CHRIST AT THE FALL OF JERICHO.
By James White
THE record states that Joshua was by Jericho, and 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? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Josh. 5:13, 14. We must not understand by this declaration of the angel that he had come to supersede Joshua in the command of the armies of Israel. Joshua was commander, as is seen by Chap. 6:2: "And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the King thereof, and the mighty men of valor." But the angel had come to Joshua's aid, as captain of the heavenly host of loyal angels. The captain of the host of the Lord is the head over angels, or the Archangel of Jude 9, and the Lord himself of 1 Thess. 4:16. And while it was appointed to Joshua to lead the armies of Israel around Jericho, a portion of the priests bearing the ark of God containing the ten commandments, and seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of God, the Son of God was to lead on the invisible armies. As archbishop is the head over bishops, so Archangel means the head over angels. Christ stands at the head of all the holy angels, and thus he is the captain of the host of the Lord. Joshua had no battering rams by which to break down the walls of Jericho. At his command "the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets." In this simple display there was no manifestation of physical force. The work of casting down the massive walls of Jericho was left to the invisible hands of the heavenly host, led on by the Son of God. The day was gained. "So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the city every man straight before him, and they took the city." Josh. 6:20. And it is an exceedingly interesting fact to those who keep "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" under the third message, Rev. 14:12, that prominent among the united agencies employed to achieve that grand victory, away back in the days of Joshua, were the ten commandments in the ark, and the leadership of the Son of God. J. W.