(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Joshua 5:13–15, “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”
Joshua was faced with his first major obstacle in the Promised Land. His spies had already visited Jericho and new that it was a large walled city. To the average person the city would have seemed to be impregnable. As he was looking at Jericho he was a man with a drawn sword standing nearby. Joshua’s first instinct was to ask the man whose side he was on. After all, an armed man in a battle zone must belong to one sider or the other, surely? If this man was on Joshua’s side then the he would be safe but if this man was on the other side then Joshua would have to defend himself. However, the man told Joshua that he was neither on Israel’s side nor on their enemies’ side, he was the captain of the Lord’s armies. But surely, this man would be on Joshua’s side if he was the captain of the Lord’s armies. No! The Lord promised Israel that they would defeat their enemies in His Name. This reminds us of Prince Jonathan’s attitude when Saul was king of Israel. (see 1 Sam 14:6, “And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.) The Lord would work with Israel’r armies and they would triumph without the aid of the Lord’s armies from heaven. In fact, Israel’s armies were the Lord’s armies on earth at that time. Joshua was so impressed by that man that he went to worship that man and ask him what he wanted. The man told Joshua that they were on holy ground and that he was to take his shoes off. The last time that we read about this happening was when Moses met the Lord in Midian and the Lord told Moses to set Israel free from slavery. (Ex 3:5, “And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”) At that stage the Lord called Moses, at this stage the Lord confirmed to Joshua that he was called to a sacred mission. When the Lord set Israel free the Lord used Moses to perform mighty miracles to show Egypt that He is the Lord. The only angel involved in the whole process was the angel of death who slew the firstborn of Egypt. Joshua needed to understand that the Lord is able to work through His own people to achieve His own ends for His own glory.
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