Basically, because God told them to! I am certain that some would have said that it sounded a stupid thing to do and what could it do, but remember that the Israelites had seen miracle after miracle, the last one being the drying up of the impassable flooded Jordan River so they could cross over. It was an act of faith and obedience and showed the power of God.
counterclockwise
Jericho. (Joshua chapters 1-3)
A:According to the book of Joshua, Jericho was the first city the Israelites attacked at the end of the Exodus from Egypt. The Bible tells us that the forty-year Exodus began approximately 1444 BCE, 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon's reign, so the attack on Jericho would have been approximately 1404 BCE. However, over 90 per cent of scholars say that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible. Archaeologists say that Jericho had been abandoned around 1550 BCE and all that existed, at the time the Israelites were said to have marched around the walls of Jericho, was a small, unwalled village. The Israelites never really marched around the walls of Jericho with trumpets.
In the old Testament,the Bible counted out women. And so anytime the Isrealites were going out to fight, women were left out. This means that those who went to Jericho were all fighing men and the biblical number was 600,000 who said to have surrounded JERICHO.
14
A:The question recognises that walls do not just fall down if you march around them and looks for the historical truth, proposing the use of special machines to achieve that objective. This proposal is not necessary, and no more possible than the biblical account. Archaeologists say that Jericho was already abandoned by around 1550 BCE, a hundred and fifty years before the time attributed to Joshua's conquests. There was no military conquest of Jericho or of the other cities mentioend in the Book of Joshua.
The upper city of Jericho occupied an area of about 6 acres. If the fortification rampart around the upper city is included, the total area of Jericho was about 9 acres, with a circumference of about ½ mile. Bryant G. Wood, Ph.D.
The Book of Joshua tells us that Joshua was the leader of the Israelites when he brought down the wall of Jericho merely by having his men march around the city and make a great noise. Archaeologists say that the city had been abandoned a century before the time attributed to Joshua and that there were no walls for Joshua to bring down. They also say there was no military conquest of Jericho, as described in the Bible, at any time in the second millennium BCE.
13--Once each day for 6 days and 7 times on the 7th day. Joshua 6:3-4 "March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets."
A:This is a question that takes us outside biblical tradition into the worlds of science psychology and history. The science of archaeology tells us that Jericho was abandoned around 1550 BCE, so we can say that the biblical Israelite attack is not historical. However, legends are often based on some element of truth, and so it seems to be with the story of Joshua's attack on Jericho, in which he ordered the Israelites to march around the walls of Jericho for seven days. This is apparently based on a real event, when an invading army marched around the walls of the city of Megiddo, day after day. At first, the defenders followed around on the wall, waiting for the attack to commence. When no attack took place, they simply stopped following the opposing forces around the walls. At this point, the invaders attacked, meeting little organised resistance. This real event shows the likely result of the strange marches.
A:The Book of Joshua (chapter 6) tells of the Israelites marching around the walls of Jericho seven times, but does not tell us the length of each march or how long it took. We therefore can not say from a biblical perspective how long the march was. Archaeologists tell us that the city of Jericho was finally abandoned after an earthquake damamged the walls approximately 1550 BCE, and that there was only a small, unwalled village at the site when the Bible says the Israelites arrived. So, from a historical perspective the march did not take place. Over 80 per cent of scholars are reported to believe there was no military conquest of Canaan as described in the Bible.
Joshua led the military forces of Israel around the city of Jericho once a day for six days. They then marched around the city seven times on the seventh day, whereupon the city's walls collapsed spontaneously, and Israel's forces conquered it.