And he said, No; for [as] captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come. Then Joshua fell upon his face to the earth, and worshipped, and said to him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
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And the captain of Jehovah's army said to Joshua, Loose thy sandal from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Israel had just crossed the Jordan, and the walled city of Jericho stood next. Joshua met a man with a drawn sword, asked whose side he was on, and got a command about his sandals — not a battle plan.
Joshua was not facing a soldier of Jericho or of Israel.
It is the same One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He appeared to Abraham at Mamre, to Jacob at Peniel and to others afterward. It is Jehovah in visible form. These appearances were not incarnations. Yet they pointed forward to the Son of God becoming man. Here Jehovah, who in the fullness of time became Man, appears as a man of war, as Captain of the host of the Lord. The host is Israel. And He is the Captain of our salvation.
Joshua's response shows who he now believed the stranger to be.
And it is a happy thing to see how quickly the mind of Joshua finds its right place. He worships the Stranger whom just before he had challenged. He is now the Captain of salvation in his eyes, and Joshua trusts Him as the One who would lead the sons of Israel to victory.
Israel's most visible leader was not the one in charge.
Joshua, though the most prominent man in Israel, is not the real Leader. The real Captain of the host is the Lord Himself... And notice: the word of the Captain is not about the order of battle against Jericho. That comes later. First comes a word that reminds Joshua whose presence he is in. "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so."... Bare feet in God's presence are the sign of subjection — the heart, the understanding, and the will surrendered to God.
God had said the same to Moses at the burning bush. Bare feet marked how far a man could come.
Shoes appear as early as Exodus 3:5. God told Moses to take off his shoes, because the ground he stood on was holy, for God was there... God said the same to Joshua. It showed that as yet there was no welcome for man into the presence of God. A standing had not yet been made for him, whatever goodness and kindness God might show towards him. Under grace a standing is found — the shoes were put on the prodigal; he was welcome and at home.
Joshua now stood in a different kind of place.
That place was neither the land of Egypt nor the sand of the desert. It was the Lord's land, and therefore holy ground. So Joshua had to walk with bare feet, in a spirit of dependence and humility. What a preparation he received here for the struggle that lay ahead of him.
The command carries a warning, and Israel later proved it the hard way at Ai.
The One who reveals Himself to Joshua as Lord of hosts also claims His character of holiness. Those who are called to fight under a divine leader cannot stay linked with evil or defilement in their walk. This holds for each of them alone and for all of them together. The people ignored this, and that is part of why they lost at Ai. Unjudged evil kept in the heart exposes us to the judgment of God. It leaves us defenceless in the hands of the enemy... If God is holy in redemption, as He showed Himself to Moses at the bush, let us remember He is no less holy in the fight. And where did He display His holiness more brightly than there? We can only go into that fight after loosening the shoes off our feet.
The work ahead made the warning more urgent, not less.
There was all the more need to insist on this, because the task in Canaan was one of putting down the enemy. This necessarily calls for severe blows, continual watchfulness, unceasing opposition. So much the louder is the call to begin and go on with reverence and godly fear.
The Captain did not appear at random. Three things happened first in Joshua 5.
They were circumcised — the power of the flesh set aside. They kept the Passover, and they ate the old grain of the land. After that the Captain of the Lord's host joined them, for He never joined them before they were circumcised... They worshipped and fed on the picture of the heavenly Christ, and then the result is the victory of Jericho in chapter 6.
- Captain. The man with the drawn sword is the Lord Himself in visible form. Joshua stops challenging Him and worships.
- Challenge. Joshua asked whose side He was on. The answer went higher: the real question is who leads.
- Sandals. Bare feet, as at the burning bush, said there was no welcome yet into God's presence. Grace later puts shoes on the prodigal.
- Holiness. God is as holy in the battle as in redemption. Unjudged evil left the people defenceless, as Ai showed.
- Victory. The Captain came only after circumcision, the Passover and the food of the land. Then Jericho fell.