Transcription
[Music] In our verse-by-verse study through the Book of Joshua, we come now to Joshua chapter 5. Where, to this point, Israel has already come over the Jordan River. And we saw how, in last chapter, Joshua chapter 4, that they set up memorial stones, a pile of 12, 12 memorial stones, both on the bank of the western side of the Jordan River, but then also in the dry riverbed, to make a memorial that could be seen when the Jordan River was at very low flow stage.
After building those memorials, they were camped at this place called Gilgal. And here now, in Joshua chapter 5, is going to begin a second work at Gilgal. The first work was the building of the memorials, again, that's back in Joshua chapter 4. But here now begins the second work that they did there at Gilgal, and it involved an act of radical obedience on the part of Israel. Let's take a look here, starting at verse one, Joshua chapter 5.
So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. Did you see that phrase there in verse one? "Their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel." The idea of a melted heart in this context is of a complete loss of strength and resistance. The Canaanites were stunned and terrified at the Israelites and the God who was with them, Yahweh, the Covenant God of Israel, was marching against the Canaanites. It was going to be a war of judgment, and it was going to be very difficult.
Let me read to you sort of an extended little section from a very good commentator on the Book of Joshua, James Montgomery Boyce. Boyce says this: "For the Canaanites, the events of the preceding days were a horror story. They had been terrified enough by seeing the Israelite hordes, some 2 million strong, spread out along the eastern bank of the Jordan. It was obvious that the Jews intended to invade the western lands, but the water was at flood stage. The people could not cross. There seemed to be time to get ready. Suddenly, the waters ceased flowing. The people crossed over, and a battle was imminent. The suddenness of the crossing terrified everyone."
I think that's a very valid comment by James Montgomery Boyce. He's observing how, in the mind of the Canaanites, because they could see the condition of the Jordan River, they thought they had time. They thought they had more time to prepare until the flow of the Jordan goes down later on, and it gets drier in the seasons there, as it normally does in that part of the world. They thought they had time. But because of this great miracle of God of stopping the flow of the Jordan River and enabling the people of Israel to cross over on dry ground, because of that dramatic miracle, suddenly all their time to prepare against this Israelite invasion was taken away.
As it says there in verse one, "they heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel." Now, the people in Jericho could see it firsthand. They weren't very far from the Jordan River. But all throughout the land of Canaan, the different Canaanite tribes dispersed. They were terrified because they knew that the Israelites were coming, and they knew, either specifically or they sensed it, that the Israelites were coming bearing the judgment of God against the Canaanites. You see, that miraculous passage through the Jordan, it was not only a testimony to Israel, but it was also a testimony to the Canaanites. It was an additional warning to them that God's judgment was on the way, and it would come through the armies of Israel.
I just want you to remember for a moment what we saw a few chapters back. It was in Joshua chapter 2, wasn't it, where the spies visited Rahab the prostitute in the city of Jericho? And Rahab repented. She turned her back on the god of Canaan. She turned her back on the government of Jericho, and she said, "I want to worship the Lord God of Israel. I want to align myself with Israel. I repent and I turn towards faith towards the gods of Israel." She didn't say those exact words, but almost, almost exactly that. You see, the terror of coming judgment pushed Rahab to repentance, and a few others, as we're going to see as we make our way through the Book of Joshua. But for most of the Canaanites, it hardened their hearts, and they did not repent, and they fell under the judgment of God.
It's true that Rahab had already reported to the Israelite spies that the Canaanites knew and they were terrified by the great things that God had done for Israel. And this miraculous crossing of the Jordan just added to the dread that the Canaanites had that judgment was coming from the Lord Yahweh, the Covenant God of Israel. So when you know the enemy is terrified, when you've got this strategic position, the logical thing to do is to attack immediately. Israel did not do that. They did not attack Jericho or other Canaanite cities immediately. No. Very interesting to see what happens here in Joshua chapter 5 before they make their great attack. Check this out, now starting at verse two.
"At that time the Lord said to Joshua." Let those words sink into your mind here. Before I go any further, "at that time." At the time when military strategy probably would have said, "Now is the time to attack. Don't waste a moment. They're terrified. They're afraid. We'll them on their heels. They're demoralized. Attack something, somewhere, now." No. They didn't. "At that time the Lord said to Joshua, 'Make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again, the second time.'"
So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. I find this interesting that this mass circumcision of the men in Israel is called here a second time. Apparently, all during the 40 years of wandering and waiting in the wilderness, none of the sons born during that time had been circumcised. There's no biblical record of circumcision being practiced during the Exodus. Exodus 4:24-26, which deals with the circumcision of Moses's sons, that suggests that it was a neglected practice among the Jewish people at that time. This was put right at Gilgal.
Now notice, before they rushed into battle against Jericho or any other Canaanite city, they paused to listen to the Lord, to do what he told them to do. And here, I think it's curious that it says that they used flint knives, probably obsidian knives, that they were used, even though the Israelites had use of metals. But why did they use flint knives? Well, some people think that you can make a flint knife made out of obsidian smoother and sharper at its edge, and it just would have been a better knife. There may have been some traditional or symbolic reason for it. But they used flint knives to carry out a mass circumcision. Thousands upon thousands of Israelite men, including virtually all of their fighting men, all circumcised there at Gilgal. So much so, and this is almost a little awkward to read here at verse three, they called that place Gilgal, the hill of the foreskins. You see, with an entire generation left uncircumcised in the wilderness years, virtually all the men of Israel needed to have their foreskins surgically removed with these flint knives. And they didn't make a hill out of the foreskins. That's not so much the idea that there were so many that it was a hill, but if there's thousands upon thousands, it could have been at least a small little hill. No, the place where the surgeries were performed came to be known as the hill of the foreskins.
Now, when God reaffirmed his covenant with Abraham, and I think that's an important phrase, God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, apart from circumcision. But later, in Genesis, Genesis chapter 17, to be specific, God reaffirmed his covenant with Abraham, and specifically again promising him the land of Canaan. It's not the first time God promised, but he reaffirmed the promise, reaffirmed the covenant. At that time, God warned Abraham that if there were any among his descendants who were not circumcised, they would be in violation of the covenant. That's in Genesis 17:7-14.
So check this out. Israel is going in to claim the covenant land that God has promised to them. They've got to get right according to the covenant. That land is going to be theirs because of the covenant that God made with Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they are their covenant descendants, there gathered all on that western side of the Jordan River at Gilgal. If they're going to receive what God will give to them under the covenant, they have to come into obedience under the covenant.
Now, I like how verses 4-7 explain why so many of the men of Israel were uncircumcised. Let's look at this here. Verse four: "And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who had come out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way."
Well, this confirms what we spoke of earlier, that circumcision, for whatever reason, was a neglected practice during the 40 years of the Exodus. But now that they're in the promised land, the generation who was born in the Exodus during those wilderness years, they did not obey the voice of the Lord. They were not circumcised. And now, since the older generation had died in the wilderness, now the younger generation is going to receive the land. And to receive the land, they have to receive that sign of the covenant that God spoke of way back in Genesis chapter 17.
Again, I find it interesting. God made it very clear in the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17 that circumcision was part of the covenant, and circumcision was affirmed by the law of God given at Mount Sinai. Yet again, it was neglected during the 40 years of the Exodus. At the first Passover held when Israel left Egypt, that's right, when they left, Exodus 12 records that Israel then commemorated a second Passover at Mount Sinai a year later. That's in Numbers chapter 9. At that time, they probably circumcised all who had been born in the previous year. But then there's no record in the 38 years of wilderness wandering after that that they circumcised any. And again, this was all appropriate that they come under obedience to the covenant if they are to receive the land that God promised by covenant to give them.
So verse seven says, "Then Joshua circumcised their sons." This was in obedience to God under both covenants, under the Abrahamic Covenant, as commanded in Genesis chapter 17, but also the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai, the Sinai covenant. That's in Leviticus 12:3. God commanded, "Your sons shall be circumcised." So in obedience to both the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant, the sons of the new generation were there, all at Gilgal, circumcised. Again, tens of thousands of men, hundreds of thousands of men, circumcised all on the same day, or you know, at the same time, approximately.
Now, it must be said that circumcision was not unknown in the ancient world. It was a ritual practice among various peoples. Yet, for the Israelite, I like what Adam Clark said. He said, "Circumcision was to every man a constant, evident sign of the covenant into which he had entered with God, and of the moral obligations under which he was thereby laid." I mean, every day of a man's life, he would have opportunity to see, to notice, "I'm circumcised," and that was, as Clark says, a constant, evident sign.
Now, I don't doubt that there were hygienic reasons for circumcision, reasons that especially made sense in the ancient world. But more importantly, there was a symbolic or typological reason. This typological reason behind circumcision was that it was a cutting away of the flesh, and therefore an appropriate sign of the covenant for those who should put no trust in the flesh. And also, because circumcision deals with the organ of reproduction, it was a reminder of the special seed of Abraham which would ultimately bring forth the Messiah. Again, all part of that Abrahamic covenant where God promised to Abraham in Genesis 12 that through him and through his covenant descendants, he would give them a land, a nation, and a blessing that would extend to all the families of the earth. And that blessing was very specifically fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Now, in Colossians chapter 2, again, we're talking about the New Testament now. In Colossians chapter 2:11 and 12, the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, connected the ideas of circumcision and Christian baptism. His idea was that in Jesus, we are spiritually circumcised, and we are also buried with Jesus in baptism. I want you to know that in my reading of that Colossians 2:11-12 passage, Paul did not say that baptism is the sign of the covenant Christians receive and live under. That is the New Covenant. Paul did not say in Colossians chapter 2 that baptism is the sign of the New Covenant. But even if that connection is made, it's important to note that someone was genetically born into the covenant described here, the covenant of Abraham and the Mosaic covenant. But one is not born genetically into the New Covenant. No, you have to be born again into the New Covenant by God's grace through faith. It's wrong, and I believe it's harmful, to make the analogy: "Babies were circumcised under the Old Covenant, so babies should be baptized under the New Covenant." I don't think that analogy fits at all. Now, I see where people who believe in baby baptism get there. I understand their reasoning, but I think it's faulty. I think it's incorrect.
All right, let's go on to verse eight now, here in Joshua chapter 5. "So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed." Now, again, I just want you to consider this. Hundreds of thousands of Israelite men, all their soldiers, circumcised in a day there at Gilgal. And it says in verse eight, "they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed." That surgical procedure carried out on all of Israel at this time and place made all their men of fighting age completely vulnerable and unable to defend the nation for a period of several days until they were healed.
I don't know if you recall, but back in Genesis chapter 34, verses 24 and 25, it describes how the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, killed all the men in the city of Shechem after tricking them into becoming circumcised. And as Genesis 34 explains, while the men of Shechem were unable to fight and defend themselves properly because they were so sore and inflamed right after their surgery of circumcision, because they were unable to defend themselves, they were slaughtered. And all this was done in retaliation for the rape of Dinah, the sister of Simeon and Levi. I bring that up to mention this: that could have been the fate of Israel here in Joshua chapter 5. If the Israelites would have been attacked by the Canaanites in these days immediately after this mass circumcision of all the men of Israel, they would have been slaughtered.
This was a very strange thing for Joshua to do. Joshua is a smart man, as we're going to see. We saw it previously during the story of the Exodus, and we're going to see it going forward here in the Book of Joshua. Joshua is a very smart military man, and it doesn't take a particularly smart military man to be able to tell you it's not smart to be there in the presence of your enemy and to totally incapacitate your fighting force for many days. But that's exactly what they did. They obeyed God, and they took great risk to do so. And I find this fascinating. They stayed there. Verse eight says they just had to wait until they were healed.
Now, check this out. Israel had camped for many months, five months or more, in the plains on the eastern side of the Jordan River. I'm talking about when they were on the other side of the Jordan River, before they miraculously crossed over. They stayed there for many months across from Jericho, with the Jordan River between them and Jericho and the rest of Canaan. Now, God could have commanded this mass circumcision then, when they were protected from the Canaanites by the barrier of the Jordan River. No. Instead, God waited until they crossed the Jordan, and they were more vulnerable to the Canaanites. God waited until then to make the army defenseless. And in faith, Israel obeyed the Lord. You know what they were doing right there? They were trusting God to protect them when their fighting men could not. Friends, from a military standpoint, that was crazy. From a spiritual standpoint, that was trusting radically in the Lord. And that faith would lead Israel to the conquest of Canaan.
Now, I do want to point out, though, that God only required this great trust from Israel after he had already showed his greatness to them by the Jordan River crossing. I mean, the same God that got them so miraculously across the Jordan River, that same God could defend them when, in obedience to God, they took their whole army out of commission. Friends, it's true that God requires radical acts of trusting obedience from his people. That's true. But you know what else God does? He gives us many and great reasons to trust him. Has not God given you many reasons to trust him? Has not God given you great reasons to trust him? That's exactly what he did with Israel. So don't despair if God's calling you right now to radical acts of trusting obedience. "Lord, I've got to trust you. I've got to obey you. It's going to cost me something. It's going to be a great risk." Listen, God has proven himself to you again and again. You can trust him.
Friends, it's true. It was true of Israel back in Joshua chapter 5. It's true of us, the people of God today, that the safest thing we can do is radically obey God. You want to be safe? Forget about the risks involved. Trust God. Do what he tells you to do. If your life right now is in some place of glaring disobedience, if there's some practice that you haven't carried out that God commands you to do, do it. Well, there's some risk involved. Do it. The safest place we can be is in radical, trusting obedience to God.
And look, here's a great benefit from it. Look at verse nine together with me here. This is fantastic. Verse nine: "Then the Lord said to Joshua, 'This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.' Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day." Verse nine: "This day the Lord said, 'I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.'" Do you know what reproach is? Reproach is a word we don't use in everyday conversation anymore. It's a good word. Reproach means disgrace. The disgrace or reproach of Egypt was the disgrace that Israel carried with them from their degrading slavery in Egypt. Friends, if a people is held in slavery for 400 years, when they're freed from their slavery, they're going to carry with them a sense of disgrace, a sense of shame, a sense of degradation. Yes, they're happy they're freed, but for 400 years, Israel had been treated like the offscouring, like the stuff you scrape off your shoe. They had been treated terribly. And after hundreds of years of that, there's a disgrace, there's a reproach that sort of gets attached to your national psychology. You get treated like crud, and you start thinking of yourself as crud. God said, "This day I've rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."
Now, notice, the reproach was rolled away by their radical trust and obedience to God. God told them, "I want you to trust me so much that you're going to incapacitate your entire army in obedience to me." That was the key, the gateway to this rolling away of the reproach. You know, it could be said of the generation that had died in the wilderness, they remind us of Egypt. Those were all people who had an immediate personal connection with Egypt. But this new generation, the generation that was all born in the wilderness, they were to have no such connection with Egypt. By their faith and their obedience, they were what I like to call a Promised Land people. They weren't a slave people from Egypt. No. This new generation, a Promised Land people. These were people, this was a generation suited for God's promised land. And they were all part of the experience of what Israel went through when coming out of Egypt. I mean, think of all the steps. You just start in the book of Exodus and take it through Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, and now into Joshua. Israel had been set free from Egypt. Then they left Egypt. Then they knew that God was real, and they put him first. Then they observed God's commandments, his rules. They accepted his lordship. They made a census, they took a true assessment of their present condition. They brought order and organization into their life. They received and practiced God's laws, his ordinances. They trusted in God's provision. They trusted in God's provision through their own work. They made memorials of the great things that God had done. They decided to live their lives on the principle of faith. They saw God work in their day-to-day previous days. But in not exactly the same way as God worked before. They took great risks for God. They didn't expect lives of ease and comfort. They dealt with sin in their midst, and they were determined to conquer as they followed their Joshua. And they were in a process that took patience. All of that collectively together sort of coalesces here in this point where they radically obey God at Gilgal, and God said, "I'm rolling away your disgrace, your shame, your reproach."
That's why verse nine says, "they called the name of the place Gilgal." The name Gilgal means "rolling." And when Israel came into Canaan with the miracle of the dry riverbed of the Jordan and the radical obedience at Gilgal, these marked their final steps in their transition from being a slave people in Egypt to being a free people suited for God's promised land. This completed, you could say, a dramatic shift in their national identity, a shift that God had been working on for the previous 40 years. Now, again, they were no longer a slave people. No. Now you're a people of God's promised land.
Now, by analogy, God does a similar work among his people today under the New Covenant. God takes away the dishonor and shame of previous sin and rebellion, and he lifts his people into freedom and into high standing in Jesus Christ. And in all that work that God does, faith and obedience on the part of God's people, that plays a significant role in that work. But it's the Lord's work in our lives. Friends, you don't have to live under the burden of feeling disgraced, reproach, ashamed. Jesus Christ can cleanse your conscience. Jesus Christ can show you how you're not marked by the slavery to sin you might have had in your past. No, you belong in God's promised land of rest, of completion, of salvation in Jesus Christ. You're a Promised Land person. You're not a slave person anymore. God wants you to live with the glory and roll away the reproach of any previous identity you had that was associated with sin or slavery. No, you're a new person in Jesus Christ.
Now, starting at verse 10, we see a third work at Gilgal. I think there were three great works at Gilgal. Number one, there was the making of the memorials. That was back in Joshua chapter 4. Number two, there was the radical work of circumcision and the rolling away of the reproach. Here's the third work at Gilgal, where Israel was to remember God's work of redemption. They're going to celebrate Passover. Look at it here.
Verse 10: "Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day." Now, God brought Israel through the Jordan and into Canaan on the day when Passover preparations were to begin. That's the 10th day of the month. Now, as they had reached the 14th day of the month, as it began at twilight, they were to celebrate their first Passover in the promised land. What a precious Passover that must have been. And of course, we remind ourselves that the Feast of Passover remembered the great work of redemption that God did for Israel when he freed them from their slavery in Egypt. And I've got to say, there must have been a glorious sense of completion in this Passover. That they were no longer in the wilderness, but now they were in the promised land. It wasn't just, "Lord, you rescued us from Egypt," but "Lord, you delivered us into the promised land, the land of Canaan." What a glorious Passover that must have been.
And then there's also a new source of provision. Look at verse 12 here. "Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year." Well, that's pretty dramatic, don't you think? You see, as soon as Israel was able to provide for themselves from the rich produce of Canaan, God stopped the manna. That manna had been continuing for some 40 years before that point. But God says, "Nope. Now you're in the Promised Land. You can provide for yourselves. You're not in the wilderness any longer. The manna stops." You could say that God didn't want Israel to get lazy. Look, God could have kept feeding Israel with manna all the time. It could be to this day. But God says, "No, that season for manna is over. Now work the ground and eat what you get." God didn't want Israel to get lazy, but to live in a new partnership of trust with him.
Now, it's true that Israel had to trust God to bring the manna every day. But then they also had to trust him to provide for them through other means, through the produce, through the ground of the land. And this fulfilled what God said in Exodus 16:35. Let me read that verse to you. It says this: "And the children of Israel ate manna 40 years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan." Now they're in there, and the manna stops. So it says there in verse 12, "they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year."
Friends, here's a principle: God always provides. But God is perfectly free to change the source of his provision as it pleases him. God's people should trust in him, not in the manner of his provision. And let me just think of a hypothetical example to illustrate this. You work a job, and you're thankful for your job. Your job provides for your needs. It gives you a salary, it gives you income. This is how you put food on the table. Praise the Lord for your job. But let's say your job gets taken away. Oh no. God, what are you going to do? Well, that's a natural way to think. And friends, God promises to provide, but God can change the source of his provision as it pleases him. And how is God going to provide? For another job? Outside of a job? I don't know. But don't be too distressed if God decides to change the source of provision. He can do that as it pleases him. Now, they were going to live off of what they grew from the land.
You could say, again, to sort of summarize that, Gilgal was marked by three important things. Number one, a memorial of the miraculous crossing of the Jordan. That's in Joshua chapter 4. Then secondly, earlier in this chapter, the radical, faith-filled obedience of Israel in carrying out circumcision, even when they were vulnerable to their enemies. And then number three, right here, the remembrance of God's work of redemption at Passover. Those three things would really establish Israel's initial position in the promised land. And there at Gilgal, it became something of a beachhead and camp for Israel in their early part of the conquest of Canaan. In their early conquest of Canaan, they would return to Gilgal after battle, and they would return to the place where they remembered making a memorial. They would find strength in their obedience to God, the radical obedience. They would find strength in remembering the redemption of Passover. They came back to Gilgal again and again.
And let me make a little spiritual analogy of that for our walk with God. By analogy, it's good for the believer today to have the things that Gilgal represented to Israel. We need memorials of God's great works. We need events of radical, faith-filled obedience, just like circumcision was for Israel at Gilgal. We need ways that we remember God's work of redemption. And of course, the Lord's table, communion, the Lord's Supper, that's one way that we do it. That's sort of the Passover for Christians. Memorials, radical faith-filled obedience, remembering God's redemption, especially at the Lord's table. This is what God calls the believer to do today. And listen, if your life is filled with those things, you're well on your way to having a strong foundation in your Christian life.
All right, let's continue on here. Verse 13 brings us to something super interesting here. Ready for this? Verses 13, 14, and 15. "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood 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?' So He said, 'No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped; and said to Him, 'What does my Lord say to His servant?' Then the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so."
Joshua boldly approached this mysterious man who just seems to appear out of nowhere there in the camp of Israel, a mysterious man with a drawn sword. And just by intuition, Joshua understands as a shepherd of God's people, "I've got to see what this man's about." Joshua had a responsibility to see if this armed, notable man was a friend or a foe. Friends, it's a heavy thing that it says there in verse 13, "His sword drawn in His hand." One commentator, Hedges, points out that this expression appears two other places in the Bible. Number one, with reference to the angel who stopped Balaam and his donkey. And number two, with the angel who stood ready to execute judgment for David's census in 1 Chronicles 21. In all three of these occasions, here with Balaam and with David, as Hedges says, "a figure with a drawn sword is not one to be toyed with. He is one who threatens divine judgment." Friends, it's a heavy thing, isn't it? This man standing there at the camp of Israel before Joshua with a drawn sword in his hand.
So Joshua asked him, "I wonder if Joshua was nervous?" I don't know. He was a brave man. He was a bold man. But you couldn't blame even a brave, bold man for being nervous at a moment like this. Joshua asked him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" Now, friends, I believe that's a very logical question to ask this impressive man. And the response of the man was curious. It was almost vague. He said, "No." You know, that's really not a proper answer to Joshua's question. "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" That's a choice between two options. And what the man first responded with, he said, "No." You could say, in a sense, this impressive man before Joshua refused to answer Joshua's question because it wasn't the right question, and it was not the most important question to be asked at the time. You see, the question really wasn't whether or not the Lord was on Joshua's side. The proper question was, "Is Joshua, are the people of Israel, are they on the Lord's side?"
Man says, "No. Verse 14, 'I am Commander of the army of the Lord.'" Here you have two great military leaders standing across from each other. Now, I'm not saying that they can be compared. Joshua was a great military leader in his own right. He led Israel to victory over the Amalekites, that's back in Exodus chapter 17. Yet here was a man who clearly outranked Joshua. "Joshua, you're a great military leader. You could even say you're a five-star general over the armies of Israel." Yes, Joshua. But you know what? You're immediately outranked here. He's the Commander in Chief of God's armies. So what did Joshua do? He worshiped this remarkable man. Verse 14 says that he fell on his face to the earth before him and submissively waited for his command.
Friends, I could dance around this, but let me just cut to the chase here. This being who stood before Joshua, this man mentioned in the text, this was God. How do I say that? Well, number one, he held the title. Verse 14 says, "Commander of the army of the Lord." And there's no doubt about it, the one who commands angelic armies is God. Jesus said that God the Father has fighting angels at His command, more than 12 legions of them. He said that to Pilate in Matthew 26:53. Now, a Roman legion was normally 5,000 soldiers. So if Jesus said that God the Father has immediately 12 legions of angels, that's a lot of soldiers, immediately these angelic, invincible armies, that's an unstoppable force. Yes, it's the Lord who's the Commander of the army of the Lord.
Then, secondly, in verse 14, Joshua worshiped this man. And this man received the worship. Mere angels refuse worship when it's offered to them. You can see that in Revelation 22:8-9, where John, in the midst of his great revelation experience, started to worship an angel, and the angel said, "Stop. Worship God alone." And mere men refuse this kind of worship. You'll find that in Acts chapter 14, where Peter refused the worship from Cornelius. No, men don't receive this kind of worship, or not supposed to. Angels don't receive this kind of worship. No. The man whom Joshua worshiped, as it says there in verse 14, he received this worship.
Thirdly, Joshua submitted himself to this man. Friends, who would Joshua submit himself to except God alone? Nobody. Nobody. Only God. And then, fourthly, again, first, he's Commander of all the Lord's armies, that's God alone. He received worship, that's God alone. Joshua submitted to him, that's God alone. And then, fourthly, the man asked for the same submission and respect that Moses had shown to God at Mount Sinai, that is, the removing of the sandals. You find that back in Exodus chapter 3. The same thing that God told Moses to do at the burning bush, that's what this man asked Joshua to do. No, this being who's called a man right here, stood standing before Joshua, was God appearing in a human form. How do we make sense of this?
Well, friends, this is a phenomenon we see several places in the Old Testament. This was an appearance of God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, appearing as a man to His people before the Incarnation that was recorded in the New Testament Gospels. Friends, Jesus, the Messiah, as God the Son, as the second person of the Trinity, He existed before His human conception in Nazareth or before His birth in Bethlehem. And the Old Testament records several significant occasions where God appears in some kind of human form. He appeared that way before Abraham when Abraham bartered for God's deliverance for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He appeared that way in the Book of Judges. There are just several occasions. Sometimes it's called the Angel of the Lord, sometimes it appears as a man. Here, but no, this here is the Commander in Chief of all God's armies.
I love an illustration that Charles Spurgeon gave here. He said he looked at Israel here on the threshold of their conquest of the land of Canaan. He looked at them as being like a great ship about ready to sail. Go, Israel's like a ship ready to sail. And this illustration, Charles Spurgeon used, he said, "Listen, all the cargo is on board, it's stocked with supplies, every man's in his place, the sails are ready, the crew's ready, but the ship isn't sailing. Why not? Well, because the captain's not on board." And Spurgeon said, "That ship doesn't go anywhere until that captain steps on board." And Spurgeon said, "That's what's happening here. God is assuring Israel, the captain is on board. This ship can sail. This army can conquer, and it's going to go forth to certain victory because the captain has just stepped on board." I love that illustration by Spurgeon.
And if I could, let me read to you a paragraph from another line in Spurgeon's text or his sermon on this text. He says this, I I love this idea, quoting from Charles Spurgeon: "I feel it no small relief to my own mind to feel that though I have been at your head these 14 years" – he's talking about pastor of his church, leading you on in God's name to Christian service – "yet I am not your captain, but there is a greater one, the presence Angel of the Most High, the Lord Jesus. He is in our midst as Commander in Chief. Though my responsibilities are heavy, yet the leadership is not with me. He is a leader and Commander for the people. Brethren, wherever Christ is, we must recollect that He is Commander in Chief to us all. We must never tolerate in the church any great man to domineer over us. We must have no one to be Lord and Master except Jesus." I like that thought from Charles Spurgeon. It's a very practical application of this principle.
So after this Commander-in-Chief of the Lord's armies declares who he is, commands Joshua to take off his sandals, did you see what verse 15 says? It says, "And Joshua did so." Joshua's total submission to the Commander, to Jesus Christ, shows us that Joshua knew that this man was of infinitely greater rank than he was. And might I say as well, too, that what happens right here was a virtual guarantee of victory for Israel. If Israel would obediently carry out the orders of the Commander of the army of the Lord, they could not lose.
I like what James Montgomery Boyce says about this. He says this: "The point of the exchange seems to be that it was not for Joshua to claim the allegiance of God for his cause, however right it was, but rather for God to claim Joshua. The two would fight together, but Joshua would be following the Commander of the armies of the Lord in His cause and battles, rather than it being the other way around." Now, we're not going to see such an obvious appearance of Jesus in the rest of the Book of Joshua. But let me tell you this: the Commander of the army of the Lord was with them in their battles throughout the rest of the conquest of Canaan. We're not going to see him visibly. He's not going to be referred to by the text. But he's here at the beginning. He, as to use Spurgeon's illustration, the captain has stepped on board, and he's going to remain on that ship as it sails all the way through Canaan.
Now, as we've been concluding each chapter on our way through the Book of Joshua, we like to say at the end, "How this chapter points to Jesus." And I think that's a valid thing to do. I like doing that. But let me say here at the end of Joshua chapter 5, I want to tell you, this isn't pointing to Jesus. This *is* Jesus in their midst. There's no doubt about it. This Commander of the armies of the Lord was in an appearance of God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, taking on some kind of temporary human form and appearing among His people here in the Old Testament. And I would say that Jesus came to Israel at this strategic time for at least two reasons. There could be many more reasons, but here's at least two reasons. Number one, Jesus came to instruct Joshua in the plan to capture Jericho. In the next chapter, Joshua is going to carry out a plan that's so crazy, so improbable, that it could only have been initiated at the direct command of God. So I think here he's delivering the instruction for Joshua. "This is what you're going to do with Jericho." But then, secondly, probably more importantly, Jesus came to assert His authority over Israel. Before Israel could conquer anything else in Canaan, they had to be conquered by God. Joshua's complete submission was a demonstration that at this time, Israel truly accepted God's rule. And let me tell you, this is a missing element in a life of greater victory for many believers. They have not been, and they are not continually being, conquered by God. They fail to recognize and accept the authoritative rule of Jesus Christ over every aspect of life. Friends, I need to accept that authoritative rule of Jesus Christ over every aspect of my life. I can say with confidence, you need to accept the authoritative rule of Jesus Christ over your life. It's true for all of us. And when we do, we're going to see greater and greater victory. I'm not talking about a life of unbroken ease, no. Lots of battles to fight, lots of struggles to endure. But we'll be more than conquerors in Jesus Christ.
Father, that's our prayer. And we're thankful that this chapter doesn't just point to Jesus, it presents us Jesus. Jesus is right here at the end of Joshua chapter 5. And Lord, just as Joshua did before the Commander of the armies of the Lord, we recognize You in Your Lordship, commanding position, and we submit to it. Help us to do so more and more, in greater measure. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
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