Take off your sandal from your
foot, for the place on which you stand is holy. This is a direct quotation
of God’s words to Moses at the burning bush, Exodus 3:5, with the marginal
difference that both “sandal” and “foot” are plurals in the Exodus story (here
the singular usage implies the plural and might be thought of as a kind of
synecdoche). The alignment of the present episode with the one of Moses at
Mount Horeb points to differences as well as similarities. Both stories are
dedication episodes as a leader is about to embark on his mission. But Moses is
addressed by God Himself, as is appropriate for the greatest of prophets and
the lawgiver, and at the site is a miraculously burning bush, proleptic of the
moment when this very mountain will be enveloped in lightning during the great
epiphany. Joshua is the legitimate heir of Moses but a lesser figure and no
prophet, so he is addressed by the commander of the LORD’s army, not by God
Himself, and there is no pyrotechnic display on this holy ground. (Robert
Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
2019], 2:21-22)
If there was still any doubt
about the essentially superhuman nature of this mysterious appearance, v. 15
removes it. Joshua is told: take off your
shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.
Moses (Exod. 3:5) and Joshua have an identical experience. Holiness in the OT
has its basis and origin in God. Things, places, and people can be called holy
only insofar as they have been set aside for God or claimed by him. We believe,
therefore, that the theophany as reported here is self-contained and needs no
further supplementation. Joshua has been made aware of the presence of One
greater than man whose drawn sword clearly speaks of combat readiness, and
whose army is nothing less than that of the Lord himself. What more is there to
know before the Conquest is to begin in earnest? (Marten H.
Woudstra, The Book of Joshua [The New
International Commentary on the Old Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans,
1981], 105-6)
