Joshua conquers Canaan, and “the walls of Jericho fall.”
First battle: Israelite leader Joshua, successor to Moses, camps outside the heavily–fortified city of Jericho, and sends spies in to reconnoiter. Their main ally inside the city is an interesting woman, Rahab. Subsequent to the conquest of the city, only Rahab and her family are spared.
According to the Biblical account, Joshua and his army march around the city one time each day for six days, and then seven times on the seventh day. Then, subsequent to the Jewish priests’ sounding their ram’s horns and the Israelites shouting a battle cry, the city walls crumble. Interestingly, while Joshua “puts a curse” on anyone who might rebuild Jericho, Jericho is currently one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Archaeologists have unearthed over twenty successive settlements there, dating back to 9000 BCE.
Contemporary note: Eight hundred feet below sea level, north of the Dead Sea and east of Jerusalem, a visit to Jericho today will find a casino, the “Oasis Casino.”