It happened, 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 to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries?
"The strange confrontation of Joshua 5:13-15 resembles that between Jacob and the man of God at Peniel (Genesis 32:22-32) and that between Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 4:17). In each case, the human protagonist encounters a divine messenger before facing a life-and-death conflict . . ." [Note: Hess, p. 126.] 