Details about Israel’s exodus out of Egypt repeated themselves when Israel entered the Land of Promise. The features define the “turning back to a prescribed point” pathway leading to the Garden of Eden, where humans walked with God, and they mimic Genesis 1’s re-creation epic. There is circumcision (of Moses’ son and Israel in the Land), the Angel of YHWH appearing to the leader (Moses and Joshua), Passover (in Egypt and in the Land), crossing a body of water via a miraculous dividing of the waters (Yam Suph and the Jordan River), YHWH protecting His people (Israel and Rahab), delivering the enemy over to destruction (the army of Pharaoh and army of Jericho), a trek to a historic place of worship where the terms of the covenant were proclaimed (Mount Sinai and Shechem), and setting up of twelve pillars/stones (Mount Sinai and at Jordan crossing). Sanctification associated with the third day is found in both accounts of entering God’s mount/land (Exo. 19:10-11; Jos. 1:11; 3:3, 5). Israel’s seven-Sabbath march to the mountain of God resembles Joshua’s seven years military campaign in the conquest of Canaan. In this blog, I will uncover details of conquering Jericho that foreshadow the fall of Babylon in humanity’s return to Eden.

Archeologists excavating Jericho found facts that align remarkably with the Biblical description of Israel’s conquest. The walls fell outward beneath themselves except for one short area on the city’s north side (Rahab’s home). The thick burn layer evidenced an intense fire’s massive destruction from the Israelites’ setting the city ablaze. In every house, excavators found jars full of grain, suggesting the spring grain harvest had only been recently gathered. This means Jericho fell around the Feast of Weeks, the day of firstfruits. Emphasizing the end of harvest timing and the firstfruits offering, the first of Canaan’s conquered cities, Israel dedicated all of Jericho’s plunder to God. The grain was left and scorched with fire but all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron Israel cleansed by fire, consecrated to YHWH, and brought into the tabernacle’s treasury (Jos. 6, Mahoney, Patterns of Evidence Exodus, pp. 238–241). The archaeological evidence supports the biblical account and adds a layer of historical authenticity to the conquest of Jericho, marked with sevens.

The seven-day calculator of Genesis 1 points to God’s justice, restoring all things to a holy state. Counting the seven Sabbaths mimics the same structure. The antitype of Israel’s seven-Sabbath march to Mount Sinai with day forty-nine’s long trumpet blast, signaled the fulfillment of the covenant. The seven-day measurement also appeared in Joshua’s defeat of Jericho when trumpet blasts accompanied Israel’s mighty victory shout after seven days of marching and seven times around on the seventh day. At the spring harvest conclusion, day forty-nine, Jericho’s triumphant deafening trumpet blast mimicked YHWH’s coming upon Mount Sinai. The battle plan of Jericho’s defeat was never repeated in Israel’s history, but there remains a final coming and another city that will fall circa the seventh month.

Like Jericho, Babylon was a splendid, well-fortified city. The object of Nebuchadnezzar’s vast building projects filled its six square miles, hedged about by two walls, inner and outer (UBD, Babylon). The king’s magnificent city was “the gate of god” or “place of the seat of life,” “the holy city” as He bragged, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30, 11:36, ISBE Babylon, NBD Babylon).

Lacking any fear of YHWH, ancient Babylon was the seat of tyranny and idolatry, and indeed, King Nebuchadnezzar ate grass like a wild beast for seven years until He learned that the Most High God rules in the kingdoms of men (Dan. 4:28–31). From its origin in Nimrod’s Babel, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower that reaches up to the abode of God;…let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen. 11:4),  Babylon characterized mighty warriors of name rising in opposition to God’s sovereignty. They turn into world powers, ruling by oppression, fierce nations in which His people sojourn in exile. Babylon’s king is the god of Nimrod, who aspired to ascend on high, making himself equal to the Most High God (Isa. 14:12–14, Dan. 11:36–37). Opposing God, the Babylon of today is the anti-God system of Babel, the Egypt of Pharaoh, and Gog and Magog of the end.

After Israel’s seven Sabbaths (7²), when YHWH came down upon Mount Sinai and summoned Israel to draw near, the trumpet (yobel) announced the King’s presence and exodus victory. About forty years later, priests blew the jubilee yobel at the fall of Jericho, signaling Israel’s return to the Promised Land. On the first day of the seventh month, a memorial trumpet blowing will herald YHWH’s return in power over His enemies, and a jubilee yobel will sound on the Day of Atonements, returning His people to the Land. Jericho fell at the end of the spring harvest after Israel circled the city for six days, blowing trumpets (yobel, Strong’s H3401) and, on the seventh day, seven times around, emphasizing Israel’s entrance and claim to the “Land of Rest.” The fall harvest counterpart is the Feast of Tabernacle’s water ceremony. For six days, the priest poured water from the “well of salvation” on the altar while encircling it and seven times on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, claiming YHWH’s victory over all the earth by the power of His Spirit and guaranteeing that the remaining greater harvest of humanity is holy. And then, like the six days of creation and YHWH’s seventh-day enthronement, the triumphant YHWH will rest upon His throne in victory forever.

Takeaway:
Jericho is the segue to YHWH’s second coming and the demise of Babel’s gods. At the appointed time when the last trumpet sounds, the Commander of YHWH’s army “will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God” (1Th. 4:16). “When the seventh angel sounded there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev. 11:15). Jericho is the segue to the next holyday, the Feast of Trumpets. And since John has bound the dual centers of his Gospel chiasmus inseparably together, the Pentecost blogs will easily, without interruption, move to the Feast of Trumpets in the next blog.

Fun Factors:
Joshua 6, the chapter of Jericho’s fall, has 1920 letters (2⁷ × 15) in 474 words (6 × 79, 79 = 22^nd prime), totaling 133837, 11 × 23³, the reality of living in the light of His sacrificial love.

Revelation 18, the chapter of Babylon’s fall, has 2956 letters [4 × 739; 4 (369 + 370); or 4(15² + 12²) + (19² + 3²)] in 618 words (6 × 103; 103 = 27^th prime), totaling 318459, 3 × 19 × 37 × 151; 151 = 36^th prime, suggesting sure restoration and victory through the Name’s appointed times in the tabernacle.

The most amazing thing happens if we add YHWH’s championing over evil in the spring and autumn harvest chapters together (Joshua 6 added to Revelation 18)! There are 4876 letters (4 × 23 × 53, living in the garden) in 1092 words (7 × 156; 156 = “the feasts of YHWH” of Lev. 23:2, “the tabernacle of meeting,” and “Zion”), totaling 452296, 8 × 13 × 4349, 104(50² + 43²), or 586² + 330²; 586 = 19² + 15², restoration through the Holyday lunar time cycle; 330 is 3 × 110, certainty of Joseph’s bounty and Joshua’s conquests (both men lived to 110). Multiplying 4 × 5 × 2 × 2 × 9 × 6 = 4320, the universe in tune with the heart of God (sun’s radius number), the number of His love that flows throughout the cosmos. Adding 4 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 9 + 6 = 28 or 4 × 7, earth and heaven as one.