The fall of Jericho

Today's post doesn't have anything to do with today's readings, but it does relate to something else I read today.  I'm reading Paul Copan's book "When God Goes to Starbucks".  He was giving reasons for believing that God does indeed participate in this world, as opposed to the belief of Deists, who think that God set the world in motion and then basically forgot about it.  Anyway, God interacts with us through natural events and through miracles.  Natural events follow the laws of nature, but the timing of such events was directly affected by God, while miracles are events that cannot be explained through natural causes.  For example, an earthquake is a naturally occurring event, while someone coming back to life when they were physically dead is a miracle as that conflicts with natural laws.  All this is to say that perhaps the fall of Jericho wasn't a miracle, so to speak.  I always read this story and thought that the Israelites blew the trumpets and the city fell.  Copan mentioned in passing that God could have timed the two events - the blowing of the trumpets and the falling of the city - at the perfect moment so that when an earthquake hit Jericho and it collapsed, the Israelites just happened to be blowing the trumpets on their final round around the city.  Sort of like when the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry land due to an earthquake upstream.  It's amazing to see how God may have used such natural occurrences to achieve his goals.  What are your thoughts on this version of Josh and the Big Wall?

Josh and the Big Wall

Joshua
Today's reading in Joshua (chapters 6-7), about the destruction of Jericho, reminded me of an online game I played a few times on Big Idea's website (the Veggie Tales company).  It consisted of having a few Israelites walk around the walls of Jericho and avoiding the grape slurpees that the evil Peas of Jericho were trying to throw on them.  I just checked, and the game is still up: http://www.bigideafun.com/veggietales/arcade/josh/info.htm.  It's a simplistic reproduction of this story from the Old Testament, but it's a fun way to get kids involved!
As for chapter 7 and the account of Achan's sin, I was concerned about verse 25, which seemed to suggest, in the NIV, that Achan's sons and daughters were stoned with him for his having taken the devoted things (silver and gold) when destroying Jericho.  This punishment of his children didn't seem so just, so I'm inclined to agree with Clarke's Commentary, which states that other versions of the text (Hebrew, Greek, Latin) seem to suggest that only Achan and his possessions, such as his cattle, sheep, tents, etc. were destroyed.  For more info on that topic, click here (to go to bible.cc).