Bible Fact · Joshua 6:20 — 'The people shouted, and the trumpets were blown... the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city.'
Ancient Jericho
The Fact
Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) in the Jordan Valley is one of the most excavated sites in the world and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities. Major excavations by John Garstang in the 1930s and Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950s revealed multiple destruction layers. Garstang identified a collapse of walls dating to around 1400 BC, which he linked to Joshua's conquest. Kenyon's more precise analysis concluded the destruction layer most visible dated to around 1550 BC — before the typical date of the Exodus. The debate continues: archaeologist Bryant Wood re-examined Kenyon's pottery data and argued the destruction does date to around 1400 BC, consistent with a 15th-century Exodus. Regardless of the ongoing dating debate, Jericho's archaeology confirms a real, ancient, fortified city that suffered catastrophic destructions — a city very much like the one Joshua 6 describes.
Context
The dating debate centers on which layer corresponds to the Exodus and Conquest. The question is not whether Jericho was destroyed, but when — a problem of dating pottery styles across the Late Bronze Age.
Significance
Ancient Jericho confirms that a substantial fortified city existed at the biblically described location and time period, and that it was indeed violently destroyed.
Reflection
God's command to march and shout seemed militarily useless — yet the walls fell. What obedient 'marching' is God asking you to do that doesn't fit conventional strategy?