Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 6:3
And ye shall compass the city, all [ye] men of war, [and] go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
3. ye shall compass the city ] The scene to be witnessed from the walls of Jericho, was calculated in the most striking manner to appeal to the consciences of all who should see it:
( a) First in solemn procession were to advance armed men:
( b) Then would follow seven priests blowing continually, not the customary silver trumpets, but large horns:
( c) Thus heralded, was to follow the Ark of Jehovah borne by the priests:
( d) Then were to follow “the rereward” of Israel.
Six days was this strange procession to encompass the walls of Jericho, passing round in solemn silence, save for the long-drawn blasts of the horns. But on the seventh day, the city was to be encompassed seven times, and at the seventh the people were to shout, and it was promised that the city should “fall down flat,” and its destruction would be complete. “The ark of God, with the tables of stone from Sinai hidden within, was the genius, I had almost said the general, of that mysterious march: it was made plain by every token, that God, not man, was at work. Their priests were officiating, with the emblems of festival, not of warfare “the trumpets of jubilee” in their hands; before them armed hosts heralding, behind them armed hosts attending, the progress of the true Champion, the representative of the God of battles, to whose presence alone the coming victory was to be due.” Dr Vaughan’s Heroes of Faith, p. 253.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The command of the Lord as to the mode in which the fall of Jericho should be brought about is given in these verses in a condensed form. Further details (see Jos 6:8-10, Jos 6:16-17, etc.), were, no doubt, among the commands given to Joshua by the Angel.
Jos 6:4
Trumpets of rams horns – Render rather here and in Jos 6:5-6, Jos 6:8, etc., trumpets of jubilee (compare Lev 25:10 note). The instrument is more correctly rendered cornet (see Lev 25:9, note). Various attempts have been made to explain the fall of Jericho by natural causes, as, e. g., by the undermining of the walls, or by an earthquake, or by a sudden assault. But the narrative of this chapter does not afford the slightest warrant for any such explanations; indeed it is totally inconsistent with them. It must be taken as it stands; and so taken it intends, beyond all doubt, to narrate a miracle, or rather a series of miracles.
In the belief that a record is not necessarily unhistorical because it is miraculous, never perhaps was a miracle more needed than that which gave Jericho to Joshua. Its lofty walls and well-fenced gates made it simply impregnable to the Israelites – a nomad people, reared in the desert, destitute alike of the engines of war for assaulting a fortified town, and of skill and experience in the use of them if they had had them. Nothing line a direct interference of the Almighty could in a weeks time give a city like Jericho, thoroughly on its guard and prepared (compare Jos 2:9 ff and Jos 6:1), to besiegers situated as were Joshua and the Israelites.
The fall of Jericho cogently taught the inhabitants of Canaan that the successes of Israel were not mere human triumphs of man against man, and that the God of Israel was not as the gods of the countries. This lesson some of them at least learned to their salvation, e. g., Rahab and the Gibeonites. Further, ensuing close upon the miraculous passage of Jordan, it was impressed on the people, prone ever to be led by the senses, that the same God who had delivered their fathers out of Egypt and led them through the Red Sea, was with Joshua no less effectually than He had been with Moses.
And the details of the orders given by God to Joshua Jos 6:3-5 illustrate this last point further. The trumpets employed were not the silver trumpets used for signalling the marshalling of the host and for other warlike purposes (compare Num 10:2), but the curved horns employed for ushering in the Jubilee and the Sabbatical Year (Septuagint, salpinges hierai: compare the Lev 23:24 note). The trumpets were borne by priests, and were seven in number; the processions round Jericho were to be made on seven days, and seven times on the seventh day, thus laying a stress on the sacred number seven, which was an emhlem more especially of the work of God. The ark of God also, the seat of His special presence, was carried round the city. All these particulars were calculated to set forth symbolically, and in a mode sure to arrest the attention of the people, the fact that their triumph was wholly due to the might of the Lord, and to that covenant which made their cause His.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Ye shall compass the city] In what order the people marched round the city does not exactly appear from the text. Some think they observed the same order as in their ordinary marches in the desert; (See Clarke on Nu 10:14, and see the plans, Nu 2:2); others think that the soldiers marched first, then the priests who blew the trumpets, then those who carried the ark, and lastly the people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Go round about the city once, at convenient distance, out of the reach of their arrows;
thus shalt thou do six days, every day once. This and the following course might seem ridiculous and absurd, and is therefore prescribed and used by God, that they might learn to take new measures of things, and to expect success not from their own valour or skill, or probable means, but merely from Gods appointment and blessing; and in general, not to judge of any of Gods institutions by mere carnal reason, to which divers of their ceremonies would seem no less foolish than this action; and that they might have a full demonstration of the all-sufficiency of that God who can do what he pleaseth, even by the most contemptible means.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3-5. ye shall compass the city, allye men of war. . . . Thus shalt thou do six days, c.Directionsare here given as to the mode of procedure. Hebrew, “hornsof jubilee” that is, the bent or crooked trumpets with which thejubilee was proclaimed. It is probable that the horns of this animalwere used at first; and that afterwards, when metallic trumpets wereintroduced, the primitive name, as well as form of them, wastraditionally continued. The design of this whole proceeding wasobviously to impress the Canaanites with a sense of the divineomnipotence, to teach the Israelites a memorable lesson of faith andconfidence in God’s promises, and to inspire sentiments of respectand reverence for the ark as the symbol of His presence. The lengthof time during which those circuits were made tended the moreintensely to arrest the attention, and to deepen the impressions,both of the Israelites and the enemy. The number seven was among theIsraelites the symbolic seal of the covenant between God and theirnation [KEIL,HENGSTENBERG].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And ye shall compass the city, all [ye] men of war,…. Joshua their chief commander under the Lord, and all that were able to make war, even all above twenty years of age; these were to compass the city, not in the form of a siege, but by a procession around it:
[and] go round about the city once; or one time, for the first once in a day, and no more:
thus shall thou do six days; one after another; that is, go round it, once every day, for such a time. This order was given, according to the Jews w, the twenty second of Nisan, after the feast of unleavened bread was over.
w Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. And you shall compass the city, etc The promise was, indeed, fit and sufficient of itself to give hope of victory, but the method of acting was so strange, as almost to destroy its credibility. God orders them to make one circuit round the city daily until the seventh day, on which they are told to go round it seven times, sounding trumpets, and shouting. The whole looked like nothing else than child’s play, and yet was no improper test, for trying their faith, as it proved their acquiescence in the divine message, even when they saw in the act itself nothing but mere disappointment. With the same intention, the Lord often, for a time, conceals his own might under weakness, and seems to sport with mere trifles, that his weakness may at length appear stronger than all might, and his folly superior to all wisdom.
While the Israelites thus abandon their own reason, and depend implicitly on his words, they gain much more by trifling than they could have done by making a forcible assault, and shaking the walls by numbers of the most powerful engines. Only it behooved them to play the fool for short time, and not display too much acuteness in making anxious and subtle inquiries concerning the event: for that would have been, in a manner, to obstruct the course of the divine omnipotence. Meanwhile, though the circulatory movement round the walls might have excited derision, it was afterwards known, by its prosperous result, that God commands nothing in vain.
There was another subject of care and doubt, which might have crept into their minds. Should the inhabitants of the city suddenly sally forth, the army would, without difficulty, be put to the rout, while, in long straggling lines, it was proceeding round the city, without any regular arrangement that might have enabled it to repel a hostile assault. But here, also, whatever anxiety they might have felt, they behooved to cast it upon God; for sacred is the security which reclines on his providence. There was an additional trial of their faith, in the repetition of the circuit of the city during seven days. For what could seem less congruous than to fatigue themselves with six unavailing circuits? Then, of what use was their silence, (64) unless to betray their timidity, and tempt the enemy to come out and attack besiegers who seemed not to have spirit enough to meet them? But as profane men often, by rash intermeddling fervor, throw everything into confusion, the only part which God here assigns to his people, is to remain calm and silent, that thus they may the better accustom themselves simply to execute his commands.
Here, too, it is worthy of remark, that the instruments, given to the priests to blow with, are not the silver trumpets deposited in the sanctuary, but merely rams’ horns. The sound of the sacred trumpets would certainly have inspired more confidence, but a better proof of obedience was given, when they were contented with the vulgar symbol. Moreover, their movements were so arranged, that the greater number, by which is understood the armed, went before the ark, while those who usually accompanied the baggage followed. It was their part to take care that the rear did not fall into confusion. As the term congregating, applied to them, was obscure, I have rendered it by the corresponding term usually employed by the Latins. (65) Some think that the tribe of Dan was thus employed, but this is uncertain, as they were not then arranged in the manner usual on other expeditions.
(64) French, “ De ne dire mot, ne faire aucun bruit;” “Not to speak a word, not to make a noise.” — Ed.
(65) French, “ Mais je l’ay traduit par un terme plus accoustume a la langue Francoise;” “But here I have translated it by a term more commonly used in the French language.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. Ye shall compass the city Here is a peculiar and unprecedented mode of reducing a walled town to carry a small chest containing, not the enginery of death, but a few religious relics, attended by a band of priests blowing on their trumpets, and followed by the whole army marching in procession. We may not assign with certainty the reason of this strange command, but we plainly see at least four objects attained: (1) The whole army is honoured as a subordinate agent in the conquest of the city. (2) God, the efficient cause, is magnified before all men. (3) His ark and his ministers, by their prominence at the head of the procession, are especially honoured in the eyes of Israelite and Canaanite. (4) A course of proceeding so unmilitary and apparently absurd was a severe test of the faith of the Israelites in Jehovah.
4. Seven trumpets of rams’ horns [Or, seven trumpets of alarms; that is, signal trumpets. The Hebrew word here rendered rams’ horns is , yobel, and Furst still adheres to this explanation, which is also that of the Targum and the Rabbins. But according to Gesenius yobel is an onomatopoetic word, signifying a joyful sound, ( jubilum,) and hence some scholars hold that the trumpet of yobel was so called because it was used to proclaim through the land the return of the year of jubilee. Lev 25:9-13. But long before the sabbatical year was instituted the trumpet that sounded from Sinai was called the yobel, (Exo 19:13,) and hence it is but natural to infer that the year of jubilee took its name from the trumpet, not the trumpet from the year. The best supported etymology of yobel is that which gives it the sense of a loud and startling sound, and hence we adopt the rendering signal trumpet. In Jos 6:5 occurs the expression horn of yobel, so that the words trumpet ( shophar) and horn ( keren) are here used interchangeably. The common opinion is that the shophar was a long straight instrument, and the keren a crooked one.] Eustathius says that an instrument in the form of a bent trumpet was in use among the Egyptians for the purpose of calling the people together to the sacrifices. It is not quite certain whether the trumpet of jubilee was made of the horn of an ox or of metal; but the latter seems the more probable, since a much larger instrument could be made of metal. The priests on this occasion carried “sonorous metal, blowing martial sounds.” “The seven days” procession, the sevenfold repetition of it on the seventh day by seven priests, and the use of seven trumpets, are unmistakable proofs of the importance of the number seven.” Keil. This may be best explained by observing that the word for seven is radically the same as the word for oath. Seven, then, was a sacred number, the seal of the covenant. “By this march of seven days, and the sevenfold repetition on the seventh day, with the seven priests blowing the seven trumpets, the host of Israel were to show that they were the people of the covenant.” [
The seventh day These seven days of marching must have included one Sabbath, and perhaps, as the Rabbins have assumed, the last day of the seven, on which the city fell, was itself the Sabbath. But this solemn marching and carrying of the ark about the doomed city was no ordinary work, such as that contemplated in the prohibition in the fourth commandment. It was rather a service of obedience to a special Divine mandate, and the grand triumph given on the seventh day was, even in that age, a sublime indication that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”]
Seven times We have no means of knowing the circumference of Jericho, but allowing that it was five miles, a not unreasonable estimate, the seven marches around it would be thirty-five miles, a distance not exceedingly difficult for a host all aglow with intense enthusiasm, and disciplined to the route by having travelled it for six preceding days. Then, too, they began their travel early in the morning. Jos 6:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ And you shall surround the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.”
Each day for six days the men of war were to surround the city. It would not take long, for the mound was not large (see above). The purpose was to terrify the occupants, and also possibly to bring home to the Israelites the difficulty they would have in breaching the wall. The men of war were probably the younger men of war most suited to battle. Each time they came the inhabitants would prepare themselves for an attack. And each time they would leave without attacking. It must have been an eerie time for the inhabitants, especially in view of the silence of their enemy. They would have expected yells and threats.
“Surround.” The word often means precisely that although in Psa 48:12 it specifically means ‘march round’, and it is used elsewhere of making progress in one way or another (e.g. Exo 13:18; Num 21:4; Num 36:7; Num 36:9; Deu 32:10). The descriptions, with the armed men before, followed by the priests with the Ark, followed by the remainder of ‘the people’, demonstrate that here as well the surrounding was by marching round.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
This plan of omnipotence so astonishing as it appears to human reason, was evidently intended for the glory of God, and the exercise of the faith of Israel. But as the ark, in this instance as in the former, at the fording of Jordan, formed the principal object, how sweetly when beheld and explained in a gospel sense, doth it set forth the sure victory of God’s people, before whom Jesus goes, leading on his army to conquest. The Lord had promised Israel that his people should possess nations, whose cities were great and fenced up to heaven. And here he graciously undertook to raze those walls to the ground before them. Deu 9:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all [ye] men of war, [and] go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Ver. 3. And ye shall compass the city. ] At a just distance, no doubt, that ye may be extra iactum. See 2Sa 11:20-21 .
Thus shalt thou do six days.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ye shall: Jos 6:7, Jos 6:14, Num 14:9, 1Co 1:21-25, 2Co 4:7
Reciprocal: Deu 25:19 – thou shalt Jos 6:8 – before the Lord Joh 2:7 – Fill Heb 11:30 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 6:3. Round about the city once At a convenient distance, out of the reach of their arrows. Six days Every day once. This and the following course might seem ridiculous and absurd, and is therefore prescribed by God, that they might learn to take new measures of things, and to expect success, not from their own valour, or skill, but merely from Gods appointment and blessing; and in general, not to judge of any of Gods institutions by mere carnal reason, to which divers of their ceremonies would seem no less foolish than this action.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all [ye] men of war, [and] go round about the city {d} once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
(d) Every day one.