What do scholars believe the procession around Jericho was and what it was for?

Answer 1

Most scholars believe that there was no procession around Jericho because the city of Jericho did not exist at the time attributed to the Exodus. Archaeologists have found several layers of the city, as it was occupied, then abandoned, then occupied again - but no layer exists for the late bronze age - the period that includes 1500 BCE to well beyond 1200 BCE. What they have found instead is that Jericho had been abandoned around 1550 BCE and that afterwards there was only a very limited and impoverished settlement, apparently unwalled, between 1425 and 1275, then entirely abandoned. Israel Finkelstein says that eighty percent of scholars believe that the Conquest of the Land simply did not take place as described in The Bible.
But scholars do believe they know the origin of the story of the procession around Jericho. Much earlier, a Canaanite king had besiged the city of Megiddo. Day after day, he marched his troops around the city walls, making as much noise as possible. Gradually, the defenders tired of following along the walltop in preparation for an attack that never seemed to come. When they saw that the city was no longer properly prepared, the attackers rushed the wall under the cover of the din they were making, and breached it before the defenders realised they were under attack.