The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Did Archaeology Find Jericho?

 

If you grew up in Sunday School, there is a good chance you can hear the song in your head right now:

“Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down!”

It’s one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible. The Israelites cross the Jordan, circle the city for seven days, blow the trumpets, and shout. The massive fortifications of the city collapse flat, allowing God’s people to charge straight in.

But for a long time, Jericho was the favorite target of skeptics.

In the 1950s, a famous excavation led by Kathleen Kenyon concluded that while Jericho was an ancient city, it was abandoned and had no walls during the time of Joshua (around 1400 B.C.). For decades, this was taught in universities as "proof" that the Bible was historically inaccurate—a nice story, but not history.

But as we discussed in our last post, archaeology is a discipline that is constantly updating itself. And when a new pair of eyes looked at the old data, the story changed completely.

The answer to the question "Did they really fall?" is a resounding Yes. And not only did they fall, but they fell exactly how the Bible said they did.

Ancient Jericho is located at a site called Tell es-Sultan. When archaeologist Dr. Bryant Wood re-examined the evidence in the 1990s, he found that the earlier dating was based on missing pottery. When he looked at the local pottery that was found (specifically Cypriot bichrome ware), it dated the destruction of the city perfectly to the Late Bronze Age—the exact time of Joshua.

But the most exciting part is the walls themselves.

Jericho was a fortress. It had a unique defense system:

1. A stone retaining wall at the base (about 15 feet high).
2. A sloping earthen rampart above that.
3. A massive mudbrick wall on top of the rampart.

The Bible says in Joshua 6:20 that "the wall fell down flat." The Hebrew here suggests it fell beneath itself.

When archaeologists dug through the destruction layer, they found piles of red mudbricks lying at the base of the stone retaining wall.

Here is the amazing detail: The bricks from the top wall had fallen outward and tumbled down to the base. This created a natural ramp against the retaining wall.

The Bible says the Israelites "went up into the city, every man straight before him" (Joshua 6:20). Because the debris formed a ramp, the soldiers could literally climb up over the rubble and go "straight up" into the city, just as the text describes.

If the walls had been battered down by battering rams (which the Israelites didn't have), they likely would have fallen inward. But they fell outward—consistent with an earthquake or a divine shaking.

There is another detail that confirms the biblical timeline, and it involves something very ordinary: Jars of grain.

In ancient warfare, a siege usually lasted months or even years. The attacking army would wait until the city ran out of food and surrendered. Furthermore, usually, when a city was conquered, the victors would loot the food supplies. Grain was valuable currency.

However, the Bible tells us two specific things about this battle:

1. It was short (only 7 days).
2. God commanded them not to plunder the city (Joshua 6:17-18). It was to be wholly devoted to the Lord.

Archaeologists found large storage jars in Jericho that were full of grain, yet charred by fire.

This proves three things:

• The siege was very short (the people didn't have time to eat their supplies).
• The city was conquered exactly at harvest time (when the jars were full), which matches Joshua 3:15 saying they crossed the Jordan at harvest time.
• The city was not plundered. The valuable grain was left behind and burned, exactly as God commanded.

One final heartwarming detail. The excavation revealed that while the mudbrick wall collapsed around the city, there was a section on the north side of the tell where the wall did not fall.

The Bible tells us that Rahab the harlot lived in the city wall and that because of her faith, she and her family were spared. Is it possible that the preserved section of the wall was where Rahab hung the scarlet cord? Archaeology can't prove that specifically, but it confirms that a part of the wall remained standing while the rest fell—offering a way of escape for the one family who trusted God.

The crumbling walls of Jericho are more than just a history lesson. They are a reminder of the power of God over impossible obstacles.

The Israelites were facing a fortified city they had no military ability to conquer. They didn't have siege engines; they had trumpets. To the human eye, the situation was hopeless. But God doesn't need our strength; He needs our obedience.

When God's people walked by faith, the barriers that seemed permanent and immovable simply vanished.

This is true for us today. The Bible is not a collection of myths; it is a record of God’s power breaking into our world. The same God who pushed down the walls of Jericho is the God who fights for you today.

The stones of Jericho cry out that God keeps His promises.

Would you like me to share a prayer for overcoming "walls" in your own life to go with this post?

Keep marching!