The Angel appears in [Joshua 5:13-15](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JOS.5.13-15), this time as the commander of the Lord's army. In Hebrew Commander ([שַׂר](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h8269/esv/wlc/0-1/)) can also mean prince, captain, chief, or ruler. This will be important to remember. > [!bible]+ [Joshua 5:13-14 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/6/5/) > 13. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14. And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” Joshua then worships this angel and is not rebuked for it. The angel tells Joshua to remove his sandals for he is standing on holy ground, just as he had with Moses. > [!bible]+ [Joshua 5:14-15 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/6/5/) > 14. And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15. And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. In Revelation, John tries to worship an angel and is very quickly rebuked for it ( [Revelation 19:10](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/REV.19.10), 22:8) and Peter stopped a Roman from worshiping him ( [Acts 10:25](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/ACT.10.25)). Worship is due to God alone ( [Exodus 20:5](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EXO.20.5)). The only way that this angel could accept worship and claim the ground arou[Exodus 3](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EXO.3)s holy in the same manor God did i Exodus 3 is if this angel was God himself. If the reader of this passage is still not convinced, read the next few verses to [Joshua 6:2](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JOS.6.2), where the same figure is still talking to Joshua. > [!bible]+ [Joshua 6:2 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/6/6/) > 2. And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. The text, like many other places in the Old Testament, have shown that this angle is the Lord God Himself revealed. Going forward into the book of Judges we see that Joshua and Israel would fail to obey God and not drive out the remaining inhabitants of the land ([Judges 2:1-4](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.2.1-4)). > [!bible]+ [Judges 2:1-4 - ESV](https://bolls.life/ESV/7/2/) > 1. Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2. and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3. So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” 4. As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. This angel says to Joshua that it was **His** voice that he and Israel failed to listen to, even after He led them from Egypt and made the covenant with him. These are all acts that God himself did, yet this angel acts as if the offense was against him. When he first appears to Joshua He repeats the imagery from [Exodus 3](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/EXO.3) and the burning bush when he says that the ground around him is holy from God's presence, communicating to the new prophet that he is the same God that spoke to his former predecessor Moses.