Death Reigns (2) Clinging to Power

Once the children of Israel had crossed the Jordan, Joshua became vulnerable to the spirit called Death. Maybe he was already susceptible because he had led the Israelites into war on several occasions.

• When the Israelites were close to Jericho, he encountered a man-like being in front of him with a drawn sword (Jos 5:13-15). Clearly, this was a spiritual being. Commentators argue about who this character was, but I believe he was the spirit called Death.

• When Joshua asked if he was for or against Israel, he said “No”. An angel of the Lord would have said “Yes”, because they speak the truth. Death said “No” because he was not on either side. He would work with the side that inflicted the most blood and gore.

• The sword is a symbol of war and Death (Rev 3:4).

• This spiritual being told Joshua to take off his sandals because it was holy ground. This made it seem like a meeting equivalent to Moses encounter at the burning bush, but it was not the same. God spoke to Moses out of the bush, so the ground really was holy. Joshua encountered a spiritual being, not God, so this was the same. Angels do not make the ground holy, so we do not need to take off our shoes for them. The spirit deceived Joshua by appealing to his pride through an experience that was similar to Moses call.

• The person claimed that he was the commander of Yahweh’s army. He was a commander of a spiritual army that had been created by Yahweh, but it had rebelled, so his claim was only a half-truth.

Joshua was deceived by this spiritual being, so he bowed and submitted to him. If this was the spirit called Death, it gave him power over Joshua.

Although God said the people of Canaan would be frightened into fleeing, the taking of the land turned out to be extremely violent. This was probably due to the influence of Death on Joshua. (More at Violence).

Judges
The spirit called Death continued to have a strong influence on the leaders of Israel during the season of the Judges because many of them engaged in violence beyond what God allowed.

• Ehud stabbed Eglon, the King of Moab, who had gained control of Israel after they rejected God (Jud 3:21).

• Abimelech murdered his seventy brothers to become ruler of Israel (Jud 9:5).

• Before going into battle for Israel, Jephthah made a vow that he would kill the first person he saw when he returned. This resulted in him killing his oldest daughter (Jud 11:30-39).

• Samson killed numerous Philistines for very little gain.

• The Israelites fought against the sons of Benjamin and killed 18,000 of them in an unnecessary war.

• The leaders of Israel led with unnecessary violence. This allowed Death to continue reigning, even though the law had curtailed his right to be active in Israel.