Bible Strands
Joshua 5:13
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 approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua stands near Jericho immediately after the manna ceases and encounters a man with a drawn sword. He approaches the figure and asks whether the figure is aligned with Israel or their enemies.
The words — The phrase וַ/יִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָי/ו֙ (va/i.yi.Sa' 'ei.Na/v) literally means "and he lifted up his eyes," marking Joshua's sudden visual perception. The interjection וְ/הִנֵּה־ (ve./hi.neh-) translates as "and there!" to emphasize the immediate, unannounced appearance of the armed man.
The thread — This sudden armed encounter parallels Abraham’s meeting with three men at the tent entrance (Genesis 18:2) and Balaam’s donkey perceiving the angel with a drawn sword (Numbers 22:23, Numbers 22:31). Each passage uses the motif of an unexpected armed figure to interrupt a journey and force a reckoning of divine presence.
Why it lands — The text requires a direct assessment of spiritual alignment before assuming automatic divine favor. It demands that readers abandon presumptions of alliance and submit to the authority of the Commander before receiving instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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?
Cross-references
- Genesis 18:2 And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
- Numbers 22:23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into a field. So Balaam beat her to return her to the path.
- Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. And Balaam bowed low and fell facedown.
- 1 Chronicles 21:16 When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
- 1 Chronicles 21:30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
- Daniel 10:5 I lifted up my eyes, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.
- Exodus 23:23 For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.
- Hosea 12:3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God.
- Genesis 32:24 So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
- Judges 13:11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.