The conquest of Jericho/ Perek 6 (Copy)

Let all your troops march around the city and complete one circuit of the city. Do this six days,

with seven priests carrying seven ram’s horns preceding the Ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.

So you shall do for six days: Don't ask the reason for the decision of the Creator why there was need for this encircling, and the reason for the 7 priests, the 7 shofars, the 7 circles, and the 7 days. The reason for the circle with the teruah-blast is to separate the people that were in the city and the wall will fall under it, "So that all the nations of the land will know that Hashem is fighting for Israel, not with sword or spear..." The number 7 has great meaning in science - like the 7 altars and the 7 sacrificial cows. And 7 is also the chosen number for counting days and for the natural world.

Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and let seven priests carrying seven ram’s horns precede the Ark of the LORD.”

It is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 8:2) that Rabbi Yosei says: In three different places the priests carried the Ark. They carried it when the Jewish people crossed the Jordan, and when they surrounded Jericho (Joshua 6:6), and when they returned it to its proper place in the Holy of Holies during the reign of King Solomon (I Kings 8:6).

And he instructed the people, “Go forward, march around the city, with the vanguard marching in front of the Ark of the LORD.”

When Joshua had instructed the people, the seven priests carrying seven ram’s horns advanced before the LORD, blowing their horns; and the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant followed them.

The vanguard marched in front of the priests who were blowing the horns, and the rear guard marched behind the Ark, with the horns sounding all the time.

And the warriors. These were the men of the tribes of Reuvein and Gad who went before them, because the men of Gad were mighty warriors and they would smite with a strong arm, as it is said, ‘And he rips off the shoulder and the head.’

דן ידין עמו, “Dan will judge his people.” This tribe had walked loyally in the footsteps of Moses as well as of Joshua as testified to in Joshua 6,9: והמאסף הולך אחרי הארון, “and the rearguard walked behind the Holy Ark.” It was this tribe’s task to ward off any attacks from the rear. They had been assigned this task as they were considered exceptionally brave. The word ידין, may therefore best be translated as: “he will avenge.” Compare Deuteronomy 32,36: כי ידין ה' עמו, “for the Lord will avenge His people.”

דן ידין עמו, those who explained this as a reference to Shimshon, one of the judges of Israel, have read the text only superficially. Did they really think that Yaakov, on his deathbed, would prophesy concerning a single specific individual who, moreover, fell into the hands of the Philistines and ended his life as their victim? Far be it from Yaakov to focus on such events at a time like this, even if he foresaw it! Yaakov relates to the tribe of Dan who is described as the rearguard of the Jewish armies in the desert both in Numbers 10,25 and in the Book of Joshua 6,9 where this tribe is described in identical terms. The fact that the rearguard is the most exposed section of the army which has to beat off any attacks from the rear, means that it needs extra protection by G’d. Yaakov says that he will enjoy success in avenging any unprovoked attacks on the Jewish people, i.e. their army. The words

while the seven priests bearing the seven ram’s horns marched in front of the Ark of the LORD, blowing the horns as they marched. The vanguard marched in front of them, and the rear guard marched behind the Ark of the LORD, with the horns sounding all the time.

And so they marched around the city once on the second day and returned to the camp. They did this six days.

On the seventh day, they rose at daybreak and marched around the city, in the same manner, seven times; that was the only day that they marched around the city seven times.

On the seventh day. This was on the Shabbos.

On the seventh round, as the priests blew the horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.

The city and everything in it are to be proscribed for the LORD; only Rahab the harlot is to be spared, and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers we sent.

And the city shall be consecrated. It shall be sacred, for that day was the holy Shabbos, and it was therefore fitting that all the booty that was taken be holy.

The following allusion is offered in support of the opinion of Reish Lakish: When it enters, it enters all the organs, as it is written: “And the city shall be a curse [ḥerem]” (Joshua 6:17), and the numerical value [gimatriyya] of the word ḥerem, a concept similar to ostracism, is two hundred and forty-eight. Therefore, the verse alludes to the fact that a decree of ostracism penetrates one’s two hundred and forty-eight organs. When it leaves, it leaves all the organs, as it is written: “In wrath remember mercy [raḥem]” (Habakkuk 3:2), and the numerical value of the word raḥem is also two hundred and forty-eight, thereby teaching that when the decree of ostracism is revoked, it disappears entirely.

All the silver and gold and objects of copper and iron are consecrated to the LORD; they must go into the treasury of the LORD.”

So the people shouted when the horns were sounded. When the people heard the sound of the horns, the people raised a mighty shout and the wall collapsed. The people rushed into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they captured the city.

They exterminated everything in the city with the sword: man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and ass.

The LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.