Are you for us or our enemies?

Ever felt unsure where you stand with someone? Maybe you’ve met a new colleague, a neighbour, or a person who suddenly steps into your space, and you find yourself wondering: are they a friend, a threat, or something in between? It’s a deeply human instinct, and Joshua feels something similar in Joshua 5.

He’s alone near Jericho, carrying the weight of leading Israel into the land, when he encounters a warrior with a drawn sword. Unsure and perhaps afraid, Joshua wants to know where he (and this other) stands. So he asks “Are you for us, or for our enemies?”

It’s the kind of question we all ask, because we tend to read the world from our perspective. Who is with me? Who is against me? Who might help my goals, and who might hinder them? It’s not always selfish; often it’s simply how we navigate uncertainty.

“Neither,” the warrior replies. Not yes, not no, not us, not them. Instead, the commander of the Lord’s army steps outside Joshua’s categories entirely. He has not come to join Joshua’s side, nor Jericho’s side.

The answer is enigmatic, unexpected. Remember that Joshua has been anointed by Moses, filled with the Spirit, and directly commissioned by God to take the Promised Land (Deut 31:7–9; Joshua 1:1–9). Joshua is not simply doing his own thing—he is pursuing the very mission God has given him; against God's enemies. 

And yet the angel still replies, “Neither.”

The commander arrives representing God’s side alone. And that frames everything. Allegiances are not binary. The question is not whether God will align himself with Joshua (and his understanding of God’s mission), but whether Joshua will align himself with God and what God is doing in this moment.

Joshua 5 offers us the same invitation. Like Joshua, at times we can be convinced we are doing God’s work, even opposing God's enemies, and so we read the playing field as people being either with us or against us. But before we divide the world into “for us” and “against us,” we need to remember that God’s purposes often run deeper than our categories and tribal allegiances.

Joshua approaches with confusion and caution. He ends kneeling, listening. Sometimes that is where clarity begins.