Everybody knows the story of the battle of Jericho. Many of us were taught about the Battle of Jericho in elementary school using flannel graphs. But many of us overlook the very short account given in three verses immediately preceding Joshua 6.
Joshua 5 gives us the account of Joshua circumcising all of the sons of Israel who were born while wandering in the wilderness for forty years. The Lord then declared, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." The people then observed Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. On Passover, when they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain, and God’s miraculous provision of manna that sustained God’s people all through the wilderness ceased. All that in prelude to the battle of Jericho. But at the end of chapter 5 we read these three verses:
(13) Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?"
(14) He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"
(15) The captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
Now, get the picture. Joshua is feeling the weight of leadership squarely on his shoulders. Joshua is leading the Jericho reconnaissance party, and he was finding that Jericho’s fortifications were probably the most invincible in all of Canaan. Jericho had to be won because Israel had already crossed the Jordan River and there was no place to retreat. Further, Joshua had no siege engines, battering rams, catapults, or moving towers in his arsenal to go up against such a formidable city prepared for siege. All he figured he had for the battle were slings, arrows, and spears. In his mind, the battle was Israel versus Jericho, and all the smart money was on Jericho.
Seemingly out of nowhere a warrior with a sword drawn appears. Joshua exclaims, “Are you for us or our adversaries?” Talk about high blood-pressure moment! Joshua’s question gave two options, yet the warrior’s answer was neither. He answered, “No!”
He might as well as said, “Wrong question!” The question isn’t, “Are you on our side or the enemy’s.” The real question is, “Are you on the Lord’s side or are you going to go it alone?” The soldier brandishing the sword identifies himself as the Captain of the Host of the Lord. Now, this is an option for battle that Joshua hadn’t considered. What relief Joshua must have felt!
Even more incredible, as with Abraham under the oak at Mamre, Jacob at Peniel, Moses at the burning bush, Joshua also senses that this commander is no mere mortal. Joshua falls to the ground in worship, and the Captain of the Host of the Lord doesn’t tell him to get up (as angels do, themselves mere creatures). I believe His acceptance of worship indicates that the Captain of the Host of the Lord is a theophany. He is God appearing as a person. Perhaps the pre-incarnate Christ.
And finally, this is another case of where the chapter and verse breaks that are in our Bibles but were not in the original manuscripts can mislead us. Without the chapter break, the conversation chronicled in the beginning of chapter 6 was likely the account of the Captain of the Host of the Lord’s face-to-face disclosure to Joshua as to how He was going to use Israel’s puny army to accomplish God’s victory.
All too often I don’t take into consideration the limitless resources God is willing bring to bear on my problems. Even more paralyzing, I don’t magnify the Lord enough to see that “it’s all about Him.” Ultimately the battle is His to fight. The real questions are, “Am I on His side?” “Am I willing to surrender to His leadership?” I can only hope that, in His grace, He may actually give me the opportunity to participate in the battle.