Joshua 6:5 –
When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.
When I first thought about this story I could see a dejected army, looking at the walls and wondering how to enter. Then Joshua comes in and gives this vision from the Lord and runs out expecting people to jump up and follow, but they do not. Although the Lord just allowed them to cross the Jordan on dry ground so maybe it’s easier to follow after seeing something so supernatural. What would you have done if Joshua said “this is the way we are taking this city”?
This story is one that is told often and is sung in children’s Bible study classes. For those who have been in church for a long time it’s one that is preached on often. But how often do we look at the archeological history? The site was discovered and had been “dug” starting in 1868. In 1911, they determined the city was unoccupied during the time of this story. But in 1930 they discovered a network of collapsed walls which has collapsed in dramatic fashion. But then in 1958 another study found the city was deserted around the time of the invasion, which in 1995 was confirmed by carbon dating to be 1562 BCE. Biblical historians place the destruction around 1400 BCE which makes the Biblical skeptics jump for joy, since the city was not occupied in 1400 BCE.
Now this is where faith gets tested and we start to question God. But think about this when reading the Bible, they are going off a book written some 4000 years ago which really has no specific dates to go off. Archeologists have found the walls collapsed and the city was emptied around 1562 some 160 years before the “accepted” Biblical timeline. To me that sound more like the “accepted” timeline was proven wrong and NOT the story. But that may just be my interpretation of the discoveries. Not to mention that the carbon dating is “95% accurate” for this finding which over 3200 years is +-160 years. So while science beats their chest about the archeological facts disproving the Bible, I suggest it only proves it more that every before. How cool is that?
And yes Rahab was spared with her family!