9 Feb 2013
Biblical Oddities: The Curse of Joshua
When Joshua destroyed the city of Jericho, he pronounced a curse:
Joshua 6:26: “And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.”
At the time this seemed like an odd thing to say. Joshua simply pronounces the curse and moves on. Nothing more is said about it. It’s one of those things that are easily forgotten.
Much later, however, the curse comes up again. This is what we find in the book of 1 Kings:
1 Kings 16:34: “In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.”
Since these two events are in separate books of the Bible it’s easy to miss the connection – but there it is. Things happened exactly as Joshua said, all those centuries earlier.
One thing I Kings makes clear is that Joshua wasn’t just pronouncing a curse on his own accord; what he said was actually the word of the Lord speaking through him. The Lord was actually the one behind the curse – and it came to pass. Jericho really was rebuilt by human sacrifice. “Cursed be the man before the Lord” – and he was indeed cursed.
The city of Jericho still stands today; it is now home to 18,000 people. You now know who rebuilt the cursed city, and at what terrible price.