Commentaria in Josue
Chapter 6
Josue, the ark being carried round for seven days, takes Jericho by the falling of its walls, decrees the anathema, and destroys it utterly, saves only Rahab with her household, and calls down the curse of God on whoever shall rebuild it.
1. Now Jericho was close shut up and fenced, for fear of the children of Israel, and no man durst go out or in. 2. And the Lord said to Josue: Behold I have given into thy hands Jericho and the king thereof, and all the valiant men. 3. Go round about the city all ye fighting men once a day: so shall ye do for six days. 4. And on the seventh day the priests shall take the seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the ark of the covenant: and you shall go about the city seven times, and the priests shall sound the trumpets. 5. And when the voice of the trumpet shall give a longer and broken tone, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall shout together with a very loud shout, and the walls of the city shall fall to the ground, and they shall enter in, every one at the place against which they stand. 6. Then Josue the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them: Take the ark of the covenant: and let seven other priests take the seven trumpets of the jubilee, and march before the ark of the Lord. 7. And he said to the people: Go, and compass the city, armed, marching before the ark of the Lord. 8. And when Josue had ended his words, and the seven priests blew the seven trumpets before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 9. And all the armed men went before, the rest of the common people followed the ark, and sounded with trumpets. 10. But Josue had commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout, nor shall your voice be heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day come wherein I shall say to you: Cry, and shout. 11. So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, abode there. 12. And Josue rising before day, the priests took the ark of the Lord, 13. And seven of them seven trumpets, which are used in the jubilee: and they went before the ark of the Lord, walking and sounding the trumpets: and the armed men went before them, and the rest of the common people followed the ark, and blew the trumpets. 14. And they went round about the city the second day once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. 15. But on the seventh day, rising up early, they went about the city, as it was ordered, seven times. 16. And when in the seventh going about the priests sounded with the trumpets, Josue said to all Israel: Shout: for the Lord hath delivered the city to you. 17. And let this city be an anathema, and all things that are in it, to the Lord: let only Rahab the harlot live, with all that are with her in the house: for she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18. But beware you touch nothing of those things that are commanded, lest you be guilty of transgression, and all the camp of Israel be under sin and be troubled. 19. Whatsoever gold and silver there shall be, and vessels of brass and iron, let it be consecrated to the Lord, and laid up in his treasures. 20. So all the people making a great shout, and the trumpets sounding, when the voice and the sound thundered in the ears of the multitude, the walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him: and they took the city, 21. And they killed all that were in it, man and woman, young and old. The oxen also and the sheep and the asses they slew with the edge of the sword. 22. But Josue said to the two men that had been sent for spies: Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out her, and all things that are hers, as you assured her by oath. 23. And the young men went in, and brought out Rahab, and her parents, her brethren also, and all her goods and kindred, and made them stay without the camp. 24. But they burnt the city, and all that were in it, except the gold and silver, and vessels of brass and iron, which they consecrated to the treasury of the Lord. 25. But Josue saved alive Rahab the harlot, and her father’s house, and all she had: and they dwelt in the midst of Israel until this present day: because she hid the messengers, whom he had sent to spy out Jericho. At that time Josue made an imprecation, saying: 26. Cursed be the man before the Lord, that shall raise up and build the city of Jericho. In his first-born may he lay the foundation thereof, and in the last of his children set up its gates. 27. So the Lord was with Josue, and his name was noised throughout all the land.
1. NOW JERICHO WAS CLOSE SHUT UP AND FENCED.—In Hebrew misgeret umesugeret, which Masius, Vatablus and Pagninus render: Jericho was shutting itself and shut, that is, most diligently shut, plainly barred and closed. Hence our Vulgate and the Septuagint, explaining it, render: “Jericho was close shut up and fenced.” And clearly the Chaldee: But Jericho was shut with iron gates, and fenced with bars of brass before the children of Israel. There was none who went out of it to fight, nor who entered it to make peace.
This verse is inserted as by parenthesis, that the wonderful things which the Angel next commanded the leader Josue for the taking of so fortified a city may be better understood. Hence Pagninus places this verse last in the preceding chapter.
2. AND THE LORD SAID TO JOSUE: BEHOLD I HAVE GIVEN INTO THY HANDS JERICHO.—“The Lord,” that is, the Angel, legate of God, representing his person.
Hence in Hebrew he is called Jehovah, which is the proper name of God. For God speaks through an Angel, as a King speaks through a legate. So the Angel promulgating God’s law on Sinai in his stead is called Jehovah, Exodus xix, 20. For the Angel continues to speak here, who at the end of the preceding chapter had commanded Josue to put off his shoes, and with shoes off to hear the commands of God; here, therefore, he opens and declares them, and teaches the manner in which God wills Jericho to be taken, namely not by the clash of arms, but by the blast of trumpets.
3. GO ROUND ABOUT THE CITY (seen from afar, so remote from it that you are out of bowshot, lest anyone throw a dart at you from it) ALL YE FIGHTING MEN ONCE A DAY: SO SHALL YE DO FOR SIX DAYS.—The Hebrew adds: “And the priests shall take the trumpets which are used in the jubilee, and shall go before the ark of the covenant”; which our Vulgate has thrown into the following verse. Hence it is clear that on the first six days also the priests sounded the trumpets, but once only each day, on the seventh day seven times.
4. AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY THE PRIESTS SHALL TAKE THE SEVEN TRUMPETS WHICH ARE USED IN THE JUBILEE,—namely in the fiftieth year, which was wholly festal and joyful. These trumpets were of horn, not of rams, as Chaldee has, but of oxen, as I showed from St. Jerome and others on Leviticus xxv, 10.
AND YOU SHALL GO ABOUT THE CITY SEVEN TIMES, AND THE PRIESTS SHALL SOUND THE TRUMPETS,—namely seven times, whereas on the other six days they went round only once, and therefore sounded only once, as I said on verse 3; and so it is clear in fact from the very execution of this precept, which is narrated in verse 13. So Abulensis.
But why does God command the priests to sound the trumpets of the jubilee and Jericho to be taken by them? I answer: to signify that the time was at hand when the holy land, claimed back from the Chanaanites, as wicked and unjust possessors, by God as common Lord and Prince of all, should be delivered to other, just and faithful settlers, namely the posterity of Abraham, to whom it was assigned by God. For in the Jubilee estates and possessions sold, or in any way alienated, returned to their first lords and owners, Leviticus xxv. Now the Jews in their father Sem, son of Noe, had possessed Palestine; but his posterity were expelled from it by the Chanaanites. Rightly, then, as in a Jubilee, God here brought back into it their posterity, namely the Hebrews, as the first and former owners; and therefore bade them sound with the trumpets of the Jubilee.
Procopius gives another reason: “Why,” he says, “did he command the war-signal to be sounded with horn trumpets of the jubilee? Because to horned animals the horns serve in place of walls; and so for us the Lord ought to be in place of a horn, according to the saying: My protector, and the horn of my salvation.”