Joshua 5 · a question people ask
Who was the commander of the LORD's army?
The chapter calls him "a man" (5:13), and he names himself only by his task: "I have come now as commander of the LORD’s army" (5:14) (tap commander and army). No other name is given, and no New Testament verse tells of this meeting. Joshua "fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped" (5:14) (tap worshiped), and was told, "Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy" (5:15). Christians read who he was in two main ways, as they do "the LORD’s angel" at the bush (Exodus 3:2) and before Balaam (Numbers 22:22). Both views agree on what the text says: he came as commander of the LORD's army (5:14), Joshua bowed before him and asked, "What does my lord say to his servant?" (5:14), and "Joshua did so" (5:15).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The LORD himself, appearing
Those who hold this view point out that Joshua "worshiped" (5:14) and was not stopped, while John, who "fell down to worship before the feet of the angel" (Revelation 22:8), was told, "You must not do that! I am a fellow bondservant with you… Worship God" (Revelation 22:9; see Revelation 19:10). They note that his words are the words God spoke to Moses: "Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5), when "God called to him out of the middle of the bush" (Exodus 3:4). And after one verse about Jericho shut up (6:1), "The LORD said to Joshua" (6:2), which they read as the same meeting going on. Some who hold this view take him to be the Son before he was born, since "No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him" (John 1:18).
Joshua 5:14 · Revelation 19:10 · Revelation 22:8-9 · Exodus 3:4-5 · Joshua 6:1-2 · John 1:18
An angel sent by the LORD
Those who hold this view read him as a created angel, one who has "come" (5:14) at the head of the LORD's army. A psalm uses the word army beside the angels: "Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army!" (Psalm 148:2). Daniel uses sar, the Hebrew word for commander here, of Michael, "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13) and "the great prince" (Daniel 12:1). And the verb for worshiped is also used of bowing before people, as when Abraham "bowed himself to the people of the land" (Genesis 23:7).
Joshua 5:14 · Psalm 148:2 · Daniel 10:13 · Daniel 12:1 · Genesis 23:7
The verses
“When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?” He said, “No; but I have come now as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and asked him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” The prince of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.”
“The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
“God’s anger burned because he went; and the LORD’s angel placed himself in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.”