Week 10 Joshua 5-6
Joshua meets a man at the end of chapter 5. Well…not exactly a man. The “man” told Joshua: I am commander of the Lord’s army (he also said the ground was holy so Joshua took off his shoes).
It looks at first like the story ends there because chapter six starts by saying: the gates of Jericho were tightly shut. But then the next verse says: the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho”.
I don’t think that just because the conversations are in two different chapters that they’re two different conversations (a bible-reader has to be careful to not let chapter breaks foul him up). If I disregard the first verse of chapter six the two conversations suddenly read like one. Except for the different names.
Which raises the question: who was Joshua talking to? Was it the commander of the Lord’s army (chapter 5) or was it the Lord (chapter 6)? Is the commander of the Lord’s army = the Lord? Maybe. Except for the different names.
And what about the ground? Does a subsidiary being (i.e. one who’s inferior-to-the-Lord) have the heft to make ground holy? I don’t really think so…holy ground implies God himself.
I think for now I’ll say Joshua has one conversation with one person. And the commander of the Lord’s army is the Lord. And the Lord decided to appear to Joshua in a fairly natural-looking material disguise that didn’t totally spook him.
Note: quotes from Joshua 5:14, 6:1-2 (NLT)