Commentary on Joshua - Keil & Delitzsch - David Cox

Keil and Delitzsch <strong>Commentary</strong> on the Old Testament
(OT:3807a), which is the reading adopted in the Sept., Syr. , and a few MSS), but I
am the prince of the army of Jehovah; now I am come." The person who had
appeared neither belonged to the Israelites nor to their enemies, but was the prince of
the army of Jehovah, i.e., of the angels. "The Lord's host" does not mean "the people
of Israel, who were just at the commencement of their warlike enterprise," as v.
Hofmann supposes; for although the host of Israel who came out of Egypt are called
"the hosts of the Lord" in Ex 12:41, the Israelites are never called the host or army of
Jehovah (in the singular).
"The host of Jehovah" is synonymous with "the host of heaven" (1 Kings 22:19), and
signifies the angels, as in Ps 148:2 and 103:21. With the words "now I am come," the
prince of the angels is about to enter upon an explanation of the object of his coming;
but he is interrupted in his address by Joshua, who falls down before him, and says,
"What saith my lord to his servant?" so that now he first of all commands Joshua to
take off his shoes, as the place on which he stands is holy. It by no means follows that
because Joshua fell down upon the ground and yishªtaachuw (OT:7812) ( Eng. Ver.
"did worship" ), he must have recognised him at once as the angel of the Lord who
was equal with God; for the word hishªtachawaah , which is connected with the
falling down, does not always mean divine worship, but very frequently means
nothing more than the deep Oriental reverence paid by a dependant to his superior or
king (e.g., 2 Sam 9:6; 14:33), and Joshua did not address the person who appeared to
him by the name of God, 'adonaay (OT:136), but simply as 'adoniy (OT:113), "My
lord."
In any case, however, Joshua regarded him at once as a superior being, i.e., an angel.
And he must have recognised him as something more than a created angel of superior
rank, that is to say, as the angel of Jehovah who is essentially equal with God, the
visible revealer of the invisible God, as soon as he gave him the command to take off
his shoes, etc. - a command which would remind him of the appearance of God to
Moses in the burning bush, and which implied that the person who now appeared was
the very person who had revealed himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. (On the meaning of the command to take off the shoes, see the exposition
http://207.44.232.113/~bible/comment/ot/k&d/josh/jos26.html (1 of 2) [13/08/2004 01:17:12 p.m.]