Whose Side?

           Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.  Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”  (Joshua 5:13-6:5)

Another round of unexpected. Joshua went to scout the area around Jericho, apparently alone. There, he met a man with a drawn sword and walked up to him. I can’t imagine walking up to someone with a drawn sword, and I think swords are cool. Maybe the man’s face and stance was not aggressive in spite of the weapon. Maybe Joshua also had his out, though it doesn’t sound like it.

Joshua asked a reasonable question. Was this stranger on Israel’s side or Jericho’s?

And that’s where things go from mildly unexpected to very unexpected. The man says that he was not on either side, and that he was the commander of the Lord’s army. Joshua seems to take this in stride, but this doesn’t fit with what we like to think. God is supposed to be on Israel’s side. He’s supposed to fight for Israel, and the Church, not for Jericho. But, spoiler alert, all through history, when Israel failed to obey, God effectively aided their enemies. It shouldn’t surprise us, but it does.  

Then, there’s the lesson of Rahab, who was a Jerichoite, a prostitute, and a traitor, but her life was spared and her great grandson was David. Don’t forget the Ninevites, whom God spared because they turned from their wicked ways. So the real question is which side we’re on.

In this case, Joshua was on God’s side and got a set of instructions that were bizarre. March around the city in silence? Once a day for 6 days? On the seventh day, march around it seven times and when the horn blows, attack? What sort of battle tactic is that?

I have to imagine the folks in Jericho. Day one: concern melting away into confusion. Day two: confusion giving way to quiet laughter. Day three: Louder laughter with kids on the wall shouting insults. Day four: open mockery. Days fives: life as usual. Day seven: Life as usual for circle one. For circle two: confusion and calling out the troops. For circle three: nervous glances from lots of gawkers. By circle four, kids being sent home. On circle five, the tension starts to break, some of the troops relax. On circle six, potentially boredom. At the end of seven, the trumpet blasts and the walls (and part of the army) come a-tumbling down. I don’t know that’s how it went, but how it went was not the way battles, or even sieges, are supposed to happen and my description fits human nature.

When God calls us to do something that makes no sense, how do we respond?