My Thoughts on Joshua, the Scarlet Thread, and the Captain of the LORD's Host
I always find it funny that deists (those who deny the Deity of Christ) always try to say you don't find the Trinity in the Old Testament. I laugh at that claim because for one, I read of the Spirit of the LORD, and another a special Person carrying the claims of the Father. There is the Angel of the LORD who is no created angel but carrying attributes of God the Father. There is God appearing to Abram in human form in Mamre. Jesus would later affirm in John 8:48-59 that He saw Abraham. Jesus appeared with two angels in human form to visit Abraham in Genesis 13. While I was reading Joshua - there is also one noteworthy appearance of the Lord Jesus as the Captain of the LORD's host in Joshua 5. Joshua was on the other side when he first saw this character. Just who is the Captain of the LORD's host?
You should consider the attributes of the Captain of the LORD's host. Joshua 5:13-15 says the following:
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 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? 15 And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
If the Captain of the LORD's host was just an ordinary angel - it would have rebuked Joshua for falling down to worship. Instead, I always assumed this was the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis 1, God the Father said, "Let Us make man..." and He couldn't be referencing to angels. Angels can't create. The Spirit of God was present. John 1:1-12 confirms the part of the Lord Jesus in the creation of the world as the Word. The great man with the sword is Jesus Himself before His incarnation. It's because Jesus being the Son of God is God the Son - He is eternal. Yet, deists continue to deny the deity of Christ.
What's interesting to know is that Joshua is the Greek for Jesus. Jesus in Hebrew would be called as Joshua or Yeshua of Nazareth. The Greek language had translated certain names in Hebrew to Greek like Jesus' earthly mother would be called Miriam as Mary or Elijah as Elias, Jeremiah as Jeremy, and Isaiah as Esaias in the King James Version (KJV). You can imagine how Joshua saw the preincarnate Christ. What Joshua never dreamed though that Christ in His human incarnation will be known as Jesus or Joshua. Joshua probably never dreamed that the man with the sword will be born in human form and bear the same name as him.
The scarlet thread on Rahab's house is another. The Lord Jesus Christ is symbolized as the scarlet thread before He appeared to Joshua as the man. Rahab herself was a prostitute. I assume she was probably a temple prostitute or why would the guards suddenly go up to her? What would be noted is that while the Old Testament is silent about it - we read in Matthew that Rahab's husband was Salmon of Judah. From Salmon came Boaz. Yes, Rahab became the second mother-in-law of Ruth. The meeting of the Israelites with Rahab soon allowed yet another wonder. A Gentile and a prostitute soon received God's grace. Rahab knew her city was doomed, she was on God's death list, and all she could do was to throw herself at His mercy. This act soon got her into the Messianic line. The lineage went from Salmon (Rahab's husband), Boaz, Jesse, and David. Rahab was the great-grandmother of David from the line of Boaz down to Jesse. David was from where the Messianic line would appear in two lines - Solomon (Joseph's line and Jesus' stepfather) and Nathan (Mary's ancestor).
The picture of Joshua is the grace of God at work. The Canaanites represent the sinners doomed for destruction and doomed humanity. Rahab would have died if it wasn't for the grace of God. Also, Joshua himself would be pictured as a flawed human. Joshua met the perfect Joshua prior to the virgin birth. The Heavenly Joshua, our Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished what Joshua of the Old Testament as Moses' successor could not. True, Joshua was a type of Christ but it was the Son of God as Joshua of Nazareth that leads the final victory. Joshua also committed the grave sin of making peace with Gibeon - the same person also showed mercy. The Gibeonites were made to be slaves as Deuteronomy 29:11 suggests. Joshua could've destroyed the Gibeonites but a covenant with God. We see the Gibeonites ended up repenting of their deceit and were reduced to slaves. Unlike Rahab, the Gibeonites were deceitful. Yet, Joshua gave them mercy under the condition of being slaves to the people of Israel. Likewise, Christians as sinners become slaves of Christ.
It really does give a preview of the coming of the Son of Man. Rahab getting spared pictured the lost sinner doomed for destruction but spared by God's mercy. The scarlet thread symbolized the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The Captain of the LORD's host appearing to Joshua would tell us one day the Son of God will also be named Joshua. Joshua who was but a human couldn't accomplish what the Heavenly Joshua, the eternal Son of God, could do. Reading through the Old Testament would give us a better picture of why we should be thankful for the Son of God and why He was needed. Before, I once ended up wishing He never died for our sins back when I was unsaved. I repented of it but I was still unsaved. Eventually, I realized He died because I couldn't pay for my sins except in Hell. Jesus paid for my sins and became the Heavenly Joshua that will eventually give those in Him their final rest.
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