The Commander: Angel and Holy Presence

Joshua meets a man with a drawn sword and asks whose side he is on. The answer is neither - he has come as commander of the army of the Lord. Then he tells Joshua to take off his sandals, because the place is holy.
That command is a deliberate link. It is the same instruction given at the burning bush, and it connects this figure to the visible human form of God in Exodus 3.
The drawn sword is another marker. The phrase occurs in only two other places in the whole Hebrew Bible, one of them the story of Balaam and the angel.
And the conclusion the sources draw is not that this is a high-ranking created angel. Identifying him as Michael is rejected outright. This is the angel of the Lord: God in human form.
Scripture links:
- Joshua 5:13-15 - the commander, the drawn sword, and holy ground.
- Exodus 3:5 - take off your sandals, for the place is holy.
- Numbers 22:23 - the angel of the Lord standing with drawn sword.
Joshua fell on his face and worshipped, and was not corrected. That detail is the argument.