Joshua 5:4 - 6:5 - Our Commander in Chief
- Chad Werkhoven
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
God doesn't pick sides. He picks His people and delivers victory.
SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground and has entered Canaan, the Promised Land.
Joshua 5:2–6:5 (NIV)
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.
4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.
9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.
10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.
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.
6 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 1
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Summary
The conquest of Canaan doesn't really begin with a conquest. Instead, the first thing that God commanded of His people after they crossed the Jordan was to participate in several ceremonial reminders of who they were, and more importantly, who the LORD was. They began with a mass circumcision, signifying that the reproach of Egypt had been rolled away. After that, they celebrated the Passover. Finally, the manna the LORD provided each morning ceased; the LORD would still provide food for His people, but now they would eat the produce of Canaan.
It's after this series of ceremonies meant to refocus Israel's attention on the true and living God that Joshua looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.
Joshua then asked the same question any of us would ask in this situation: Are you for us, or for our enemies? We talk often of how bifurcated our society has become; people are either for us or against us: if we're on the right, we're leery of those on the left; rural folk are suspect of urbanites; now there's even a growing divide between Americans and Canadians (and all of these divisions cut both ways). But while dichotomies may seem more pronounced now than ever before, Joshua's gut reaction shows that doubt and mistrust are deeply woven by sin into our very nature.
But the Man, who identifies Himself here as the commander of the army of the LORD, doesn't fit into our preconceived categories. He's neither for or against us. Rather, His only purpose is to do the LORD's will - the same purpose that this same Man would painfully carry out a millennia later as He painfully prayed not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42). That will of His Father, the LORD, who had sent Him was to raise up all those He has given me (John 6:39). This included Joshua and the Israelites, and it includes you.
Dig Deeper
Upon hearing this, Joshua immediately recognized that this was no ordinary man, so he fell face down to the ground in reverence. So it makes sense, then, to consider Joshua's next words as prayer, and like so many other Biblical prayers, this one is short and focused: What message does my Lord have for His servant? This is the type of prayer that you can pray all through the day in the midst of your work and activities.
It's reasonable to assume here that Joshua hoped this sword bearing Man would now relay some detailed strategies and tactics for how his ragtag bunch of wanderers could successfully wage war against men who were bigger, stronger and had much better technology and weaponry. And that's exactly what Joshua got in response... but it wasn't the answer Joshua expected.
The Commander gave one simple - yet quite profound - command: take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy. The Commander here wasn't just giving temporary orders to Joshua, He was indicating that Israel's sole strategy would be to completely rely upon their Holy, all powerful God to fight their battles for them.
And so it was that their first battle would be won in the most unconventional way imaginable: by simply marching around the amazingly well fortified and defended city of Jericho for six days, with the priests carrying trumpets in front of the Ark. On the seventh day, after marching around the city seven times, they were to sound a long blast on their trumpets and shout loudly, and the city would miraculously collapse.
The Commander of the LORD's Army is neither for nor against your particular pet issues. Rather, He has fulfilled our Father's will for you, that you might look to the Son and believe in Him so that you would have eternal life (John 6:40).
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose Army fights the forces of evil that set themselves against Him;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that just like your Commander, that you too would not do your own will but do the will of him who sent Him (John 6:38);
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
