After tearing down the walls of Jericho and burning the city to the ground, Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay it foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”

For generations folks took this curse seriously. Then along came a man named Hiel, who centuries later decided to rebuild the city. Just like Joshua proposed, Hiel first laid the foundations of Jericho—at the cost of his firstborn son. He later set up the gates—at the cost of his youngest son.

The Bible often understates terrible situations. In this case, Hiel sacrificed two of his children for the glory of rebuilding Jericho.

What kind of man acts in such a way? One who’s hard-hearted. Opportunistic. Obsessed with glory. Maybe he never heard of the prophecy? If so, that explains the death of his first son, but not the second. Someone would have warned him and stopped construction.

I believe that Hiel knew all about the Joshua’s oath, and chose to build anyway. How did the mother of his sons feel about the rebuilt Jericho, with foundations and gates bathed in the blood of her children? Hiel pursued glory at the cost of everyone around him.

While such a craven attitude seems impossible, I wonder—what tempts me to sacrifice the good of others for my cause, or for my advancement, or to make myself look better in the eyes of the world?

Better to climb alongside others than to climb over their backs. Or better, as Jesus said, to do unto others as you would have done to you.

Hiel dreamed of being remembered as a great visionary and builder. Instead, he’s footnoted as a callous fool. We already have plenty of those.

1 Kings16 in week twenty-eight of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo of modern Jericho