Joshua and Jericho: When the Walls Came Down

Joshua and Jericho

Jericho had shut its gates tight. No one went in, and no one came out. The people inside knew an army was camped just outside their walls, an army led by a man named Joshua.

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua. “See,” He said, “I have given Jericho into your hand.” Then God told him something strange: they weren't going to charge the walls at all. They were going to march.

Here was the plan: armed men out front, seven priests behind them carrying seven trumpets made from rams’ horns, and the ark of the covenant carried behind the priests. Once around the city, once a day, for six days straight. No shouting, no attacking, just marching. And on the seventh day, everything would change.

So that's exactly what they did. Joshua gave the word, and the whole line began to move: soldiers first, then the trumpet-blowing priests, then the ark, then a guard bringing up the rear. Around the silent city they went, one long, strange parade.

Imagine marching around a city with trumpets blowing, and the walls just standing there, exactly the same as before you started.

If you were one of the soldiers marching that day, what would you want to ask Joshua?

Would you have kept marching, even without knowing why?

Joshua had also given the people an instruction: they were not to shout, and they were not even to raise their voices. He told them to remain quiet until the day he told them to shout. So the people marched. The priests blew the trumpets, and the ark of the Lord went with them. They went around the city once, and then they returned to the camp. That was the first day.

The next morning, they got up and did it again. Same order, same silence, one trip around the walls, then back to camp.

And then again the next day. And the next. Day after day, the same walk around the same silent city, the same trumpets, and the same walls standing exactly where they'd always stood. Six days came and went, and nothing outside seemed to change at all.

Six days have passed. The people have marched around Jericho six times. And the walls are still standing.

How do you think you would feel, still marching after six days with nothing to show for it?

Sometimes a Bible story moves quickly. This part does not. The people keep following the same instruction: one day, then another, then another.

Why do you think God had them do the same thing, over and over, before anything happened?

Then the seventh day came. This time, one trip around wasn't the plan. They marched around Jericho again, and again, seven times total, trumpets blowing the whole way. And somewhere in that seventh trip around, Joshua finally spoke.

Joshua told the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.” But before the shout, he reminded them of two things: Rahab and everyone in her house were to be kept safe, because she had helped Israel's messengers earlier, and no one was to keep the silver, gold, bronze, or iron for themselves. All of it belonged in the Lord's treasury.

The trumpets sounded. Joshua gave the word. And the people shouted, all of them, at once, as loud as they could. The wall came down. Just like that, the wall that had stood around Jericho was gone, and the people walked straight into the city. The Lord had done exactly what He said He would do.

For six days, the walls stayed standing. On the seventh day, the people marched seven times. Then Joshua told them to shout. And the wall fell.

What part of that moment stands out most to you?

Was it the marching? The waiting? The trumpets? The shout? Or God’s promise before any of it began?

There does not have to be only one answer.

Joshua hadn't forgotten his promise. He sent the same two men who had met Rahab earlier to go find her, and they brought her out safely, along with her whole family. Every one of them survived.

The city itself was destroyed, and the silver, gold, bronze, and iron went into the Lord's treasury, exactly as Joshua had commanded. The chapter closes with one simple line: “The Lord was with Joshua.” And word of what had happened at Jericho spread through the whole land.

How to Talk About This Story With Your Child

Joshua and Jericho is often remembered because of one dramatic moment: the walls fell. But the chapter spends a lot of time on what happened before that. God gave Joshua instructions, Joshua gave those instructions to the people, and the people marched for six days. Then they marched seven times on the seventh day.

The story gives us repetition before it gives us the dramatic ending. That makes patience and obedience part of the story without needing to invent what the people felt.

It is also important not to turn the trumpets, marching, or shouting into magic. The trumpets did not have magical power, and the shout was not a spell. Joshua 6 begins with God telling Joshua, “I have given Jericho into your hand.” The unusual marching instructions came from God.

The story presents the fall of Jericho as something God brought about, not as a technique the Israelites discovered.

Joshua 6 also contains difficult material. Jericho was destroyed, and the chapter describes severe judgment on the city. For children ages 3–8, there is no need to describe death or violence graphically. But it is also better not to pretend that the chapter is only about a wall falling. You can say simply: “Jericho was under God’s judgment, and the city was destroyed.”

If an older child asks more, you can read the passage together and acknowledge that this is one of the harder parts of the story. Rahab and her household are an important contrast: Joshua had promised that they would be spared, and that promise was kept.

Pray Together

You do not have to use these exact words. You can talk to God together in your own words. Or you can pray:

God, thank You for the story of Joshua and Jericho. Thank You that You kept Your word. Help us listen carefully to what You have given us in Your Word. Help us be patient when we do not see everything happen right away. And help us remember that Your promises do not depend on our own strength. Amen.

For seven days, Jericho watched an army march circles around its walls in total silence, waiting.

Then, on the seventh day, after seven trips around the city, the priests' trumpets rang out and the people shouted with everything they had.

The wall came down. Rahab and her family were carried to safety, just as Joshua had promised.

And the story ends the way it began: with the Lord keeping His word. “The Lord was with Joshua.”