Hebrews 11:30 Commentary and Bible Study

Those who question the legitimacy of Israel’s conquest of Canaan should remember that this initial battle against Jericho was won without the use of weapons. It was a supernatural act of God and it put his stamp of approval on the occupation of the land. The time had come for God to judge the Canaanite nations, and God is at liberty to judge any nation at any time that he chooses. He is also at liberty to use his people to execute that judgment as he will do on the Day of Judgment, when the saints will judge not only the world but even angels. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. Of course, not directly by faith, as if faith had some supernatural power that was sent like a missile at the walls – faith power. Faith has no inherent power of its own; the power is God’s, the power of God to perform. God could grant them to be a witness to this great event, because of their faith. There are a whole cluster of instructions given to them in order to obtain this victory, but the most significant was the command to trust God. There were to be no battering rams, no trenches, no war machinery. Later, yes, but this first battle special. They were to take the ark first, then the horns – not silver, but plain rams’ horns; there was to be no ostentation. For seven days they went outside camp, and once every day they completely encircled the city. Then on the seventh day they did so seven times and finally gave a long blast. These were strange instructions, partly to test faith and partly to draw out faith. Their courage was being tested. Would they go through with it? Derision from those inside the city walls was likely, for they surely expose themselves to ridicule. But they trusted God sufficiently to not fight and to make little noise. Normally a battle involved much noise, clamour, and confusion. It was to test their obedience. Built into God’s battle plan was the need for patience, because there was to be a period of delay. God often inserts a time element in order to test faith. At least one of these days that Jericho was encircled as a sabbath. We learn from this that it is perfectly in order to do the Lord’s work on the Lord’s day. The most important thing is to commit it all to the Lord in prayer.Joshua had just been vindicated during the crossing of Jordan; God provides us with the basis of our faith. They had enormous encouragements. The manna had now stopped, and they saw that its daily supply in the wilderness had been a supernatural provision. Joshua had seen the Lord, who had appeared to him and encouraged him concerning what he and the children of Israel were about to do. This was a joint act of faith. Collectively, they exercised faith and the walls were scaled. None of these things that happened were for themselves alone.