we should have no report of the appearance.вЂќ 2 In other words, unless the Commander of heavenвЂ™s host who appears at the end of chapter five is also the one who spoke to Joshua at the beginning of chapter six, it would mean the Commander appeared to Joshua but did not inform him of anything, and that Yahweh spoke without any indication that He first appeared or came to Joshua.

This means that the Captain of YahwehвЂ™s host/the Malak Yahweh/Yahweh directly claims to have given Jericho into the hands of Joshua and not that a created angel had appeared to Joshua and was saying that he was commissioned for such a task.ДЄny attempt to drive a wedge between the appearance of the Captain of YahwehвЂ™s host and Yahweh who spoke to Joshua, as some have tried to do, would result in profound incoherence, вЂњbecause, in that case, the appearance of the Captain, who only now gives command to Joshua, would have been without an object. it could just as well be Yahweh or a created angel who is speaking, the context makes it plain that the former is correct, for it plainly calls Him Yahweh or LORD. You shall do so for six days.вЂќ (Joshua 5:13-6:1-3)ДЄnd so while the first person speech in Joshua 6:2-3, abstracted from the context, might seem to be amenable to either interpretation, i.e.

You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. The LORD said to Joshua, вЂњSee, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel no one went out and no one came in. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, вЂњWhat has my lord to say to his servant?вЂќ The captain of the LORDвЂ™S host said to Joshua, вЂњRemove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.вЂќ And Joshua did so. Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, вЂњAre you for us or for our adversaries?вЂќ He said, вЂњNo rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORDвЂќ. In fact, the whole passage read in context rules out seeing it any other way: While it might be said that a high ranking created angel could have been sent by God to aid Israel, a fact that would be true in any case, for wherever the Captain of the heavenly host can be found, archangels and other high and low ranking angels would be part of His train and in attendance upon Him, ready to do His bidding, and that the words above are not inconsistent if spoken in the first person by an angel who came with such a charge and a guarantee of success from God, the most natural reading is to take them as GodвЂ™s words, thus identifying the Captain as truly divine. You shall do so for six daysвЂќ (Joshua 6:2-3). When вЂњthe Captain of YahwehвЂ™s hostвЂќ, whom we have already discovered to be the Malak Yahweh, 1 appears to Joshua prior to the battle of Jericho, He says: вЂњSee, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. Jesus, the Divine Messenger of the Old Testament

Lord malak was most displeased