[This is another segment in the Music in the Bible series which begins in Genesis and finishes in Revelation.]
And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him. (Joshua 6:4-5)
Yahweh has already established the fact that trumpets should accompany the Israelites on military ventures for good reason so there is no need to elaborate this point here. But what is interesting is the multiple use of the number seven which, symbolically throughout Scripture, signifies the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and the perfect and complete manifestation of God's will being executed.
The Lord also uses the collective voice of the people to carry out His plan and that also is another established principle of God ordaining humanity through word and deed to manifest His power and glory. He doesn't have to yet He chooses to do so for reasons most likely related to His absolute sovereignty which can't fully be explained but only speculated upon.
The story of Jericho has another interesting aspect to it--the intrigue concerning a resident of the walled city, Rahab, who was a prostitute that helped two Israelite spies sent to scout out the city's defenses before the army's attack. There are many details and symbols in the tale that bear closer scrutiny and I invite you to examine them for yourself but what one particular fact greatly interests me. Rahab was an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ so the harlot becomes a heroine in true redemptive fashion.
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