Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 5:14
And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
14. as captain ] or rather, Prince of the host of Jehovah, i.e. of the Angelic Host, the Host of heaven. “I am prince of e oost of e Lord,” Wyclif. Compare the expressions “Jehovah of hosts,” or more fully “Jehovah, Lord of hosts” (Jer 5:14; Jer 15:16; Isa 6:3; Psa 24:10; Psa 80:7; Psa 80:19). “Not as mingling with these earthly hosts, but as they follow in a higher order; as the mighty one in heavenly places of whom thou art here and now on earth the type and shadow; as He whom all the Angels worship, as the Uncreated Angel of the Covenant, as the Captain of the heavenly host of God, have I come to thee.” Bp Wilberforce’s Heroes of Hebrew History, p. 148. Comp. 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 22:19. The Prince of the Angels of heaven had come to lead Israel in the impending strife.
And Joshua fell on his face ] Compare the attitude ( a) of Abraham before God (Gen 17:3); ( b) of his brethren before Joseph (Gen 42:6); ( c) of Moses at the Burning Bush (Exo 3:6). It does not necessarily and of itself imply worship, though such is intended here.
What saith my lord ?] The revelation, with which Joshua was now favoured, forcibly recalls the incident of the “Burning Bush” at Horeb. Not however in fiery flame, but in the person of a seemingly human warrior, was the Divine Presence manifested to the leader of the armies of Israel. Thus the first and the second Joshua met, and the Type fell prostrate before the Antitype.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Captain of the host of the Lord – i. e. of the angelic host, the host of heaven (compare 1Ki 22:19; 1Sa 1:3, etc.). The armed people of Israel are never called the host of the Lord, though once spoken of in Exo 12:41 as all the hosts of the Lord. The Divine Person intimates that He, the Prince (see the marginal references) of the Angels had come to lead Israel in the coming strife, and to overthrow by heavenly might the armies and the strongholds of Gods and Israels enemies. Accordingly, the capture of Jericho and the destruction of the Canaanites generally form a fit type of a grander and more complete conquest and excision of the powers of evil which yet waits accomplishment. (Compare with this verse Mat 25:31; 2Th 1:7-8.)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. But as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.] By this saying Joshua was both encouraged and instructed. As if he had said, “Fear not; Jehovah hath sent from heaven to save thee and thy people from the reproach of them that would swallow thee up. Israel is the Lord’s host; and the Lord of hosts is Israel’s Captain. Thou thyself shalt only be captain under me, and I am now about to instruct thee relative to thy conduct in this war.”
And Joshua – did worship] Nor was he reprehended for offering Divine worship to this person, which he would not have received had he been a created angel. See Re 22:8-9.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He said, Nay, I am neither Israelite nor Canaanite.
Captain of the host of the Lord; either,
1. Of all creatures in heaven and earth, which are Gods hosts. Or,
2. Of the angels, who are called the host of heaven,
1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 18:18; Luk 2:13. Or,
3. Of the host or people of Israel, which are called the Lords host, Exo 12:41. The sense is, I am the chief Captain of this people, and will conduct and assist thee and them in this great undertaking. Now this person is none other than Michael the Prince, Dan 10:21; 12:1; not a created angel, but the Son of God, who went along with the Israelites in this expedition, 1Co 10:4; not surely as an underling, but as their Chief and Captain. And this appears,
1. By his acceptance of adoration here, which a created angel durst not admit of, Rev 22:8,9.
2. Because the place was made holy by his presence, Exo 3:15, which was Gods prerogative, Exo 3:5.
3. Because he is called the Lord, Heb. Jehovah, Jos 6:2. What saith my lord unto his servant? I acknowledge thee for my Lord and Captain, and therefore wait for thy commands, which I am ready to obey.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. the host of the Lordeitherthe Israelitish people (Exo 7:4;Exo 12:41; Isa 55:4),or the angels (Ps 148:2), orboth included, and the Captain of it was the angel of the covenant,whose visible manifestations were varied according to the occasion.His attitude of equipment betokened his approval of, and interest in,the war of invasion.
Joshua fell on his face . .., and did worshipThe adoption by Joshua of this absolute formof prostration demonstrates the sentiments of profound reverence withwhich the language and majestic bearing of the stranger inspired him.The real character of this personage was disclosed by His acceptingthe homage of worship (compare Act 10:25;Act 10:26; Rev 19:10),and still further in the command, “Loose thy shoe from off thyfoot” (Ex 3:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said, nay,…. Not for or on the side of their adversaries was he come, as Joshua suspected at the first sight of him; the Septuagint version is, “he said unto him”, taking for , as it sometimes is:
but [as] Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come; of the host of the Lord both in heaven and in earth, angels and men, and particularly of the people of Israel, called the armies and host of the Lord, Ex 7:4; so that though Joshua was general, Christ was Generalissimo; and so Joshua understood him, and therefore showed a readiness to do whatsoever he should command him; the spiritual Israel of God, the church, is in a militant state, and has many enemies to combat with, sin, Satan, the world, and false teachers; Christ is their Leader and Commander, the Captain of their salvation, and has all necessary qualifications or wisdom, courage, and might, for such an office; see Isa 55:4;
and Joshua fell on his face to the earth; in reverence of this divine and illustrious Person, whom he perceived to be what he was:
and did worship; gave him religious worship and adoration, which had he been a created angel he would not have given to him, nor would such an one have received it, Re 19:10;
and said unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? that is, what commands had he to lay upon him, and he was ready to execute them? he was heartily willing to be subject to him as the chief general of the Israelitish forces, and to consider himself, and behave, as an officer under him, and to obey all orders that should be given.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. And he said, Nay; but as captain, etc Although the denial applies equally to both parts of the question, namely, that he was neither an Israelite nor a Canaanite, and was thus equivalent to a denial of his being a mortal man, yet it seems to be more properly applicable to the second, or to that part of the question in which Joshua asked if he were one of the enemy. This, however, is a matter of little moment; the essential thing is to understand that he had come to preside over the chosen people whom he honorably styles the Lord’s host. In his representing himself as different from God, a personal distinction is denoted, but unity of essence is not destroyed.
We have said that in the books of Moses the name of Jehovah (58) is often attributed to the presiding Angel, who was undoubtedly the only-begotten Son of God. He is indeed very God, and yet in the person of Mediator by dispensation, he is inferior to God. I willingly receive what ancient writers teach on this subject, — that when Christ anciently appeared in human form, it was a prelude to the mystery which was afterwards exhibited when God was manifested in the flesh. We must beware, however, of imagining that Christ at that time became incarnate, since, first, we nowhere read that God sent his Son in the flesh before the fullness of the times; and, secondly, Christ, in so far as he was a man, behooved to be the Son of David. But as is said in Ezekiel, (Eze 1:0) it was only a likeness of man. Whether it was a substantial body or an outward form, it is needless to discuss, as it seems wrong to insist on any particular view of the subject. (59)
The only remaining question is, how the Captain of the Lord’s host can speak of having now come, seeing he had not deserted the people committed to his trust, and had lately given a matchless display of his presence in the passage of the Jordan. But according to the common usage of Scripture, God is said to come to us when we are actually made sensible of his assistance, which seems remote when not manifested by experience. It is therefore just as if he were offering his assistance in the combats which were about to be waged, and promising by his arrival that the war would have a happy issue. It cannot be inferred with certainty from the worship which he offered, whether Joshua paid divine honor to Christ distinctly recognized as such; but by asking, What command does my Lord give to his servant? he attributes to him a power and authority which belong to God alone.
(58) The French adds, “ C’est a dire d’Eternel;” “That is to say of Eternal.” — Ed.
(59) Several modern commentators, among others Grotius, have maintained that the personage who thus appeared was merely a created angel. In this they have only followed in the steps of the Jewish Rabbis, who not satisfied with holding that he was an angel, have gone the farther length of fixing what particular angel it was. With almost unanimous consent they declare it to have been Michael, though they are unable to support their opinion by anything stronger than the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Daniel, [Dan 12:1 ] in which it is said, that “at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people.” The sounder view here advocated by Calvin, and generally adopted by the early Christian Fathers, is well expressed by Origen, who says, in his Sixth Homily on this Book, “Joshua knew not only that he was of God, but that he was God. For he would not have worshipped, had he not recognized him to be God. For who else is the Captain of the Lord’s host but our Lord Jesus Christ?” It would make sad havoc with our ideas of divine worship to admit that the homage which Joshua here pays could be lawfully received, or rather could, so to speak, be imperiously demanded by one creature from another. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
14. And he said, Nay This answer has reference to the last clause, or second part, of the question, “I am not for your adversaries.” In the sense that he was not an Israelite, some think that it may be referred to both members of the question. The reading which makes nay a pronoun, to him, though adopted by the Septuagint and the Syriac, cannot be sustained.
Captain of the host of the Lord Prince of the army of Jehovah. The army of heaven is here meant, not the Israelitish host. [This prince of the angelic host was not Michael, nor any other created being, but the Word of God, the Divine Loges or Revealer, who in the fulness of time became flesh, (John 1,) and even then declared that he came not to send peace on earth, but a sword. Mat 10:34. Hence in Jos 6:2, he is called the
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jos 5:14 a
‘And he said, “No, but as Captain of the host of YHWH am I now come.” ’
To Joshua’s astonishment the man replied that He had come as Captain of YHWH’s host. At the mention of YHWH’s host Joshua’s mind may well have gone back to the ‘ten thousands of holy ones’ described by Moses (Deu 33:2). So he may have seen this Man as having come, with YHWH’s hosts backing Him, to fight alongside Israel and bring God’s judgment on Jericho, with Jericho being seen as representative of all the Canaanites, because their iniquity was now full (compare Gen 15:16). It indicates that the cry of Canaan’s deep sinfulness, with its distorted religion, sexual perversions and child sacrifices, had reached to heaven.
We can compare this to some extent with Elisha who was also surrounded by the invisible host of YHWH (2Ki 6:17), and his vision of the chariots of God who were there to fight on behalf of Israel, the ones who were Israel’s true chariots (2Ki 2:12). In both cases the idea was of God’s power behind His chosen servant. Compare also the angels of God who met with Jacob on his return to Canaan, ‘God’s host’ (Gen 32:1-2). But the drawn sword stresses that here the emphasis was on judgment rather than protection.
Alternately, however, and possibly preferably if not as spectacularly, we may see ‘the host of YHWH’ as referring to ‘My hosts, My people, the children of Israel’ (Exo 7:4) with the idea being that this man was claiming to be their supreme general, indicating that He was therefore Joshua’s superior officer, the Captain of the host of Israel, ‘the Angel of YHWH’ in contrast with Joshua, ‘the servant of YHWH’, and that He had come to lead them with the sword of judgment already drawn. In this case we have the picture of Israel as YHWH’s avenging host under YHWH’s direct command who must now bring judgment on Canaan for its evil ways.
Jos 5:14 b.
“And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and performed worship, and said to him, “What does my Lord say to his servant?”.’
Compare Balaam’s response to the Angel of YHWH, ‘he bowed his head and fell on his face’ (Num 22:31). Joshua’s act of worship demonstrated that he now knew that this was the Angel of YHWH, YHWH Himself revealed in human form. He was aware of His numinous presence, and, filled with awe, he yielded to Him in total submission. “What does my Lord say to his servant?”
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 14, 15. And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord, &c. “No,” replied the Unknown to Joshua, “I am no hostile visitant; I am the chief of the army of the Lord.” Joshua, on these words, threw himself to the earth, and, adoring the sacred personage, respectfully inquired what were his commands: the angel, however, first of all requires him to put off his shoes from his feet, thereby to appear with more reverence in a place rendered holy by his august presence. All this is easily understood; but it has been asked, Who was this angel that appeared to Joshua? I. Divers interpreters insist, that it was literally an angel, perhaps the angel Michael, who is elsewhere called the prince of the people of God. Dan 10:13; Dan 12:1. The Jews are not the only people who have thought there were angels commissioned over every nation. Without, however, adopting this supposition, we think it might be presumed, that God made use of one of his angels to carry to Joshua his instructions upon this occasion. II. But most interpreters, both ancient and modern, hold, that this person was the uncreated angel, the eternal Word, the Son of God, chief of the host of heaven, 1Ki 22:19. Luk 2:13 or conductor of the army of Israel, Exo 12:41 and several reasons concur to support this opinion. We shall content ourselves with pointing out the principal ones. 1. The angel who speaks here uses the same language with HIM who spoke in the bush to Moses, and certainly spoke to him as God. 2. Joshua worships him, which he would not have done, or which at least the angel would not have suffered, had he been only a created angel. 3. The homage which he requires of Joshua, by ordering him to take off his shoes, is the most solemn and most profound ever paid to the Deity. 4. This angel, in ver. 2 of the following chapter, is called the LORD. The learned Allix, in his Judgment of the ancient Jewish Church, p. 233 asserts the opinion of that church to be, that it was actually God himself who appeared to Joshua. See Bedford’s Sermons at Lady Moyer’s Lectures, p. 148.
REFLECTIONS.When Joshua and the people had been thus waiting upon God, he comes to manifest himself to them for their encouragement. They who draw near to God will ever find God near to hear and help them. Note; If Jesus draws the sword to defend us, not all the powers of sin, death, or hell shall be able to hurt us. Joshua, as a valiant leader, boldly advances, and bids him declare whether he came as friend or foe. Note; We need courage when we are fighting for God, and especially not to fear the faces of men. He does not disdain to answer the question; but quickly resolves him concerning his character and design. As captain of the Lord’s hosts he is come, to guide them with his counsel, and strengthen them with his power. And what can stand before those who fight under such a leader? Joshua now plainly perceived the presence of the Deity: the same Jehovah that appeared to Abraham as a traveller, now comes as a man of war; and therefore at his feet he falls to make supplication before him, and receive his orders from him. It is no disparagement to the greatest general to be found often on his knees before the God of hosts, and there is no surer way to obtain the necks of his enemies. To impress Joshua’s mind with deeper reverence and awe, and to intimate to him that it was the same divine Majesty which spake to Moses in the bush, the Angel commands him to loose his shoe, as a mark of respect and obedience; which he instantly performs, and stands attentive to the commands which the Lord should be pleased to lay upon him. Note; (1.) Christ is the captain of our salvation, fully qualified to subdue all our spiritual enemies, and ever standing ready to help and defend all who fly to him for succour. (2.) If we take him for our Lord, we must shew ourselves his servants, by a ready obedience to his will and pleasure.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 5:14 And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
Ver. 14. Nay; but as captain. ] Commander-in-chief of all creatures, and captain also of his people’s salvation. Heb 2:10
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Joshua
THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD’S HOST
Jos 5:14
The army of Israel was just beginning a hard conflict under an untried leader. Behind them the Jordan barred their retreat, in front of them Jericho forbade their advance. Most of them had never seen a fortified city, and had no experience nor engines for a siege. So we may well suppose that many doubts and fears shook the courage of the host, as it drew around the doomed city. Their chief had his own heavy burden. He seems to have gone apart to meditate on what his next step was to be. Absorbed in thought, he lifts up his eyes mechanically, as brooding men will, not expecting to see anything, and is startled by the silent figure of ‘a man with a sword drawn’ in his hand, close beside him. There is nothing supernatural in his appearance; and the immediate thought of the leader is, ‘Is this one of the enemy that has stolen upon my solitude?’ So, promptly and boldly, he strides up to him with the quick challenge: ‘Whose side are you on? Are you one of us, or from the enemy’s camp?’ And then the silent lips open. ‘Upon neither the one nor the other. I am not on your side, you are on mine, for as Captain of the Lord’s host, am I come up.’ And then Joshua falls on his face, recognises his Commander-in-Chief, owns himself a subordinate, and asks for orders. ‘What saith my Lord unto his servant?’
Now let us try to gather the meaning and the lessons of this striking incident.
I. I see in it a transient revelation of an eternal truth.
You will observe that there run throughout the whole of the Old Testament notices of the occasional manifestation of a mysterious person who is named ‘ the Angel,’ ‘the Angel of the Lord.’ For instance, in the great scene in the wilderness, where the bush burned and was not consumed, he who appeared is named ‘the Angel of the Lord’; and his lips declare ‘I am that I am.’ In like manner, soon after, the divine voice speaks to Moses of ‘the Angel in whom is My name.’
When Balaam had his path blocked amongst the vineyards, it was a replica of the figure of my text that stayed his way, a man with a drawn sword in his hand, who spoke in autocratic and divine fashion. When the parents of Samson were apprised of the coming birth of the hero, it was ‘the Angel of the Lord’ that appeared to them, accepted their sacrifice, declared the divine will, and disappeared in a flame of fire from the altar. A psalm speaks of ‘the Angel of the Lord’ as encamping round about them that fear him, and delivering them. Isaiah tells us of the ‘Angel of his face,’ who was ‘afflicted in all Israel’s afflictions, and saved them.’ And the last prophetic utterance of the Old Testament is most distinct and remarkable in its strange identification and separation of Jehovah and the Angel, when it says, ‘the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple, even the Angel of the Covenant.’ Now, if we put all these passages-and they are but select instances-if we put all these passages together, I think we cannot help seeing that there runs, as I said, throughout the whole of the Old Testament a singular strain of revelation in regard to a Person who, in a remarkable manner, is distinguished from the created hosts of angel beings, and also is distinguished from, and yet in name, attributes, and worship all but identified with, the Lord Himself.
If we turn to the narrative before us, we find there similar phenomena marked out. For this mysterious ‘man with the sword drawn’ in his hand, quotes the very words which were spoken at the bush, when he says, ‘Loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.’ And by fair implication, He would have us to identify the persons in these two great theophanies. He ascribes to Himself, in the further conversation in the next chapter, directly divine attributes, and is named by the sacred name; ‘The Lord said unto Joshua, see, I have given into thy hand Jericho and its king.’
If we turn to the New Testament, we find that there under another image the same strain of thought is presented. The Word of God, who from everlasting ‘was with God, and was God,’ is represented as being the Agent of Creation, the Source of all human illumination, the Director of Providence, the Lord of the Universe. ‘By him were all things, and in him all things consists.’ So, surely, these two halves make a whole; and the Angel of the Lord, separate and yet so strangely identified with Jehovah, who at the crises of the nation’s history, and stages of the development of the process of Revelation, is manifested, and the Eternal Word of God, whom the New Testament reveals to us, are one and the same.
This truth was transiently manifested in our text. The vision passed, the ground that was hallowed by His foot is undistinguished now in the sweltering plain round the mound that once was Jericho. But the fact remains, the humanity, that was only in appearance, and for a few minutes, assumed then, has now been taken up into everlasting union with the divine nature, and a Man reigns on the Throne, and is Commander of all who battle for the truth and the right. The eternal order of the universe is before us here.
It only remains to say a word in reference to the sweep of the command which our vision assigns to the Angel of the Lord. ‘Captain of the Lord’s host’ means a great deal more than the true General of Israel’s little army. It does mean that, or the words and the vision would cease to have relevance and bearing on the moment’s circumstances and need. But it includes also, as the usage of Scripture would sufficiently show, if it were needful to adduce instances of it, all the ordered ranks of loftier intelligent beings, and all the powers and forces of the universe. These are conceived of as an embattled host, comparable to an army in the strictness of their discipline and their obedience to a single will. It is the modern thought that the universe is a Cosmos and not a Chaos, an ordered unit, with the addition of the truth beyond the reach and range of science, that its unity is the expression of a personal will. It is the same thought which the centurion had, to Christ’s wonder, when he compared his own power as an officer in a legion, where his will was implicitly obeyed, to the power of Christ over diseases and sorrows and miseries and death, and recognised that all these were His servants, to whom, if His autocratic lips chose to say ‘Go,’ they went, and if He said, ‘Do this,’ they did it.
So the Lord of the universe and its ordered ranks is Jesus Christ. That is the truth which was flashed from the unknown, like a vanishing meteor in the midnight, before the face of Joshua, and which stands like the noonday sun, unsetting and irradiating for us who live under the Gospel.
II. I see here the Leader of all the warfare against the world’s evil.
If this, then, be for us, as truly as for Joshua and his host, a revelation of who is our true leader, surely all of us in our various degrees, and especially any of us who have any ‘Quixotic crusade’ for the world’s good on our consciences and on our hands, may take the lessons and the encouragements that are here. Own your Leader; that is one plain duty. And recognise this fact, that by no other power than by His, and with no other weapons than those which He puts into our hands, in His Cross and meekness, can a world’s evils be overcome, and the victory be won for the right and the truth. I have no faith in crusades which are not under the Captain of our salvation. And I would that the earnest men, and there are many of them, the laborious and the self-sacrificing men in many departments of philanthropy and benevolence and social reformation-who labour unaware of who is their Leader, and not dependent upon His help, nor trusting in His strength-would take to heart this vision of my text, and see beside them the ‘man with the drawn sword in his hand,’ the Christ with the ‘sharp two-edged sword going out of his mouth,’ by whom, and by whom alone, the world’s evil can be overcome and slain.
Own your General; submit to His authority; pick the weapons that He can bless; trust absolutely in His help. We may have, we shall have, in all enterprises for God and man that are worth doing, ‘need of patience,’ just as the army of Israel had to parade for six weary days round Jericho blowing their useless trumpets, whilst the impregnable walls stood firm, and the defenders flouted and jeered their aimless procession. But the seventh day will come, and at the trumpet blast down will go the loftiest ramparts of the cities that are ‘walled up to heaven’ with a rush and a crash, and through the dust and over the ruined rubbish Christ’s soldiers will march and take possession. So trust in your Leader, and be sure of the victory, and have patience and keep on at your work.
Do not make Joshua’s mistake. ‘Art Thou for us?’-’Nay! Thou art for me.’ That is a very different thing. We have the right to be sure that God is on our side, when we have made sure that we are on God’s. So take care of self-will and self-regard, and human passions, and all the other parasitical insects that creep round philanthropic religious work, lest they spoil your service. There is a great deal that calls itself after Jehu’s fashion, ‘My zeal for the Lord,’ which is nothing better than zeal for my own notions and their preponderance. Therefore we must strip ourselves of all that, and not fancy that the cause is ours, and then graciously admit Christ to help us, but recognise that it is His , and lowly submit ourselves to His direction, and what we do, do, and when we fight, fight, in His name and for His sake.
III. Here is the Ally in all our warfare with ourselves.
Thus, brethren, if we humbly take service in His ranks, and ask Him to show us where our foes within are, and to give us the grace to grapple with them, and cast them out, anything is possible rather than ultimate defeat, and however long and sore the struggle may be, its length and its severity are precious parts of the discipline that makes us strong, and we shall at last be more than conquerors through Him that loveth us.
IV. Lastly, I see here the Power which it is madness to resist.
Remember the destructive powers that sleep in Him: the ‘drawn sword in His hand,’ the ‘two-edged sword out of His mouth’ the ‘wrath of the Lamb.’ Think of the ultimate certain defeat of all antagonisms; of that last campaign when He goes forth with the ‘name written on His vesture and on His thigh “King of kings and Lord of lords.”‘ Think of how He ‘strikes through kings in the day of His wrath, and fills the place with the bodies of the dead’; and how His ‘enemies become His footstool.’
Ponder His own solemn word, ‘He that is not with Me, is against Me.’ There is no neutrality in this warfare. Either we are for Him or we are for His adversary. ‘Under which King? speak or die!’ As sensible men, not indifferent to your highest and lasting well-being, ask yourselves, ‘Can I, with my ten thousand, meet Him with His twenty thousand?’ Put yourselves under His orders, and He will be on your side. He will teach your hands to war, and your fingers to fight; will cover your heads in the day of battle, and bring you at last, palm-bearing and laurel-crowned, to that blissful state where there will still be service, and He still be the ‘Captain of the Lord’s host,’ but where ‘swords will be beaten into ploughshares’ and the victors shall need to ‘learn war no more.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Captain, or Prince.
host = Israel as Jehovah’s host. Compare Exo 12:41.
worship. Therefore Divine. Compare Rev 19:10; Rev 22:9.
my Lord = A donai. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
but as captain: or, Prince, Exo 23:20-22, Isa 55:4, Dan 10:13, Dan 10:21, Dan 12:1, Heb 2:10, Rev 12:7, Rev 19:11-14
fell on his: Gen 17:3, Gen 17:17, Lev 9:24, Num 16:22, Num 16:45, Mat 8:2, Luk 5:12, Act 10:25, Act 10:26, Rev 19:10, Rev 22:8, Rev 22:9
What saith: 1Sa 3:9, 1Sa 3:10, Isa 6:8, Act 9:6
my lord: Exo 4:10, Exo 4:13, Psa 110:1, Mat 22:44, Luk 1:43, Luk 20:42, Joh 20:28, Phi 3:8
Reciprocal: Gen 32:2 – God’s Exo 12:41 – hosts Num 14:5 – General Jos 20:1 – spake Jdg 2:1 – And an angel 1Sa 10:1 – captain 2Ki 20:5 – the captain 1Ch 12:22 – like the host of God 1Ch 21:16 – saw the angel 2Ch 14:13 – his host Psa 103:21 – all ye his hosts Dan 8:11 – the prince Dan 8:15 – as Dan 10:16 – my Lord Zec 12:8 – as the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 5:14. As captain of the Lords host Captain of this people, and I will conduct and assist thee and them in this great undertaking. Now this person was evidently not a created angel, but the Son of God, who went along with the Israelites in this expedition, as their chief and captain. And this appears, 1st, By his acceptance of adoration here, which a created angel would not have dared to admit of, Rev 22:8; Rev 9:2 d, Because the place was made holy by his presence, (Jos 5:15,) which to do was Gods prerogative, Exo 3:5. 3d, Because he is called the Lord. Hebrew, Jehovah; chap. Jos 6:2. My Lord I acknowledge thee for my Lord and captain, and therefore wait for thy commands, which I am ready to obey.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:14 And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and {g} did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
(g) In that Joshua worships him, he acknowledges him to be God: and in that he calls himself the Lord’s captain he declares himself to be Christ.