Jericho - The Walls Really Did Fall!

The Walls of Jericho

A generation passed after the Exodus, and the nation of Israel was finally ready to enter the land that God promised to give them. As they entered the Caanan, they immediately encountered their first resistance to the possession of their land. This resistance came from the heavily fortified city of Jericho. We find the story of this famous battle in Joshua chapter 6.

When we consider the history of the ancient city of Jericho, it’s important to realize that the only historical source we have describing the city is the Bible! The very first mention of Jericho that we have is from the book of Numbers, but the city isn’t described in detail until the book of Joshua. Everything else that we know about Jericho has had to come from digging in the ground.

Still there’s so much that archaeologists have found in the ruins of Jericho that supports the history of the Bible. When we look at the archaeological digs, we see once again that the skeptics have it wrong and the Bible had it right. What has brought many archaeologists to this conclusion?

When we look at the ruins of the ancient city of Jericho, this is what we find:

One - Jericho was truly conquered and completely burnt with fire at some point in history. We can clearly see a time when the entire city was reduced to rubble and ashes.

Two - The city did indeed have a massive wall for defense. This wall was made up of three components:
There was a twelve-foot-tall stone retaining wall around the edge of the hill that the city was built on.
This retaining wall had a large brick wall built on top of it, surrounding the base of the hill.
At the top of the hill was an upper brick wall around the main city.
Together, these upper and lower walls made up the “wall” of Jericho.

Three- Between the upper and lower walls, archaeologists have found houses and homes belonging to the poor of the city. Many of these homes were built right up against the lower wall of the city, and would use the lower wall as one side of the house. This neighborhood between the walls was where people in Jericho’s lower class were living.

Four - The wall was clearly fallen over. It appears as if the upper wall collapsed down the hill and knocked down the lower wall. One Archaeologist actually claimed this is the only city ever found where the wall simply fell over. There were no places where it was breached (or broken through), it simply fell.

Five - When the wall collapsed, the lower brick wall crumbled down the retaining wall at the base of the hill and the bricks spread outward. Believe it or not...it appears as if the falling wall actually formed a ramp against the retaining wall, which would allow it to be climbed easily.

Six - One section of the wall of Jericho didn’t appear to have fallen at all. Around 1907, a German team discovered a short stretch of the wall on the North of the city to still be intact and standing. Apparently this one area didn’t collapse like the rest of the wall.

Seven - When Jericho was destroyed, it wasn’t plundered. Every building in it was destroyed by fire, which you would expect to see if it was conquered militarily. However, it seems as if nothing was taken from it! Inside the burnt-up houses, bins and jars full of grain were discovered. Whatever army destroyed Jericho didn’t seem to want anything out of it.

Eight - The fact that there was so much grain stored in the ruins of Jericho implies that it wasn’t long after the harvest when the attack occurred. The abundance of grain also suggests that the city was not under siege for a long period of time. If it were a traditional attack, the opposing army would usually wait for the food supply to run out and then take the city.

Now let’s compare what we see in the ground with what we read in Scripture.

This is what the Bible says about the destruction of Jericho:

First, according to Joshua 3:15, the encounter between Israel and Jericho happened during the “time of the harvest” - confirmed by the abundance of grain in the city.

Second, the siege only lasted for seven days - not long enough for the Caananites inside the city to use up their food supply.

Third, the Bible clearly says in Joshua 2:15 that Rahab the prostitute lived inside the city wall. This is confirmed by the poor neighborhood that was discovered between the upper and lower walls of Jericho. This is actually where you would expect to find the home of a prostitute - in a lower-class area. In fact, Rahab’s home must’ve been one of the houses built against the lower wall, because the Bible tells us that she let the spies down through one of her windows.

Fourth, the walls fell. Joshua 6:20a “So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.” The Hebrew word used here means “fell beneath itself”. This is exactly what we see in the ruins; the bricks of the upper and lower walls collapsed beneath themselves, crumbled down the hill, and then fell over the edge of the retaining wall.

Fifth, the entire army went up into the city. Joshua 6:20b “Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him…” The army of Israel didn’t funnel through a single breach in the wall. When the walls collapsed, every man in the surrounding army went up into the city...from wherever they were at the moment. Jericho was attacked from all sides.
Notice the word “up” - these men went up into the city. The evidence in the ground tells us that God made it easier for the army of Israel, by turning Jericho’s wall into a ramp!

Sixth, Rahab was spared. According to Joshua 2:17-20, the Israelites made an agreement with Rahab. No one inside her house would be harmed. Her home was spared the destruction that came when the walls fell. We now know that she must have lived in the small area on the north side of Jericho, where the wall was still standing.

Seventh, the city wasn’t plundered. Joshua 6:17-19 tell us that the entire city was burnt with fire and nothing was taken as loot. The silver and gold were put into the treasury of the Tabernacle, but the rest of the goods were left alone and burnt up with the city. This was unheard of...an army capturing a city, but taking nothing from it? And yet, archaeology proves this is exactly what happened in Jericho. All of the valuable grain stored in the city was burnt up.

Archeology clearly confirms the Biblical record of Joshua and Jericho.

Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far:

The only ancient source we have that mentions Jericho is the Bible

This ancient source tells us about:
The fall of the city’s wall
The protection of a prostitute who lived inside the wall
The utter destruction of the city and everything in it.

When we look in the ground and see the ruins of this ancient city, we find:
The city was actually surrounded by a wall
There was a poor neighborhood actually living inside the wall
The wall actually collapsed without explanation (except for one small area)
The city was completely destroyed, along with all of its goods.

The more we learn about Jericho, the more we see that God’s Word had it right all along! Far from contradicting the Bible, archaeology gives amazing support to the Bible’s record. The story of the miraculous battle of Jericho is confirmed by the evidence in the ground!