“On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.”
Joshua 6:15 ESV
Sometimes the Bible quietly throws a monkey-wrench into our theology. As a Seventh-day Adventist I do not remember anyone in my tribe talking about this aspect of the story. We talk about Rahab and the spies, we talk about the Ark and the water, we talk about the wall coming down, but we do not talk about how this happens on Sabbath.
God has told His people Jericho will fall. All they have to do for the next six days is walk around it once, and on the seventh day walk around it seven times.
The problem in our theology comes here in the story. For many in my tribe they would see something missing here. What did they do on Sabbath? Where is the day of rest?
No matter how you count it, their interaction with Jericho involved either one or two Sabbath days. This causes me to ask - "Is this in contradiction with the Fourth Commandment?"
Or does it expand the Sabbath in a way we have never really considered?
At the beginning of the Exodus experience, God explains to the Israelite's what it means and looks like to be His people. They had to learn that YAWEH, the living God, was an entirely different God in every way, from the Egyptians idols and deities they had observed being worshiped in Egypt.
The Fourth Commandment instructed them that God wants a day where their routine is totally different and their focus isn’t on walking, crops, animals, and work. Sabbath is a day to focus on God and each other.
The Fourth Commandment says that God values relationships as the fuel of life.
How does all this impact the taking of Jericho?
Getting dressed and war ready for seven days was an Act of Worship. It was an Act of Worship to march and not react. It was an Act of Worship to be silent, when you know they are being yelled at and taunted. It was an Act of Worship to just show up and trust God when they didn’t see how all that marching was going to do anything.
Sabbath invites us to just show up and be a part something greater.
~ Pastor Jackie James