ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
Joshua 6:20 — The Fall of Jericho's Wall
Joshua 6:20 records the collapse of Jericho's wall as the people shout and the priests blow trumpets, fulfilling the word spoken earlier in the chapter.
Escritura
- 20.Entonces el pueblo gritó, y los sacerdotes tocaron las bocinas; y aconteció que cuando el pueblo hubo oído el sonido de la bocina, gritó con gran vocerío, y el muro se derrumbó. El pueblo subió luego a la ciudad, cada uno derecho hacia adelante, y la tomaron.So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Qué significa este pasaje
Verse 20 is the fulfillment of the instructions Joshua received at the start of the chapter. Earlier, the people had been told to march around the city once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventh day, and at a long blast of the ram's horn the people were to shout, after which the wall would fall flat. Joshua 6:20 narrates exactly that sequence: the people shout, the priests blow the trumpets, the people hear the sound and give a great shout, and the wall falls down flat.
The collapse of the wall is described as total and immediate enough that each soldier could go up into the city ' every man straight before him.' The wording emphasizes that no breach needed to be forced; the obstacle itself was removed. The verse therefore presents the taking of Jericho as the direct outcome of the combined actions the chapter prescribed — the march, the trumpets, and the shout — rather than of conventional military assault.
Because the verse reports victory rather than explaining it theologically, its meaning depends on how the rest of Joshua 6 frames it. The earlier promise in verse 2 ('I have given into thy hand Jericho'), the command to shout in verse 16 ('Jehovah hath given you the city'), and the warnings in verses 17–19 about devoted things together indicate that the wall's fall is treated as an act granted in response to obedience, not as a result of Israelite strength.
Contexto
Joshua 6 opens with Jericho tightly shut because of Israel (v. 1) and immediately follows with God's promise to give the city, its king, and its warriors into Joshua's hand (v. 2). The chapter then prescribes the unusual method of taking the city: a daily march with seven priests carrying seven ram's-horn trumpets before the ark (vv. 3–4, 6–9), silence from the people until the signal (v. 10), and the shout at the seventh circuit on the seventh day (vv. 5, 14–16). Verses 17–19 set the conditions: the city and everything in it are devoted to Jehovah, only Rahab and her household are to live, and the people must keep themselves from the devoted things while silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron go into Jehovah's treasury.
Within that frame, verse 20 is the turning point where the prescribed actions and the promise converge. The verses that come after (21–27) immediately explain how the victory was applied: the city and its inhabitants were devoted, Rahab and her family were brought out alive as sworn, the metal objects went into the treasury, and the city was burned. Joshua 6:27 closes the chapter by noting that Jehovah was with Joshua and that his fame spread through the land.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why did the wall fall at the sound of the trumpet and the shout?
The chapter itself does not explain the mechanism; it simply records the sequence as commanded. The falling of the wall is presented as the fulfillment of the word given in Joshua 6:2, 5, and 16, where God promises the city into Israel's hand and prescribes the shout as the signal for the wall to fall flat.
Did Israel conquer Jericho by military force?
The chapter does not describe a conventional assault. The text states that the people marched in silence, blew trumpets, and shouted, and then the wall fell flat so that each man could go straight before him. The taking of the city is reported as the outcome of these prescribed actions rather than as the result of a battle.
What happened to Rahab after the wall fell?
Verses 17 and 22–23 specify that Rahab the harlot and all who were with her in her house were to live because she hid the messengers. After the wall fell, Joshua told the two spies to bring her out with all she had as they had sworn, and the chapter records that she and her kindred were brought out and set without the camp of Israel.