Who? What? Where?

Joshua 5:13-6:5

Who Is He?

 

There's an amazing character in the story of Joshua that you may never have studied before. He is called "Commander of the Army of the LORD" and he appears in Joshua 5:13-15:

 

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,

a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”    

14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.”

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him,

“What does my lord say to his servant?”    

15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua,

“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

And Joshua did so.

 

His appearing is the fulfillment of the Lord's promise to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:1-6:

 

1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them,

“I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in.

The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’    

3 The Lord your God himself will go over before you.

He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them,

and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken.    

4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites,

and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and

you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you.

6 Be strong and courageous.

Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.

He will not leave you or forsake you.”    

This character is a warrior, the warrior. But, he is also much more: counselor, guide, strategy maker, priest... He represents "The Lord your God himself." As someone who grew up reading a lot, He reminds me of Merlin in the King Arthur series by Stephen R. Lawhead, which I read when I was a teenager. Lawhead's Merlin is not just the kind, fussy old tutor made famous my Disney; he's a fighter, passionate and brave, helping establish the kingdom with his sword as well as his counsel. So too, the Commander of the Lord's Army isn't what we expect; he is much more.

Now, the best thing about the person described in Joshua's story is that we can know who he was, and it may surprise us. What are the clues? First, his title: Who has a right to be called the commander, or Captain (NASB), of God's army? Who is the Lord of God's hosts? Second, he allows himself to be worshiped: Who alone is worthy of worship? Who alone is Israel allowed to worship?  (Certainly not an angel, as in some interpretations) Third, he commands Joshua to remove his sandals and declares the place holy ground: Where have we heard that before? Fourth, this individual is physically present with Joshua. He has a physical body. When is God ever found to present himself in a physical form? So, a person (with a body) claims to be in charge of the army of heaven, accepts worship from the leader of God's chosen people (one who heard God talking to Moses [Exodus 33:11]), and reenacts the theophany of the Burning Bush (claiming to be God)... The Commander of the Army of the Lord is none other than Jesus!

 

What Did He Do?

 

Now, this isn't the only time Jesus appears in the Old Testament text, but it is unique because it begins a prolonged interaction between people and the pre-incarnate Christ, where it seems he may actually be fighting on Israel's side as they drive out the kingdoms under God's judgment in Canaan, extending all the way to Judges 13. Can you imagine? As you envision the Conquest of Canaan, have you ever done so with this character still in mind: making plans with Joshua, giving orders in person, watching over Israel from a hilltop as they march around Jericho?

 

And, each time in these chapters that the Scripture reads "the LORD said," can you imagine the warrior Jesus standing there actually talking to Joshua face to face? At Jericho (Joshua 6:2)? About Achan (Joshua 7:10)? At Ai (Joshua 8:1)? Is it unreasonable to believe that Jesus could have appeared to Joshua again at these moments, even as he appeared to Abraham (Genesis 18)? Jesus job here was to drive out the nations before Israel. What if we took that more literally than we normally do? Can we imagine that scene?

 

Now, it seems obvious that Jesus was not with Israel all the time. He moves in and out of the story, and it is easier to say when he isn't physically with Israel than when he is. Joshua and Israel make some poor choices, and sometimes even forget to consult the Lord before pursuing a course of action. At times they are disobedient, and at other times simple careless. It's probably safe to assume Jesus wasn't standing right there in those moments. Yet, "The LORD" continued to go before them, driving out the nations. [Note: People often get stuck on the seeming cruelty of God's destruction of these nations. Yet, they had been given generations to repent (Genesis 15:13-16), knew Israel was coming as God's tool of judgment upon them (Joshua 2), and could have fled before Israel arrived.]

 

Where Did He Go?

 

So, what happened? If the plan was for Jesus to fight alongside Israel as the Commander of the Lord's Army, why wasn't Israel able to drive out the nations the way they were commanded?

 

The moment that struck me as I was reading was the LORD's declaration that he wasn't going to continue fighting for Israel in the same way. It is recorded in Judges 2 and happens in a place called Bokim.

1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said,
“I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors.
I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land,
but you shall break down their altars.’
Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?
3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;
they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites,
the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim.
There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.

Now, this angel (or "messenger") seems to be Jesus, the same personage we saw in Joshua 5 & 6: He physically moves, receives sacrifices, and is called "the LORD" in 2:20-23. Yet, after this announcement he no longer fights alongside Israel in the same way. Rather, the LORD sends the people Judges to lead them in his place. He does make encore appearances in the call of Gideon and of Samson, but he no longer leads militarily the way he did with Joshua. He allows Israel to face the consequences of her sin. In effect, he says, "Ok, you want some space from me? Here you go: Space." He is still there, just not in the same way.

 



Sometimes, I wish God hadn't removed himself like that. I wish I could still see him standing over the battlefield with his sword drawn, visible to all. Yet, I know that He is wiser than I am. Moreover, I know myself. I am a man of faith, but it is sometimes a weak faith. I would surely face my own Bokim eventually. I'm sure the early disciples of Jesus felt the same way when he said, "You are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." (John 16:6-7)

However, I don't need Jesus to walk with me physically. Sure, it would be cool, but it isn't necessary. Instead, he calls me to faith, to dependence upon His Spirit within me. As a Christian, I am his child and He will always be a warrior over my life. In the end, he is still fighting for us. We may not often see Him, but he is still Jesus, he is still a warrior, and  he is still here.