With their miraculous deliverance from Egypt quickly fading from their collective memory, God guided the Israelites on their perilous journey to the promised land, from which the Lord would launch His much anticipated invasion of the Promised Land.

When Moses died, Joshua, the heir apparent, became the leader of Israel, it was a dramatic break from the traditional ruling family juantas that controlled most of the nations around them. Unproven, he was about to face his first real test of leadership. He had taken the children of Israel across the Jordan River and was now face to face with the enemy.

With the sudden arrival of the Israelites in Canaan, the city of Jericho was "tightly shut" and prepared for war (Joshua 6:1). The gates were barricaded. Men were on the walls. All was quiet, as this subdued group of people awaited the upcoming battle. Many consider Jericho one of the oldest cities in the world, and it was certainly the largest city of the time in Canaan, serving as not only the natural capital for the region, but more critically representing the spiritual headquarters for the stronghold satan had created on land reserved for God's inheritance.

Joshua had moved away from the main Israelite force to survey the city, no doubt he was formulating a strategy to attack this heavily fortified enemy. All the eyes of Israel were on him now and Joshua knew it.

It was then he spotted a man.

The first thing we noticed about this man is that his sword was drawn, which tells us he had either just come from a battle or was going to one(5:13). The sword immediately caught Joshua's attention who no doubt wondered if he was about to be attacked.

"Are you for us or for our adversaries?" Joshua shouted out (v 13).

"No," the man replied (v 14), "rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord."

When Joshua heard those words, he realized immediately he was in the midst of a divine visitation and fell to his knees. As captain of the Lord's host, this individual was the five-star general overseeing God's angelic army. 

Who was the captain?

Some suggest that, Joshua had encountered the pre-incarnate Christ. They ascertain this from the fact that Joshua bowed down and used the word "Lord" when he addressed the man. These, however, were simply cultural signs of respect shown to anyone perceived to be of higher rank politically. Abraham demonstrated similar deference to the two angels that appeared to him in Genesis 19:1.

The term "captain of the Lord's host" would more aptly fit Michael, the archangel, who led the angelic army that drove the rebel satan and his band of fallen angels out of the heavenly realm down to earth (Revelation 12:7-9).

 Michael was also the chief prince over the nation of Israel and looked upon as the defender of God's inheritance on the earth (Daniel 12:1). His role was laid out in Exodus 33:2, when God advised Israel that He would send an angel before the children of God to drive out the Caananites, Hittities, Perrizites and all those other ‘ites' which inhabited the promised land.

We also know that Michael was in the area at this time, so to speak, because it was Michael who contended with satan for the body of Moses as recorded in Jude 9. The fight to control Moses' body may have been more significant than we realize, for if satan had gained the upper hand, he may have cleverly earned the right to tempt the Israelites to deify their former leader. This may be the seed bed for the formation of many religious sects.

In the late 50s, one religious leader stood out because of the unique prophetic and healing anointing that was upon him, an uncommon ministry during this period. In the end, William Branham fell into error believing he was one of the end time prophets of Revelation. When he died in a car accident, his followers kept his body for a few days believing he would rise from the dead as the Apostle John prophesied in Revelation 11:11. But was an unseen battle raging in the spiritual realm as the devil contended for his body with intent of enticing his followers to deify this leader? Today, some of Branham's disciples have bestowed scriptural authority to the prophet's sermons.

 The angel continued his message telling Joshua that the battle was the Lord's and he had given Jericho into Israel's hand. The drawn sword verified that the satanic forces controlling Jericho had already been engaged. But Michael had revealed himself to Joshua for a much more important purpose. The captain was there to take control of the battle and stop the Israelite leader from attacking until the heavenly battle was over. Time was the key commodity to Joshua's success, and he was given a plan of attack that required Israel to patiently wait seven days, until the real enemy forces in Jericho, the fallen angels, had been booted out.

This spiritual battle actually went quite quickly by standards for heavenly battles.

It was not that the Israelites sat idly by doing nothing. The men of war were commanded to walk around Jericho once each day for six days. No one could say a word. They weren't even permitted to pray.

Organizing 400,000 to 500,000 warriors itching for a fight was easily an all day event. The key to unlocking the door to victory was obedience. Though we may not always understand the reasons why God requires us to do certain things, there is a purpose for them and failure to obey can be disastrous.  

Now I acknowledge that innumerable sermons have been preached on the significance of this walk around Jericho, but as sacrireligous as this may sound, I suspect that the Israelites could have been told to stand on their heads for as important as the actual act was. I believe the key to success was the need to wait six days until the real battle was finally resolved.  If time wasn't the paramount issue, why wasn't Joshua allowed to attack the next day or on the second day?

But the Israelites would fill a critical role on the seventh day, when they were commanded to solemnly march around Jericho seven times, with the priests' leading the parade carrying the ark of the covenant, where the very presence of God rested, on their shoulders. On the final lap they were ordered by the "captain of the Lord's host" to sound the shofar and shout.