In my years of parenting, my kids have often tried to trap me using the infamous tactic of asking as if I’ve already agreed to something. They ask, “Dad, are we gonna go out for ice cream before lunch or after lunch?” And I think, “Wait, did I promise we were going out for ice cream today?” So as I’ve gotten wiser, I just answer their either-or question with, “No. No, you’re asking the wrong question.”
Like my kids, Joshua, when faced with a battle, asks the wrong question. Instead of, “Am I on your side, God?” the question he asks is the one we often ask: “Are you on my side, God?”
What Joshua needed to learn—what we need to learn—is that the battle is God’s, not ours.
A little bit of background: Joshua was the newly inaugurated leader of Israel. He had been Moses’ right-hand man for years, coming to fame as one of the only two spies to give a positive report of the land God had promised Israel. He’s remembered, along with Caleb, because of his faith: Of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who left Egypt, only these two remained when it came time to enter the Promised Land.
The book named for Joshua opens with God’s promise to be with him always. It’s the promise of the Christian life.
In Joshua 5, Joshua is on the eve of his first major challenge. Between the children of Israel and the Promised Land is the mighty city of Jericho, the most fortified city in the world. As we could imagine, Joshua was nervous. War was imminent and it’s his first real moment as a leader. Everyone looked at him thinking, “Moses was awesome, but do you have what it takes to fill his shoes?” He doesn’t want anyone to think they’re about to experience a drop-off in competence. So when his nerves keep him up at night, he goes for a walk.
It’s late at night and he’s praying, or maybe he’s smoking a cigar, or he’s scrolling through TikTok, or whatever he does to unwind. Apparently he had gotten close to the walls of the city when he saw a man before him with a sword. It is at this point in the story that I would have turned around and run. An armed man, right at the gate of the enemy city? See ya! But not Joshua. Joshua approaches the man instead. Keep in mind that Joshua is nearing 80 at this point, but he’s still got more courage than anyone I’ve ever met. Basically, he’s the truer and better Nicolas Cage. Some people wear Superman pajamas; Superman wears Joshua pajamas.
Anyway, Joshua asks, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” There’s that either-or question again. To which the man says, “No.” Just like me with my kids, this mysterious stranger is saying, “Wrong question, kid.” He’s pointing out Joshua’s flawed reasoning. “Neither,” he says, “… but as the Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come” (5:14 NIV). In other words, the question isn’t, “Am I on your side?” It’s, “Are you on my side?”
To his credit, Joshua got it. He falls on his face to the earth, worships, and says to him, “What [then] does my lord say to his servant?” The commander says, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua does.
Theologians like to call this a “Christophany,” a pre-Nativity, Old Testament appearance of Jesus in human form. It’s really an awesome thought: Before Jesus was born as a helpless babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, he was the Commander in Chief of the LORD’s armies. This is who Joshua was talking to.
Why did God appear to Joshua? He wanted to show Joshua that victory and strength did not belong to him. They didn’t belong to the people of Israel. Victory belonged to him. What God wanted from Joshua wasn’t a great battle plan or a show of strength. He wanted surrender. He wanted Joshua to lean completely upon him.
And what Jesus reinforces to Joshua, again, on the eve of battle is that the question is never, “Whose side is God on?” The question is whether we are on his. He calls us to join him in his battles, rather than assisting us in ours.
