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This is not the place to introduce archæology. Much work of great interest has been
done on the site of Jericho, and when the details are complete, we may be able to pass on
some of them to the reader. We believe what God has said in Josh. 6:, however,
without having to await archæological confirmation. We pass on, therefore, to the second
division of the subject: "The city devoted and cursed":--
"And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord . . . . . And
ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves
accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and
trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto
the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord" (Josh. 6: 17-19).
The English reader is likely to be misled by the words "curse" and "accursed". The
Hebrew cherem means "to devote", whether it be to destruction or to holy uses. To
translate cherem "accursed" is to decide at once which of the two purposes of "devotion"
is implied in the context.
Let the reader ponder the use of the word cherem in the law.
"But the field, when it goeth out in the Jubilee, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field
devoted" (Lev. 27: 21).
"Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he
hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed:
every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27: 28).
"None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be
put to death" (Lev. 27: 29).
"Devoted" (Num. 18: 14).
"Cursed thing" (Deut. 7: 26; 13: 17).
When we examine the references in Lev. 27:, we are struck by the close
association between the Jubilee and this "devoting" of things to the Lord; and the
"devotion" of Jericho and its possessions falls into line.
If we continue our examination, and are not content with mere references, we shall be
rewarded with full and positive teaching. We are all too prone to be impressed with a
string of references, and yield to the temptation of "taking them as read". To do so with
the above references to Deuteronomy is to lose valuable help. We have purposely
adopted this method of arrangement, to stimulate the true Berean spirit of "Search and
see" for which this magazine stands:--
"Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the
sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and
shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof of every whit, for the Lord thy God:
and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave nought
of the cursed thing (i.e. devoted thing) to thine hand" (Deut. 13: 15-17).
The city of Jericho had been "devoted" to the Lord. Apart from the specified
exemptions (the silver and gold, etc., and Rahab and her household) nothing was to be
spared. The warning given in Deut. 13: 17: "There shall cleave nought of the cursed