Birth of a Miracle

One Thing Comes First

Grumpy, bad-tempered, reluctant obedience is still…obedience. And our God always blesses us when we obey.  (M. Puccini)

Almost every Biblical miracle I can think of was proceeded by an act of obedience. Or to look at it another way, every miracle occurred after someone believed God and took a step of faith.

The Battle of Jericho

Remember how the Israelites conquered Jericho?

In the book of Joshua, chapter 6, God instructs the Israelite army to march once around the city’s walls with the priests carrying the ark. Only the priest’s trumpets made any sound at all. The defenders must have been baffled by these tactics. For 6 days, the army and the ark circled Jericho once, then went back to camp.

Nobody shot a single arrow. No enemy soldiers tried to scale the wall, or batter down the gate. They just obeyed God and marched around the city once in silence.

The 7th day ended very differently.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:15-16, 20 NIV)

Now wait a minute. Lets use a little common sense. If walls of stone or bricks crumbled whenever thousands of men suddenly shouted loudly, then any sports stadium in the early 20th century would topple whenever a football player made an unexpected touchdown.

The strategy the Lord gave to conquer Jericho was laughable. Shouting would never work; not in a thousand years.

But what does the archaeology at the site of Jericho tell us?

The Findings of  Archaeology

• The site of Jericho is universally agreed upon.by archaeologists.
• The Biblical record in Joshua is the only ancient text about Jericho.
• The book of Joshua was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• At the outside, scientists excavated a stone retaining wall 12-13 feet high.
• The stone wall held in an earthen embankment which surrounded the city.
• On top of the stone retaining wall was the city’s wall made of mud bricks.

The Wall Did Collapse

• The stone retaining wall didn’t crumble.
• But the red mud brick wall did collapse all around Jericho, falling down beyond the stone wall. Scientists view it as evidence of a sudden earthquake.
• The rubble of the mud bricks formed a ramp that reached to the top of the stone wall.
• At that point, the Israelite army could go straight into the city, from all sides.
• Joshua 6:24 says the Israelites burned the city and everything in it.
• One of the layers uncovered shows clear evidence of widespread burning.
• According to Biblical chronology, Joshua’s conquest happened around 1400BC.
• Comparison and dating of the pottery proves the destruction by fire occurred in the late Bronze Age, around 1400BC.
• The sequence shows 1st the walls collapsed and then the city burned.

My Spiritual Point

Shouting wouldn’t have collapsed the walls of Jericho, but a timely earthquake? Yes. The Israelites obeyed—even though they didn’t understand—and  then God gave them the victory.

Look at the miracles of Jesus. Nothing He told people to do made any sense. But when they obeyed, He responded and did the impossible.

Keep one thing in mind. If Joshua’s army had given up  after circling the city 5 times and gone back to camp because their feet hurt? No miracle would have occurred.

This is a dance between the Lord and us. He leads and we follow.

Resources:

Jericho Unearthed: The Archaeology of Jericho Explained (YouTube)