpretation, the story of Jericho and the curse remains a powerful and thought-provoking one, echoing through the ages.

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