God had said to Joshua that the land of Canaan was to be taken possession of by the Israelites; and had commanded him to “Be strong and of a good courage,” and had strengthened him by saying, “Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”  Joshua and the people were now in Canaan, and before them lay a stronghold of the Canaanites, named Jericho, having high walls and strong gates.  This city the Israelites had to capture; but the inhabitants closed the gates, and prepared to fight fiercely to prevent Joshua and his warriors from getting in.

As Joshua was alone at this time, near Jericho, he looked up, and saw a man standing with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went to him and asked, “Art thou for us or for our adversaries?” The man answered, “Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I come.”  Do you know who it was?  Was it an angel?  I think it was more than an angel.  It was the Lord!  Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, saying, “What saith my Lord unto His servant?” Then the Lord told Joshua, as before he had told Moses, to take his shoes from his feet, for the place on which he stood was holy; and instructed him how Jericho was to be captured.

[Illustration:  The captain of the lord’s host.]

HOW JERICHO WAS CAPTURED.

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 strange 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.