4 And let seven priests go before the ark with seven loud-sounding horns in their hands: on the seventh day you are to go round the town seven times, the priests blowing their horns.
And after discussion with the people, he put in their places those who were to make melody to the Lord, praising him in holy robes, while they went at the head of the army, and saying, May the Lord be praised, for his mercy is unchanging for ever.
There will be no need for you to take up arms in this fight; put yourselves in position, and keep where you are, and you will see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: have no fear and do not be troubled: go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you.
And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
And a great voice out of the house of God came to my ears, saying to the seven angels, Go, and let that which is in the seven vessels of the wrath of God come down on the earth.
And one of the four beasts gave to the seven angels seven gold vessels full of the wrath of God, who is living for ever and ever.
And he gave a loud cry, like the angry voice of a lion: and at his cry the voices of the seven thunders were sounding.
And the seven angels who had the seven horns made ready for sounding them.
And I saw in the middle of the high seat and of the four beasts, and in the middle of the rulers, a Lamb in his place, which seemed as if it had been put to death, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the high seat, a book with writing inside it and on the back, shut with seven stamps of wax.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and was and is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his high seat;
This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by force or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of armies.
And God gave his blessing to the seventh day and made it holy: because on that day he took his rest from all the work which he had made and done.
And now, take seven oxen and seven sheep, and go to my servant Job, and give a burned offering for yourselves, and my servant Job will make prayer for you, that I may not send punishment on you; because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.
And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.
And Elisha sent a servant to him, saying, Go to Jordan, and after washing seven times in its waters your flesh will be well again and you will be clean.
Then Gideon, hearing the story of the dream and the sense in which they took it, gave worship; then he went back to the tents of Israel, and said, Up! for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hands. Then separating the three hundred men into three bands, he gave every man a horn, and a vessel in which was a flaming branch. And he said to them, Keep your eyes on me, and do what I do; when I come to the outer line of tents, whatever I do, you are to do the same. At the sound of my horn, and the horns of those who are with me, let your horns be sounded all round the tents, and say, For the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came to the outer line of tents, at the start of the middle watch, when the watchmen had only then taken their stations; and the horns were sounded and the vessels broken. So the three bands all gave a loud note on their horns, and when the vessels had been broken, they took the flaming branches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands ready for blowing, crying out, For the Lord and for Gideon. Then they made a line round the tents, every man in his place; and all the army, awaking from sleep, came running out, and with loud cries went in flight. And the three hundred gave a loud note on their horns, and every man's sword was turned by the Lord against his brother all through the army; and the army went in flight as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zeredah, to the edge of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.
And the Lord said to Gideon, By those three hundred who were drinking with their tongues I will give you salvation and give the Midianites into your hands; let the rest of the people go away, every man to his place. So they took the vessels of the people, and their horns from their hands, and he sent them away, every man to his tent, keeping only the three hundred; and the tents of Midian were lower down in the valley.
And the Lord said to Moses, Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents. When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting. If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you. When a loud note is sounded, the tents placed on the east side are to go forward. At the sound of a second loud note, the tents on the south side are to go forward: the loud note will be the sign to go forward. But when all the people are to come together, the horn is to be sounded but not loudly. The horns are to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the priests; this is to be a law for you for ever, from generation to generation. And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you. And on days of joy and on your regular feasts and on the first day of every month, let the horns be sounded over your burned offerings and your peace-offerings; and they will put the Lord in mind of you: I am the Lord your God.
And let seven Sabbaths of years be numbered to you, seven times seven years; even the days of seven Sabbaths of years, that is forty-nine years; Then let the loud horn be sounded far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of taking away sin let the horn be sounded through all your land.
And the priest is to put his finger in the blood, shaking drops of it before the Lord seven times, in front of the veil of the holy place.
Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female; And of the birds of the air, seven males and seven females, so that their seed may still be living on the face of the earth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 6
Commentary on Joshua 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
Joshua opened the campaign with the siege of Jericho, a city which could not trust so much to the courage of its people as to act offensively, and to send out its forces to oppose Israel's landing and encamping, but trusted so much to the strength of its walls as to stand upon its defence, and not to surrender, or desire conditions of peace. Now here we have the story of the taking of it,
Jos 6:1-5
We have here a contest between God and the men of Jericho, and their different resolutions, upon which it is easy to say whose word shall prevail.
Jos 6:6-16
We have here an account of the cavalcade which Israel made about Jericho, the orders Joshua gave concerning it, as he had received them from the Lord and their punctual observance of these orders. We do not find that he gave the people the express assurances God had given him that he would deliver the city into their hands; but he tried whether they would obey orders with a general confidence that it would end well, and we find them very observant both of God and Joshua.
Jos 6:17-27
The people had religiously observed the orders given them concerning the besieging of Jericho, and now at length Joshua had told them (v. 16), "The Lord hath given you the city, enter and take possession.' Accordingly in these verses we have,
Lastly, All this magnified Joshua and raised his reputation (v. 27); it made him not only acceptable to Israel, but formidable to the Canaanites, because it appeared that God was with him of a truth: the Word of the Lord was with him, so the Chaldee, even Christ himself, the same that was with Moses. Nothing can more raise a man's reputation, nor make him appear more truly great, than to have the evidences of God's presence with him.