Joshua 6:6-11

Ye shall not shout.

., until the day I bid you shout.

Joshua taking Jericho

I. One of the essential attributes of a great leader--the power to repress the passions of a nation of warriors: “Ye shall not shout,” &c. This was the command of a young ruler. The temptation of the young and inexperienced is impatience. We but gradually learn the lesson, “He that believeth shall not make haste.” Joshua, however, had learnt this. It is easy to arouse a nation when new scenes suggest new possibilities, but it is difficult to suppress emotions at such a time, and to insist upon silence “until.” This is one of the tests of ruler-ship. Every general should be equal to this task. Joshua was.

II. One of the characteristics of a great people--willing obedience to the command to repress their emotions at such a time as this. Joshua does not seem to have told them all that the Lord had told him. Their ignorance of the final issue made obedience to the command to go round Jericho for six days without giving vent to their feelings in one single shout the more difficult, and on that account imparted to it a grander meaning. At the outset the nation of conquerors had to conquer their own spirit. There must be a reserve of force. Only those who can be silent can shout to good purpose. So has it ever been with God’s servants. They have had their seasons of delay. Moses in Midian; Christ’s disciples tarrying in Jerusalem “until,” &c.; Paul in Arabia; so here the people who could persist in their apparently meaningless rounds “until” they were bidden to shout, had the making of conquerors in them. The shout would have all the momentum of the delay in it.

III. The divine method of accomplishing triumphs: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.” The triumph thus gained is often the consummation of patient waiting and implicit obedience on our part. The world misunderstands the meaning of the apparent monotonous routine of Providence, and asks sneeringly, “Where is the promise of His coming?” All the while we know that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, and that every apparent delay hastens the final consummation. And “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (D. Davies.)