he had, it would have been corrected by the person, who, if he had not been God, would not have suffered these divine honours to be paid himd. But, so far were these honours from being declined, that the bestowment of them was sanctioned by an express command, similar to what had been before given to Moses. Jehovah, when he appeared to Moses in the burning bush, commanded him to " put his shoes from off his feet, seeing that the place whereon he stood was holy," being sanctified by the divine presence e. But indeed, in the begin- ning of the next chapter, the very person who thus addressed Joshua is called Jehovah : " And the Lord (Jehovah) said unto Joshua f." I think, then, that we are in no danger of mistake, when we say that the person who here appeared to Joshua as " a man," was no other than the Son of God himself, the Second Person in the ever-blessed Trinity.]
He, in answer to the question put to him by Joshua,
declared himself to be " the Captain of the Lord's
host"—
[This, in its primary import, signified that all Israel were under his special protection ; and that under his command they might be assured of victory. But the same is true of God's spiritual Israel, in all ages of the world. They are one great army collected under him, and fighting the Lord's battles, in order to a full and undisturbed possession of the promised land. Of these the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head and Chief. He has received a commission from his Father to be " the Leader and Commander of his people g :" and what- soever a general is, or can be, to his army, that is he to all who fight under his banners. Instruction in the use of arms — provision for their whole campaign — encouragement to meet their foes — succour in every difficulty — protection from every danger — and all the rewards of victory, are assured to every one of them, in due season h ]
Seeing, then, that we have such a Captain, let us contemplate,
II. Our duty towards him under that character —
Doubtless our first duty is to enlist under his banners: for we are not his soldiers by nature : yea rather, we are his enemies, and fight against him in every possible
d Compare Rev. xix. 10. and xxii. 8, 9. where such a mistake was made indeed, but rectified with holy abhorrence. e ver. 15. compared with Exod. iii. 2 — 6. f Josh. vi. 2. s Isai. lv. 4.
h These several ideas may be somewhat amplified with good effect.