Before the Fall of Jericho in Chapter 6 of the book of Joshua, something happened on the way to Jericho. Joshua saw a man with a drawn sword and after he knew who he was, he fell facedown the ground. It is written in the previous Chapter, Joshua 5 of the Bible.
Joshua 5:13-15
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
In this scripture, a man who calls himself the commander of the army of the Lord came to make his presence known. Some would say he is an angel that was sent to become a representative of God. But there’s so much more to this story than what we could imagine.
Know this: it is written in the Bible that angels don’t accept worship from humans because they consider themselves as fellow servants. We can find this in the book of Revelation.
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he *said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”
Revelation 22:8-9
So in the first passage, Joshua 5:13-15, we can remember the same image at the time of Moses (mount Horeb, the mountain of God) where the word of God came down and His presence dwelt into a burning bush that does not burn up. And God said he should take off his sandals for the place where he was standing is holy ground.
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
Exodus 3:4-6
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The only difference was Moses saw “the angel of the Lord appeared in flames” while Joshua saw the “the Commander of the Army of God”.
This changes everything in the conquering of the promised land. The commander of the Army of God that Joshua saw said the language of the Lord that Moses saw in mount Horeb.
“Take off your sandals,
for the place
where you are standing
is holy ground.”
Which only means that He was not an ordinary angel but was Christ Jesus in His Godly form. For who else can lead an army of God but His only begotten son?
Jesus Christ was with the Israelites.
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