Jericho

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea. Jericho was the first Canaanite city conquered by Joshua and the Israelites in one of Scripture’s most dramatic military victories—achieved not by conventional warfare but by God’s miraculous intervention.

After Moses’ death, Joshua prepared to lead Israel across the Jordan into Canaan. Jericho, a fortified city controlling access to the hill country, stood as the initial obstacle. Joshua sent spies who were hidden by Rahab, a prostitute who confessed faith in Israel’s God and secured safety for her family. She testified: “I know that the LORD has given you the land” (Joshua 2:9), having heard of the Red Sea crossing and victories over Amorite kings.

God commanded an unusual siege strategy: Israel’s army would march around Jericho once daily for six days, with seven priests carrying rams’ horns before the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, they would circle the city seven times, then the priests would blow the horns and all the people would shout. “So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted 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 captured the city” (Joshua 6:20). Only Rahab and her household were spared, as the spies had promised.

The city’s destruction came with a curse: “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho” (Joshua 6:26)—fulfilled centuries later when Hiel of Bethel rebuilt it at the cost of his sons (1 Kings 16:34). In the New Testament, Jericho appears in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, set on the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30-37), and as the place where he healed blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). Archaeological excavations confirm Jericho’s antiquity, with settlement dating back nearly 11,000 years.