HOW JERICHO WAS CAPTURED.

: Old Testament Stories

When men in olden times attacked a city, they tried to batter down the

walls with heavy beams of wood, having heads of iron, called battering

rams; but God did not instruct the Israelites thus to capture Jericho.

They were to remember that it was not by their own power they could

conquer the Canaanites, but only as God gave them the victory over

their enemies. So God commanded Joshua to lay siege to Jericho in a

very s
range way. He said that seven priests, each having a trumpet,

were to go before the ark. In front of them the armed men of Israel

were to march; and behind the ark the people were to follow. In this

way they were to go round the city once each day for six days, the

priests blowing their trumpets each time. The seventh day they were to

go in the same manner round the city seven times; and God said that

when the priests blew their trumpets the seventh time, the people were

to give a great shout, and the walls of the city would fall down.



Joshua and the people did as God commanded. They marched round the

city carrying the ark, the priests blowing their trumpets; and on the

seventh day they marched round seven times. The last time, when the

priests blew their trumpets, the people shouted with a great shout,

and the walls of the city fell down flat. Then the Israelites went up

and took possession of it.



Thus God delivered Jericho into the hands of His people. All the

inhabitants were killed except Rahab and her relatives. These were

spared because Rahab had been kind to the spies whom Joshua had sent.



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