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Joshua 5:13 – 6:21 The Israelite invasion party was camped at a safe distance outside Jericho. Joshua was pensive, as he stood alone looking towards the city, and probably wondering how they could possibly overcome its impregnable fortification. Nothing the Israelites’ possessed in terms of strategic weaponry could make a dent in those walls, and any attempts at throwing themselves in a frontal assault would be suicidal.

As the leader of a ragtag army, he was undeniably confounded. Suddenly, he saw facing him, a distance away, a lone combatant with his sword drawn. His immediate instinct informed him to be on the alert to this ambiguously dressed warrior, before his allegiance is established.

Joshua drew nearer and proffered a normal challenge to a potential adversary, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” (Joshua 5:13) The reply he got was not what he expected. The stranger’s non-aligned reply was loaded, “Neither; but as Prince of the Lord’s host am I now come.” How long did it take for this significant response to sink into Joshua’s soul?

It was not neutrality this stranger was referring to, but he threw Joshua’s question back at him, whether Joshua was with him or against him, as he leads the Lord’s hosts. When God judges, He does not need to take sides, neither does He need to justify to us His actions.

What was it in the alien's countenance or demeanor that prompted Joshua suddenly to conclude that this mysterious person is someone greater than anyone he had ever met and therefore commanded immediate respect and reverence? Or did he caught sight of His unusual sword?

Perhaps it was an abrupt holy awe he sensed? Joshua immediately hit the ground and bowed in worship (Joshua 5:14). If it were holiness, how does one behave as one comes face to face with it? I think, like Joshua, we would be out of our depth and quite unsettled, for holiness is beyond the human capacity to appreciate!

Like Moses and Isaiah, being flat on their faces was insufficient, to be on consecrated ground is to be in God’s pure presence, and their sandals had to come off. Some commentators speculate that there is strong inference that this mysterious person is the pre-incarnate Christ, as angels are not worshipped by the Israelites.

The turning point was “What has my lord to say to his servant?” Joshua, no doubt, was expecting God to do Israel a favour in the Jericho campaign, but in any human involvement in God’s sovereignty and holiness, He demands that Joshua relinquish his own expectations, and submit to His will unconditionally.

All the battles initiated by God included an element of leaders being critically set apart to carry out unequivocally His will His way; thereby removing the possible contamination of human pride. If Jericho was to be won, Joshua had to die to self – he had to understand that holiness pervades this battle from start to finish, and God was the only one who had a claim on his undivided heart.

Now, with hindsight, we know the Divine strategy for capturing Jericho, but did the Israelites find God’s plan hard to swallow? How did Joshua win them over in submission to this awkward stratagem? Was success achieved purely by their faith? The Ark was to be the army’s centerpiece, leading the way!

So “be holy, because I am holy” says God (1 Peter 1:16). This makes absolute sense in any relationship with our God! Unless we are willing to love God for who He is and what He represents through His death for us, His holiness remains another abstract religious concept, devoid of any desirability and beauty expressed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

About Coram Deo

Coram Deo — before the face of God. This blog reflects on Scripture, world events, science, music, psychology, and the human mind — always through the lens of Christian faith. All of life is lived before the face of God.