Joshua and the Angel with the Sword of the Word

Joshua 10:26-27 - King James Version (KJV)

<26> And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. <27> And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remain until this very day.

I quote this extract from the Old Testament histories because it involves the polar opposite of the angel's rolling the great stone out of the mouth of the sepulchre where the body of Jesus, hung from a tree because presumed by the Jewish Church to be accursed, was laid; and the polar opposite of the resurrection, of course. 

The verse from Joshua is meant to be read alongside the same procedure done to the King of AI earlier in the same book as well as by Matthew chapters 27 and 28; for the Gospel deliberately echos the language used in both episodes of royal execution in Joshua: "until this very day":

Matthew 28:12-15 - King James Version (KJV)

<12> And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, <13> Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. <14> And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. <15> So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

That is, the falsehood that the disciples stole His body away is so repeated. The great stone is the great truth that such and such hung from wood and buried in a cave personage is accursed, which in their case and in relation to what happened actually was the great falsehood that Jesus did not resurrect on schedule. 

This is all included so that the manner of using correspondences to unseal the spiritual information in Old Testament histories may be seen. The King of AI and the 5 kings later hanged are spiritual falsehoods which are accursed and thus hung from wood; with the heap of stones piled on the King of Ai and the great stone sealing the burial cave of 5 kings being the great truths which reveal whether a given matter is good or evil, true or false; this being critical when engaged in the spiritual warfare encoded as the book of Joshua. 

Joshua 5:13-15 - King James Version (KJV)

<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.

Before it is time to blow the ram's head trumpet there must be a cleaning up in the lives of those who would blow them; a distinction between holy and unholy, clean and unclean.

We see a man with a sword, the captain of the Lord's host. It is fitting that the captain of the Lord's host should wield the sword of the Word! It is the Word then which instructs us in the distinction between holy and unholy, as indeed our captain demonstrates in this episode with Joshua.

Notably, the children of Israel encounter a series of events encoded as battles which test them as to the distinction between holy and unholy, clean and unclean, true and false. It was not enough for them merely to have all been circumcised at Gilgal! No, no, to be circumcised was only a representative; like baptism, circumcision represents the cutting out of one's life of evil loves.

The baptism is done by water, the circumcision by a sharp knife or sharp stone. These are all predicates of the mind and involve the use of divine truth to identify and shun evils in the heart.

Merely having been circumcised earlier in the narrative was thus insufficient. There thus succeeded various episodes in which the children of Israel were representatively tested to see whether they would choose good or evil, truth or falsehood. That is what the trespass with the unclean thing which was taken at Jericho, a Babylonish garment and some gold and silver shekels, is all about. That is what the combats with various Kings are all about. 

We have seen that the Word -- represented by a captain of the Lord's host with a sword -- has a particular message about feet to share. Translated into New Testament lingo, this is the same message that the washing of the 12 disciples' feet by that same Word, Jesus, has to share. The natural-external life is to be cleansed, and the waters of cleansing are the sword of the Word applied to evils in the heart.

This is of course Hebrews 4:12 spelled out at length and in various episodes of the narrative Word.

Hebrews 4:12 - King James Version (KJV)

<12> For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

This is the same sword which issues from the mouth of the Word on His white horse. And it is notable that the army of angels in the vision rode on horses clean and white. Their feet had been washed, their shoes had been put off. They could thus ride with the Word, "dressed in fine linen, white and clean" (Revelation 19:14). 

Revelation 19:14 - King James Version (KJV)

<14> And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

This, finally, is another example like the episode between the captain of the Lord's host and Joshua which encodes the truth that we are faced with a choice between applying the truths of the Word to the evils in our hearts or not so applying them; and it is like Joshua's encounter and unlike Hebrews encoded in narrative form.

Luke 2:35 - King James Version (KJV)

<35> (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.