Joshua 6

If one were to take the account of the siege of Jericho at face value, it would seem that that the Israelites made the city walls collapse by sheer dint of lungpower. Did the Israelites have among their number a mutant, a proto-X-Man who had the powers of Banshee? (For the Marvel-challenged, Banshee could emit sonic screams that could disintegrate certain materials; he appeared in Matthew Vaughn's film X-Men: First Class.) Or if Star Wars is more your beat, the Ithorians had similar abilities (though they did not manifest such powers in the films.)

But of course God orchestrated Jericho's defeat; whether or not He used a natural phenomenon (like an earthquake) or an early X-Men is intriguing to ponder but ultimately missing the point. Needless to say, it took lots of courage and trust for the Israelites to just march around Jericho for a week. You'll notice that we don't hear just what the inhabitants of Jericho were doing. According to VeggieTales, the people of Jericho were peas with French accents who shot globs of purple slushies at the marching Israelites.

The people of Jericho could very easily have started attacking the Israelites from their "high ground" (as Obi-Wan Kenobi might put it). I mean, just try marching around an army base or other fortification today and you'll probably end up making a very good specimen of Swiss cheese, or possibly ground beef. So what did those people of Jericho do? Sit around with their thumbs in one or another bodily orifice? I can posit two explanations--neither of them particularly flattering--for why the citizens of Jericho didn't so anything while the Israelites marches. 1) They were so scared of the Israelites that they huddled inside their domiciles, quivering in abject fear. Or 2) they found the idea of an army marching around a city without attacking so risible that they just grabbed some popcorn, opened up the lawn chairs, and sat on top of the wall to watch the blockheads below walk in circles.

After the walls do come tumbling down, Joshua recites a little ditty cursing "the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho" (verse 26). If I can be sententious for a moment, the fall of Jericho represents God's emphatic claim of the Promised Land for His chosen people. And indeed, verse 27 avers that "the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land." God's instructions were strange, but because Joshua followed them to the letter, he enjoyed the boons of God's presence and support. And while fame in itself is no laudable achievement (as a certain gaggle of sisters with alliterative names proves), Joshua received such renown based on remarkable actions precipitated by his faith in God.