The Walls of Jericho

<p>THE WALLS OF JERICHO  Today we are looking at the story of Joshua leading Israel in the defeat of the city of Jericho, where the walls of the city fell down as the priests and soldiers marched around the city for seven days with the priests carrying the ark of the presence of God.  From the moment that God commissioned Moses to take Israel out of their captivity to Pharaoh in Egypt and to lead them though the wilderness and into the Promised Land, it was the power of the presence of God with them that prevailed for them. When God first told Moses to do this work, he said to Moses "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? (Exodus 33:14).</p> <p>God’s presence was with Israel in every situation of their forty-year wilderness journey in an outward demonstration of God’s supernatural power. God’s presence was seen in the cloud that followed them during the day, and the pillar of fire over them at night. There was the manna that fell from heaven to feed them. The presence of God resided in the ark of the covenant that was carried by the priests though the wilderness and placed in the tabernacle every time they set up camp (forty two times). There was the tent of meeting that Moses erected for himself - to go outside from the camp and meet with God in his presence where God would speak with him.  Moses died at the end of that forty years journey and Joshua had to lead Israel into the Promised Land across the flooded river Jordan. God miraculously held back the waters of the river Jordan when the priests stepped into the flooded river bearing the ark of God’s presence just before arriving at Jericho. The people of Jericho would have been terrified by the sight of over two million Israelites with thousands of head of cattle creating an enormous cloud of dust that would have been visible from afar as th