According to Joshua, Jericho's wall fell after Israel followed the Lord's command: the people marched around the city, the priests blew the trumpets, the people shouted, and the wall fell down flat (Joshua 6:20).
The fall of Jericho is framed by God's promise before the action begins: Yahweh tells Joshua, "I have given into your hand Jericho" (Joshua 6:2). The instructions are unusual: march once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventh day with priests, trumpets, the ark, and a final shout (Joshua 6:3-5).
The text emphasizes obedience to God's word more than military technique. Israel's movement centers around the ark of Yahweh, and the city falls when the commanded moment arrives (Joshua 6:6-20).
Joshua does not present the collapse as a normal siege victory. The point is not that Israel discovered a clever wall-breaking method. The story presents Jericho's fall as the result of God's promise and Israel's obedient participation.
Jericho is a threshold moment in the conquest narrative. It teaches readers to see the land story through covenant promise, divine action, judgment, and obedience rather than mere ancient warfare.
20So the people shouted, and [the priests] blew the trumpets; and it happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.