Joshua 6:10, 16, 20 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout…And it shall come to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, shout; for the Lord hath given you the city….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.
The tumbling of the invincible walls of Jericho, already standing for thousands of years, fell before the more invincible God. This is the God who fights for us. The walls were 25 feet high and 20 feet thick, but our Jesus is greater. Even the gates of hell shall not prevail against those who confess that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, is my Lord and Savior.
Even though God’s people did not know what was going to happen, they obediently followed the Lord’s word and did as Joshua told them. They compassed the city once a day for seven days in silence. This was certainly strange and curious, but they did it. But on the seventh day they marched around seven times, then with a trumpet sound they were told to shout. The walls came down and Jesus led them to an impossible victory.
The shout, the silent circling, and the trumpet, was an obedient response to God’s command, not the cause of the tumbling. One might expect them to shout after seeing the walls come down, but in faith they shouted before they saw. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
One Day in our future the last trumpet shall sound, the Lord will return to earth with a great shout, in the Judgment the Enemy will be forever destroyed, and the eternal kingdom will be revealed. But believers shout ahead of time, knowing what is going to happen. We sing praise and worship to Jesus both for what He has done and for what He will do. We “make melody” in our hearts and inwardly shout for joy every time we are reminded of the Gospel. We live in excited anticipation of the victory the Lord still has in store for us.