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.
Joshua adjured them at that time - i:e., imposed upon his countrymen a solemn oath, binding on themselves as well as their posterity, that they would never rebuild that city. Its destruction was designed by God to be a permanent memorial of His abhorreuce of idolatry and its attendant vices.
Cursed be the man ... that riseth up - i:e., makes the daring attempt to build, or rather, to fortify it (cf. 2 Chronicles 11:6), as is evident from the setting up of the gates of it. However strange such a course may appear-and in this instance it had a prophetic reference-it was not special to Joshua, but an ancient custom, of which the writings of the classics furnish many examples.
Thus according to Strabo (b. 13:, ch. 1:, sec. 42), those who might have been desirous of rebuilding Ilium were deterred from building the city on its old site, either from some painful associations with the spot, or because Agamemnon had denounced a curse against him that should rebuild it; and Croesus, after the destruction of Sidena, within the wails of which the tyrant Glaneias sought refuge, uttered a curse upon him who should restore the walls of that place. It remains to be noticed that the person who pronounced such a general curse was himself equally bound by it as those to whom it was applied; and Joshua, who proclaimed one against the man who should rear a fortified city at Jericho, was equally bound with the people. He one against the man who should rear a fortified city at Jericho, was equally bound with the people. He virtually took the oath upon himself (cf. 1 Samuel 14:24).
He shall lay the foundation therefore in his first-born ... - shall become childless; the first beginning being marked by the death of his oldest son, and his only surviving child dying at the time of its completion; or, as some interpret the words, 'he shall begin to build the city at the birth of his oldest son; but there should occur so many and great obstacles to the progress of he undertaking, that it would not be completed until the birth of his youngest: an event which took place toward the close of his protracted life.' This curse was accomplished 550 years after its denunciation (see the note at 1 Kings 16:34). The view given above of the curse being directed against the restoration of a fortress which had been miraculously destroyed by God, removes a difficulty from the sacred history, arising from the fact, that a city was soon after built and inhabited, but without walls, on the site of Jericho (Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5). De Saulcy relates that, 'on his second visit
(1864) to Palestine, he found above 'Ain es-Sultan, or spring of Elisha, a range of mamelons, covering the foundations of the ancient Jericho, destroyed in Joshua's time. On the highest of these mamelons-probably the citadel of the town-are scattered the remains of walls six feet in thickness, and all the ground is strewed with interesting fragments of ancient pottery.'
The credulity of De Saulcy has thrown deserved suspicion on many of his alleged discoveries. But there is a strong presumption in favour of his conclusions in this instance; because Josephus asserts that ancient Jericho was situated near the fountain of Elisha ('Jewish, Wars,' b. 4:, ch. 8:, sec. 3). And Mr. Stewart ('Tent and Khan,' p. 371) says, 'To my mind the accuracy of his statement is abundantly corroborated by its vicinity to the mountains; because the spies whom Rahab had advised to flee thither for safety could easily have reached them from the fountain in a quarter of an hour. These ruins, however, probably belong to two different towns. The mounds mark the Jericho of the Canaanites, of Rahab and the spies, which fell before the blast of the horns; and the ruins further south, the Jericho visited by our Lord, the dwelling-place of Zaccheus and Bartimeus, which was built by Hiel the Bethelite, despite the calamities that Joshua had predicted would fall on the family of the man who did so.' (See also Robinson's, 'Biblical Researches,' 2:, pp. 298, 299; Porter's Handbook of Syria and Palestine, p. 192).