Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up.(locked and bolted).because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in.

Jericho.(map).was the first city (Moses defeated armies:.Exodus 17:11) in the 'promised land'.(Joshua 1:1-7).the Israelites took after coming out of captivity to Egypt. God had determined the promised land to them. Jericho was a beautiful city of palm trees.(Judges 1:16).and had good soil for gardens. Ruins of the massive, winding stone walls that amazingly fell down can still be seen there.

Joshua 6:2 And God said unto Joshua, See, I have given into your hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor.

Joshua 6:3 And you shall compass the city, all you men of war and go round about the city once. Thus shall you do six days.

Joshua 6:4,5 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns. And the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

The military were then to take them out, as today also!

Joshua 6:6-16 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, Pass on and compass the city and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of God. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on first and blew with the trumpets. And the ark of the covenant of God followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout. Then shall you shout. So the ark of God compassed the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests took up the ark of the God. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of God went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, but the rereward came after the ark of God, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once and returned into the camp. And so they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner seven times. Only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for God has given you the city.

Joshua 6:17 And the city shall be accursed.(original for 'accursed' is 'devoted', that is, devoted to God's purpose for it and God wanted the city and its inhabitants gone; more on 'accursed thing'), even it and all that are therein, to God. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent..

Barnes New Testament Notes In other cases the inhabitants only of the towns were slain. Their cattle and property became the booty of the victors. But Jericho, as the first Canaanite city that was captured, was devoted by Israel as firstfruits to God as a token that Israel received all the land from Him. Every living thing was put to death, Rahab and her household excepted and the indestructible goods were brought into the treasury of the sanctuary. Why if they were just ordinary people were they wiped out?.Luke 13:1-5. Well, like today, people have their false Gods and like people back then, don't want to be bothered with the real God in their lives and avoid doing anything through their fear and so, the tyrants will eventually get to them also:.Jeremiah 44:16,17; 2Samuel 7:23. One has to stop evil at the very hint of it. If not, evil only gets worse and tomorrow will reach those who are indolent today.

People are born good, but soon after start on the road of ordinary consciousness living, a living involving both good and bad things for us. Often we quickly learn to disallow the many prompts coming to us daily from God. Needing to listen to what comes to mind is important in determining if what is being heard, that is, what wells up in the mind, is good or of the dark side.(*). 

The ordinary consciousness of humanity is susceptible to receiving prompts from the dark side as well as from God, the good side. Dark side influences appeal to the ordinary consciousness:.Proverbs 14:12. The way out is to continue to grow spiritually in love for self and others. That will help them. One of the ways to help humanity.

Joshua 6:18 And you, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing.(Joshua 7:13), lest you make yourselves accursed, when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it.

Joshua 6:19,20 But all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto God. They shall come into the treasury of God. So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him and they took the city. 

Joshua 6:21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old and ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword.

These people were evil, of the bloodline of Cain.

Joshua 6:22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all that she has, as you sware unto her.

Joshua 6:23 And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had and they brought out all her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel.

Joshua 6:24 And they burnt the city with fire and all that was therein. Only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of God.

Joshua 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive and her father's household and all that she had and she dwells in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua 6:26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before God, that rises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.

Joshua 6:27 So God was with Joshua and his fame was noised throughout all the country.

....continues to Chapters 7-10

.