Who built the walls of Jericho?

The Scriptures do not give a definitive time for the building of the original walls of the city of Jericho.

The city was already in existence when the Jews finished their 40 years in the wilderness and there is no indication how long the city had been in existence. According to our understanding of Bible chronology the Israelites entered the promised land in the year of 1575 B.C. and shortly thereafter conquered the city of Jericho.

In Joshua the sixth chapter is the account of God’s instructions to Joshua to surround and destroy the city of Jericho. Following the Lord’s instructions, implicitly the wall came tumbling down allowing the Israelites to enter and utterly destroy all the inhabitants of the city, both man and beast.

It was at this time that through Joshua, God accursed anyone who would attempt to rebuild the city, Joshua 6:26 “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.”

Several hundred years later during the reign of King Ahab there arose a Bethelite who rebuilt Jericho in defiance of the curse which Joshua proclaimed.1 Kings 16:34 records the incident. “In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun.” (NIV)

This account in 1 Kings applies to the re-building of the walls in direct opposition of God’s instructions after he had caused the destruction of the original walls.