 |  |
reveals Himself as the Captain of the Lord's host. Joshua falls on his face in worship, and
the Captain of the Lord's host says to him: "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the
place whereon thou standest is holy" (Josh.v. 15).
The Lord had promised that as He had been with Moses, so would He be with Joshua.
Moses saw a burning bush that was not consumed, and was told to take off his shoes
(Exod. iii. 5). Moses' need was not so much a Captain to lead to victory, as a power that
would endure. In Exod. iii. "the Angel of the Lord" appeared; in Joshua we read that
"there stood a Man". There are some who are confident that in both cases we have a
theophany of the Lord Jesus Christ. Others believe that the Angel of the Lord was
Michael (see Dan. xii. 1). The whole of Israel's history is accompanied by angelic
ministry:--
"The Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind
them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them"
(Exod. xiv. 19).
"Behold, I send an Angel . . . . . to bring thee in the way which I have prepared.
Beware of him, obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your
transgressions: for My Name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do
all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto
thine adversaries. For Mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the
Amorites . . . . . and I will cut them off" (Exod. xxiii. 20-23).
This second quotation is, we trust, explicit enough to settle the matter for us. It so
exactly fits the circumstances of Josh. v. that we cannot but conclude that Josh. v. is
the fulfillment of this promise.
Angelic hosts led by Michael shall yet war in heaven (Rev. xii. 7), and there shall be
an overthrow of Satan's power in that day, of which the overthrow of Jericho will prove
to be a type, in all of its essential features. This theme now lies before us. With the
preparation of Josh. iii.-v. now complete, we can go on to consider the victory of faith.