Joshua. The Angel of the Lord? Chapter 5:13-15

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1 Joshua The Angel of the Lord? Chapter 5:13-15 T HERE! CLOSE BEFORE HIM Joshua saw the huge black shadow of Jericho, its wall a high, wide absence of stars. Joshua the son of Nun paused. O Israel, how will you breach such stone? But Israel had crossed the Red Sea dry-shod. And Israel had again, in these latter days, crossed also the Jordan River on a dry bed because the Lord had blocked its waters in the north and all the water south had drained away. Why should not Israel cross this hard wall, too? Then step, step: Joshua resumed his slow progress toward the wall, staring straight ahead, straining his poor eyes, raising his hands, preparing to touch the stones of the powers of Canaan. Suddenly Joshua saw with terrible clarity a man standing with a drawn sword before him. Joshua dropped his arms and gaped a moment. Then he whispered, Are you for us or for our adversaries? The man with the sword said, No, but as commander of the armies of the Lord have I come. Immediately Joshua fell facedown on the earth and worshiped. He said, What does my lord bid his servant? The commander of the Lord s armies said, Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy. Joshua did so. And then it was that Joshua the son of Nun, the leader of the forces of Israel after Moses, learned how the stones of the walls of Jericho might be breached. 1 One day, when Y hoshua was there by Yericho, he raised his eyes and looked; and in front of him stood a man with his drawn sword in his hand. Y hoshua went over to him and asked him, Are you on our side or on the side of our enemies? No, he replied, but I am the commander of ADONAI s army; I have come just now. Y hoshua fell down with his face to the ground and worshipped him, then asked, What does my lord have to say to his servant? The commander of ADONAI s army answered Y hoshua, Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy. And Y hoshua did so (Joshua 5:13 15 CJB). D. God s Leading into the Land of Promise 2. A Time to Prepare Chapter 5 c. Joshua and the Commander Verses A Side Bar ~ The Preincarnate Christ Various Passages Introduction: The Lord has a history of working miracles. First, He brought Jacob and his sons into Egypt where Joseph has become the second most powerful man in the nation. There, protected from famine, the family grew into a nation of slaves. 1 Wangerin Jr., Walter; The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1996, p Scherman, Rabbi Nosson, The Prophets, Joshua/Judges, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY, 2000,

2 Next God brought His servant Moses to the people to bring them out of slavery and Egypt through the miraculous intervention of God in the ten plagues, concluding with the death of the first-born and the establishment of Passover. During the wilderness journey the miracles continued. First, God divided the Red Sea so the people could escape the soldiers of Pharaoh. Next, God provided food, manna and on a number of occasions, water. And so God cared for the people over the forty years they wandered in the wilderness. Finally, God once again divided waters, this time the Jordan river. Israel was learning that God went before them, God reassured them and God walked with them. And one way this was seen was as the nation entered the land, they found the local residents knew of God s actions and were terrified at what this portended for them So now Israel is going to see God go before them. Yes, they are going to have to fight for the land, but He was fighting with them. And the first battle is going to be an interesting one. As we see Israel moving into the land, let s not forget that once we have accepted Christ, have gone through the Jordan, baptized into Christ s death, burial and resurrection, we too are going to have to fight a spiritual battle,with the Spirit going before us, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Romans 6:3 4; Ephesians 6:11 13 ESV). c. Joshua and the Commander: God is going to remind Joshua of His leading in a very direct way as Joshua meets a very interesting personage. As we ve seen Joshua has been scoping out Jericho. We don t know what he was thinking, but apparently God did because God sent someone to meet with him. Initially, Joshua sees what he perceives to be a man with a drawn sword. This was obviously a warrior. We know this because of the sword and Joshua s question. This close to the walls of the city he wants to know if he is dealing with a friend or foe. The drawn sword was an adequate cause of the question. As I noted on previous occasions, I do want to show how one can go beyond scripture itself to read more into a passage than is here. (I ll get to the question of who this being may or may not be in a moment.) Some Jewish commentary states The angel chastises Joshua The Aggadic interpretation. By facing Joshua with a drawn sword, the angel was showing him that he was worthy of punishment. Joshua realized that he had done two things ) 92 (

3 for which he might be called to account. Because of his alacrity to prepare the nation for the battle of Jericho, the offering of the tamid, the daily continual offering, had not been offered the previous afternoon. [Rashba comments that the offering was brought, but without the required entourage of Kohanim, levites, and Israelites.] And that night, Joshua had kept the people from their torah study. Joshua wanted to know which of the two sins was so serious that the angel would draw a sword against him, implying that he was worthy of the death penalty. The angel said that he had come now, i.e., for the present sin of lack of Torah study. Immediately, Joshua began an intensive of Torah (Megillah 3a). This incident illustrates that Torah study is at the essence of Israel, and that no matter how legitimately busy one may be, he fust find time for Torah (Be er moshe). 2 Again, note that the study of Torah becomes more that the necessity of Bible study and turns into works of merit that are necessary to earn God s approval. Anyway, back to Joshua and so any thought this was what Joshua believed the man to be was dispelled. He described Himself as the commander of the Lord s army. This is a supernatural being. Joshua responds accordingly. He prostrates himself and worships the being. Here I want to be very careful and not dogmatic. Is this an angelic messenger or it He more than that? Is this a theophany, an appearance of The Angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ? I lean towards the latter rather than the former. Oregin sees it this way The Chief of Chiefs. What is it that Jesus [Joshua] teaches us through this? That, doubtless, which the apostle says: Do not believe every spirit, but test if it is from God. 5 Therefore, Jesus [Joshua] recognized not only something from God but that which is God; for certainly he would not have worshiped unless he had recognized God. For who else is chief of the army of the powers of God except our Lord Jesus Christ? For every heavenly army, whether angels or archangels, whether powers or dominions or principalities or authorities, 6 all these that were made through him, wage war under the chief himself, who is the chief of chiefs and who distributes sovereignty to the sovereigns. For he himself is the one who says in the gospel, Have power over ten cities, and, to another, Have power over five cities. This is the one who has returned after accepting the kingdom. (Homilies on Joshua 6.2) 3 The problem here is specifically tied to the word worship hdjîv sûaœhωa ; a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God): bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship. 4 In other words, the word worship may not mean worship but reverence so it doesn t in an of itself necessitate Joshua s response as an indication that this is God Himself. What is the being s response to Joshua s prostration? He tells him to take off his shoes and this is holy ground. The being s presence makes it holy. Does this sound familiar? Then he said, Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. (Exodus 3:5 ESV). 2 Scherman, Rabbi Nosson, The Prophets, Joshua/Judges, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY, 2000, p Franke, John R., ed., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, Key Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Based upon the Strong s Hebrew Dictionary, public domain ) 93 (

4 This is all we see of the interaction between these two individuals. Clearly this was God reminding Joshua that the battle was the Lord s not Joshua s, that He, God, would be going before the nation and would be the one who brings the victory. Nevertheless, the command to take off his sandals would support the understanding this was either a direct messenger or just as possible, the pre-incarnate Christ. Hodgkin notes: There came a day when the Lord Himself shone through in all His glory. The Burning Bush was a picture of the Incarnation, but how much more vivid was this foreshadowing in the form of a man. 5 Borland states: The sanctifying of the surrounding ground by His presence when He met Joshua also exhibits His holiness (Josh. 5:13-15). 6 There can be no doubt that by the host of the Lord, the heavenly host is to be understood The Captain of the host expresses himself thus as if, by His coming, everything were accomplished. if the Captain of the host of Jehovah be the Prince of Angels, we cannot, by any means, refer the divine honor which He demands and receives to Him who sent Him as contrasted with Him who is sent; the higher the dignity, the more necessary is the limitation. If the honor be ascribed to Him, He must be partaker of a divine nature. Jesus not at all indistinctly designates himself as the Captain of the Lord s host spoken of in our passage, in Matt. xxxvi. 53 This passage alone would be sufficient to refute the view which conceives of the Angel of the Lord as a mere emanation and messenger. It also overthrows the opinion that he is an inferior angel, inasmuch as the Angel of the Lord here appears as raised above all inferior angels. 7 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53 ESV). The point of this passage is to demonstrate, once again, God s reassurance to Joshua that He was in control, that He was going before the nation as they prepared for the warfare to come. While this was something He had already told the nation and Joshua He understood the need for the people/joshua to be reassured that nothing had changed. Keep in mind this was within days of God having backed up the Jordan but the need for reassurance was appropriate because God met it. And this also serves as a reminder to us that God would meet the real needs of mankind from the time of Adam until today via the cross. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh (John 6:49 51 ESV). 5 Hodgkin, A.M., Christ in All the Scriptures, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1976, p Borland, James A., Christ in the Old Testament, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1978, p Hengstenberg, C.W., Christology of the Old Testament, MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VI, 1970, p ) 94 (

5 A Side Bar ~ The Preincarnate Christ: I want to take a few minutes just to remind us and give examples of the truth that we can literally find Christ in the Old Testament, what we would call theophanies or better yet Christophanies. Let me start by quoting Funderburk The question of identity of the angel of God has aroused an intriguing interest in Bible students. The view in which most concur is that He is a distinct personal self-manifestation of God, who may be called the incarnate Logos. The reference in Judges 2:1 shows clearly that the angel of the Lord is God in His self-manifestation. 8 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you (Judges 2:1 ESV). For me, what is important here is that God has always walked with His people from the beginning of creation, with us now and one day we will walk into His presence. And it is Christ who is the one who has manifested God to us throughout human HIStory. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? (John 14:9 ESV). So the following isn t intended to be exhaustive but simply a few examples of the preincarnate appearances of Christ. Also I want to reiterate I won t be dogmatic about specific examples so you may or may not agree with all of them. 1. Adam and Eve: And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8 ESV). Here the very language itself describes God s presence in a very human way. God had been walking with Adam and Eve. Now they hid from Him because of their sin. This hiding doesn t seem to be from some invisible presence of God but from someone they could see and therefore, from their perspective, be seen by. It is this type of language that distinguishes these appearances of God as Christophanies and are necessarily such because No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father s side, he has made him known (John 1:18 ESV). 2. Hagar: The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. (Genesis 16:7 ESV). I always find this one interesting because believers need to be reminded that God did make a promise to Hagar which means to the Arab peoples. And God will not forget these people 8 Funderburk, G.B, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Angels, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI, ) 95 (

6 In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them. In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction. In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance. (Isaiah 19:16 25 ESV). 3. Abraham and Isaac: Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord will provide ; as it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. (Genesis 22:9 14 ESV) What makes this event so intriguing is that it is Christ Himself who essentially says that Isaac isn t an adequate sacrifice. Instead He provides a ram which is an excellent symbol of Himself who would finally be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 ESV). 4. Jacob: And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, Let me go, for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Ja- ) 96 (

7 cob. Then he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. (Genesis 32:24 30 ESV) 5. Moses: And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:2-6 ESV) Though out the time of Moses leadership he had conversations with God the Father. But it is clear that at times he also met with the preincarnate Christ. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10 ESV) 6. Gideon: Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you? (Judges 6:11-14 ESV) Let s end this overview of Christophanies with King David. David brought judgment down on Israel because, tempted by Satan, he counted the people against God s directions. 7. David: And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces (1 Chron. 21:16 ESV). Of course these weren t the only ones to see the Preincarnate Christ. Others included: Balaam and his donkey, Manoah and his wife the parents of Samson, Elijah and others. Conclusion: What is important in all of these appearances is Christ demonstrated His love of His called people Israel even before He demonstrated His provision for all mankind. Joshua needed to be encouraged that God was with him as he began the process of leading the people in their task of taking the Land. ) 97 (

8 Our concern is to be spreading the truth of the Gospel and being used to take the lost, bringing to life and into the body of Christ. And in this we too are not alone. No, we don t have the preincarnate Christ walking with us. No, we don t have the incarnate Christ here, but as our advocate in heaven. if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1 ESV). What we do have is God s promised presence in each of our lives. And He speaks for Christ. the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John 14:26 ESV). And so just as Christ walked with Adam and Eve, as He spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as He led Moses and Joshua, as He directly touched the lives of so man, so He goes before us and is with and ministers to us. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19 20 ESV). Let me close with these words from Dr. McGee One morning Joshua probably got up and looked over the scene. It was an impressive sight. There were the camps of all twelve tribes of Israel around him. As he looked at it, I think he swelled with a little pride. He was the one in charge, and GHQ was in his tent now. Then he happened to look down at the edge of the camp, and he saw someone with a drawn sword. Joshua may have thought, There is someone down there who doesn t seem to know that I am the general here. I d better go down there and put that fellow in his place! So he walked down there and, according to our translation, said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? Now in good old Americana he said, What s the big idea? Who gave you an order to draw a sword? Then that One, whom I believe was the pre incarnate Christ, turned to him, and when He turned, He said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come! Notice the reaction of Joshua. He fell on his face before Him. You see, Joshua learned that GHQ was not in his tent after all. It was at the throne of God. God was leading them. Actually, he was not captain of the hosts of the Lord; he was under Someone else. And he would be taking orders from Him. We shall be seeing this in the next chapter as he marches the army around the city of Jericho for seven straight days. If you had stopped Joshua on the sixth day and said, Look, General Joshua, this is a silly thing to be doing, he probably would have said, That s exactly what I think. Then why are you doing it? You are in command here. Joshua would say, You are wrong. I take my orders from Someone above me. I am only a buck private in the rear ranks. I am doing this because I have been commanded to do it. 9 And since the Lord is always with us, we need to also accept that He is the one who is to be making the decisions as to where we walk next, even if were we re walking seems to make no sense, is dangerous or appears just plain silly. 9 McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Vol. 1, Genesis - Deuteronomy, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, TN, ) 98 (

9 Joshua The Angel of the Lord? Chapter 5:13-15 D. God s Leading into the Land of Promise 2. A Time to Prepare Chapter 5 c. Joshua and the Commander Verses A Side Bar ~ The Preincarnate Christ Various Passages Introduction: (Romans 6:3 4; Ephesians 6:11 13) c. Joshua and the Commander: (Exodus 3:5; Matthew 26:53; John 6:49 51)

10 A Side Bar ~ The Preincarnate Christ: (Judges 2:1; John 14:9) 1. Adam and Eve: Genesis 3:8; John 1:18 2. Hagar: Genesis 16:7; Isaiah 19: Abraham and Isaac: Genesis 22:9 14; John 1:29 4. Jacob: Genesis 32: Moses: Exodus 3:2-6; Deuteronomy 34:10 ) 2 (

11 6. Gideon: Judges 6: David: 1 Chronicles 21:16 Conclusion: (1 John 2:1; John 14:26; Matthew 28:19 20) Personal Application: Have you ever struggled with walking where God is leading? If yes, why do you thank that s the case? How can we strengthen our walk with Him? Prayer for the Week: Lord, I praise You for always being in my life. Help me to walk in Your ways, trusting You not my own wisdom. Amen. ) 3 (