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Josué 6

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1 Pero Jericó estaba cerrada, bien cerrada, a causa de los hijos de Israel; nadie entraba, ni salía.

2 Mas el SEÑOR dijo a Josué: Mira, yo he entregado en tu mano a Jericó y a su rey, con sus varones de guerra.

3 Cercaréis pues la ciudad todos los hombres de guerra, yendo alrededor de la ciudad una vez; y esto haréis seis días.

4 Y siete sacerdotes llevarán siete trompetas de cuernos de carneros delante del arca; y al séptimo día daréis siete vueltas a la ciudad, y los sacerdotes tocarán las trompetas.

5 Y cuando tocaren prolongadamente el cuerno de carnero, así que oyereis el sonido de la trompeta, todo el pueblo gritará a gran voz, y el muro de la ciudad caerá debajo de sí; entonces el pueblo subirá cada uno en derecho de sí.

6 Y llamando Josué hijo de Nun a los sacerdotes, les dijo: Llevad el arca del pacto, y siete sacerdotes lleven siete trompetas de cuernos de carneros delante del arca del SEÑOR.

7 Y dijo al pueblo: Pasad, y cercad la ciudad; y los que están armados pasarán delante del arca del SEÑOR.

8 Y así que Josué hubo hablado al pueblo, los siete sacerdotes, llevando las siete trompetas de cuernos de carneros, pasaron delante del arca del SEÑOR, y tocaron las trompetas; y el arca del pacto del SEÑOR los seguía.

9 Y los armados iban delante de los sacerdotes que tocaban las trompetas, y la congregación iba detrás del arca, andando y tocando trompetas.

10 Y Josué mandó al pueblo, diciendo: Vosotros no daréis grita, ni se oirá vuestra voz, ni saldrá palabra de vuestra boca, hasta el día que yo os diga: Gritad; entonces daréis grita.

11 El arca pues del SEÑOR dio una vuelta alrededor de la ciudad, y volvieron luego al real, en el cual pasaron la noche.

12 Y Josué se levantó de mañana, y los sacerdotes tomaron el arca del SEÑOR.

13 Y los siete sacerdotes, llevando las siete trompetas de cuernos de carneros, fueron delante del arca del SEÑOR, andando siempre y tocando las trompetas; y los armados iban delante de ellos, y la congregación iba detrás del arca del SEÑOR, andando y tocando las trompetas.

14 Así dieron otra vuelta a la ciudad el segundo día, y volvieron al real; de esta manera hicieron por seis días.

15 Y al séptimo día se levantaron cuando subía el alba, y dieron vuelta a la ciudad de la misma manera siete veces; solamente este día dieron vuelta alrededor de ella siete veces.

16 Y cuando los sacerdotes hubieron tocado las trompetas la séptima vez, Josué dijo al pueblo: Dad grita, porque el SEÑOR os ha entregado la ciudad.

17 Mas la ciudad será anatema al SEÑOR, ella con todas las cosas que están en ella; solamente Rahab la ramera vivirá, con todos los que estuvieren en casa con ella, por cuanto escondió los mensajeros que enviamos.

18 Pero guardaos vosotros del anatema, que ni toquéis, ni toméis alguna cosa del anatema, para que no hagáis anatema el campamento de Israel, y lo turbéis.

19 Mas todo el oro, y la plata, y vasos de bronce y de hierro, sea consagrado al SEÑOR, y venga al tesoro del SEÑOR.

20 Entonces el pueblo dio grita, y los sacerdotes tocaron las trompetas; y aconteció que cuando el pueblo hubo oído el sonido de la trompeta, dio el pueblo grita con gran vocerío, y el muro cayó a plomo. El pueblo subió luego a la ciudad, cada uno derecho hacia adelante, y la tomaron.

21 Y destruyeron todo lo que había en la ciudad; hombres y mujeres, mozos y viejos, hasta los bueyes, y ovejas, y asnos, a filo de espada.

22 Mas Josué dijo a los dos varones que habían reconocido la tierra: Entrad en casa de la mujer ramera, y haced salir de allá a la mujer, y a todo lo que fuere suyo, como lo jurasteis.

23 Y los jóvenes espías entraron, y sacaron a Rahab, y a su padre, y a su madre, y a sus hermanos, y todo lo que era suyo; y también sacaron a toda su parentela, y los pusieron fuera en el campamento de Israel.

24 Y quemaron a fuego la ciudad, y todo lo que en ella había ; solamente pusieron en el tesoro de la casa del SEÑOR el oro, y la plata, y los vasos de bronce y de hierro.

25 Mas Josué dio la vida a Rahab la ramera, y a la casa de su padre, y a todo lo que ella tenía; y habitó ella entre los israelitas hasta hoy; por cuanto escondió los mensajeros que Josué envió a reconocer a Jericó.

26 Y en aquel tiempo Josué juró diciendo: Maldito sea delante del SEÑOR el hombre que se levantare y reedificare esta ciudad de Jericó. En su primogénito eche sus cimientos, y en su menor asiente sus puertas.

27 Fue, pues, el SEÑOR con Josué, y su nombre se divulgó por toda la tierra.

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Joshua 6

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Joshua 6: The Fall of Jericho

Here, the first conflict for Israel in Canaan presents itself: the taking of the city of Jericho, which stands directly and obstinately in the path of the Israelites, preventing them from moving forward. This conflict embodies the whole essence and scope of all the rest of the conquests in the Joshua story, which in the inner meaning is to overcome and rule the things in our lives which oppose what God wants for us.

Jericho is to be taken with a siege, and God gives Joshua a procedure to follow: You shall march round the city once a day for six days in absolute silence. Seven priests shall carry seven rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march round the city seven times, and then the priests shall blow their trumpets. All the people are to shout with a huge shout, and then the walls of the city will fall down flat. And all the people are to go up and take the city.

This is quite unlike any other siege, where walls have to be scaled and fire catapulted in to burn things, but... this is a spiritual siege. The siege of Jericho represents how we are to lay siege to, or deal effectively with, our own evils and tendencies. It is the description blueprint for the battle between good and evil, which is our battle too. (See Doctrine of Faith 50).

In the Bible, Jericho is sometimes called the ‘city of palm trees’, giving a lovely idea of it. Its name means “a place of fragrance”, or, “his (the Lord’s) sweet breath”. It sounds perfect, but this has been usurped by invaders and takers who are now in complete possession of this sweet city and who will hold on for all they're worth (Apocalypse Explained 502[11]). This is really an account of the influence of hell in human life, and especially our unregenerate lives, when we are open to whatever feels self-gratifying.

Jericho, we hear, is shut up tight. It is not going to be an easy matter – because the work of regeneration never is – but this also describes hell’s fear; it is shut up tight because of the Israelites (Heaven and Hell 543). In us, when we become aware of a better way to live and we want to follow the Lord - whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light - hell will soon hit back in some devious imperceptible way to hold on to what it has got. It is scared of losing us.

This takes us to the siege and its tactics. The march once a day around the city for six days, carrying the ark, is to see every part of our situation from every angle, and it is also to parade our worship and adoration of the Lord (by parading the ark). The time period, six days, is always to do with the work involved in our regeneration as we see evil and shun it, pray to God, stand back and determine. (Arcana Caelestia 10373)

The seventh day involves seven marches round the city, then the trumpets and the shouts. This is the culmination, the Sabbath. For us, it is the avowal that we know the Lord is now ruling our will and our life and there will be no turning back or weakness of giving in. Jericho is now taken! The command is that every living thing in the city is to be completely destroyed because we must be unrelenting against all the things in our lives that go against God.

The gold, the silver, and the vessels of brass and iron, were put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. The "gold and silver" represent the knowledges of spiritual truth and good, and "the vessels of brass and iron" represent knowledges of natural truth and good. In the profane hands of the idolaters of Jericho, those knowledges could be tools to serve dire falsities and evils. In the house of Jehovah, they could be serviceable knowledges, applied to good ends - hence their being salvaged. (See Heaven and Hell 487)

The prostitute Rahab (who had hidden Israel’s spies and confessed the Lord’s power) and all her family are brought out and given safekeeping. For us, this is the acknowledgement of the truth that we are sinful (as she was) and that if it were not for the Lord we would plunge into who knows what. But now we know and confess the power and truth of God. And then, the Israelites burn the city with fire and Joshua pronounces a curse on anyone who ever rebuilds this city. We are to abhor evil for what it is and be faithful to the Lord our God.

The story of the destruction of Jericho is then the pattern for all our resistance and resolve in seeing and overcoming evil, while confessing, as we do this, that the battle is the Lord’s. (Charity 166)

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Arcana Coelestia # 10373

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10373. 'For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth' means the state of conflict and labour while the Church is being established. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days', when the subject is the establishment of the Church and a person's regeneration, as the state of conflict against evils and falsities, thus the state which comes before and is preparatory to the joining together of goodness and truth, dealt with above in 10366, 10367; and from the meaning of 'heaven and earth' as the Church.

[2] In the Word 'creating heaven and earth' is not used to mean what happened when the sky above and this planet were first created, but the establishment of the Church and the regeneration of a person there, 'heaven' being used to mean his internal and 'earth' his external. The fact that this kind of creation is what should be understood is clear from places in the Word in which the verb 'create' is used, as in David,

A people who will be created will praise Jah. Psalms 102:18.

In the same author,

You send forth [Your] spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. Psalms 104:30.

In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, I am your Creator, O Jacob; I am He who formed you, O Israel. For I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are Mine. Every one who is called by My name - I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, and also I have made him. Isaiah 43:1, 7.

And in other places. The expressions 'creating', 'forming', and 'making' are used, and elsewhere 'Creator', 'He who forms', and 'Maker'. 'Creating' means bringing something into being that did not exist before, 'forming' means giving it specific quality, and 'making' means carrying into effect. 'Creating and making a new heaven and a new earth' means establishing a new Church, its internal and its external, as in Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1 - see 1733, 1850, 2117 (end), 2118 (end), 3355, 4535. 'Earth' in the Word means the Church, 9325. And also 'the creation of heaven and earth' in the first chapter of Genesis means the establishment of the Most Ancient Church, 8891, 9942.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.