What does an army need first for a successful invasion? A
bridgehead. Crossing the Jordan from
Gilead gave the Israelite tribes an excellent bridgehead—safe land behind them,
good routes into easily defensible mountains, lots of fords where small armies
can attack and retreat, and fertile land on which to settle and produce
resources. Jericho was the only problem, and again, Joshua uses spies to find out
how big a problem.
Read
Joshua 2:1. Rahab might have been a harlot, but the same word means hostess and
an inn would be a perfect place to gather intelligence.
The spies learn that morale is low. They may also have found
that the walls of Jericho were in poor repair, but that’s not recorded—it’s
inferred from history. Their report, and God’s guidance, lead Joshua to send
the people marching round the enemy city, and, famously, the walls fall down,
whether from disrepair, another earthquake, resonance with the Israelite shout,
or even because the enemy was lulled into hiding away while the Israelites
broke them… Battles of the Bible
prefers the last approach, citing a successful strategy of lulling the enemy by
getting them used to your maneuvers before you attack.
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