Who is this man?

Don't keep us in suspense...who do YOU think he was?

 

I think it was Jesus.

1. Joshua bowed down to him, and elsewhere when people have bowed to the angels they have protested.

2. He made that area holy, and that doesn't happen merely due to an angel.

 

Do you mean God the Father or God the Trinity?

God appearing as the Trinity would be unprecedented, since he always seems to interact with us as his respective persons. The Holy Spirit seems unlikely because the Holy Spirit never manifests itself as a man.

I think the two options are God the Father and Jesus. I lean towards Jesus because this is a more obvious manifestation than Moses received when he hid in the cleft of the rock and saw only a glimpse of God's glory. I think this is Jesus as he appeared in the Old Testament as the Angel of Yahweh.

 

sounds like a theophany to me

 

A Man is used in the same context as "The Angel of God"...which is Jesus. God the Father is Spirit...God the Son is God/Man...The Holy Spirit is Spirit. This could only be Jesus since Joshua was not told to get up in His presence as happens throughout scripture when a man bows down before and angel.

 

If it was a man, then it was a Christophany. He is the only member of the Godhead to appear in bodily form.

 

He answered Himself. The "commander of the army of the LORD". He recieved worship from Joshua. I believe it is enough to say He is God. Technically, you really shouldn't say it was Jesus, because prior to the incarnation the 2nd person of the Trinity wasn't "Jesus" (which is the Greek transliterated word for "Joshua" if I remember right).

 

Then who was it? What other part of the Godhead was human?

 

Hmmm. . . interesting thought that they both had the same name (Jesus being the greek translation for Joshua) . . .

 

I think it was Jesus Christ (a Theophany).When God The Father let Moses see His hind parts He told Moses no man could see Him and live.Here He is the commander of the angels.I suppose you could see it either way,however it would'nt make sense the if it was God the Father,why would it have killed Moses and not Joshua to see Him?

 

God Incarnate is Christ. God the Father never took human form, and neither did God the Spirit.

BTW, Bill, a theophany that is Jesus Christ is usually called a Christophany.

 

Right.Small brain lapse there.I knew what I wanted to say I just could'nt get it off the tip of my fingers. Thanks.

 

Okay,

So who is Genesis 18:1-3 talking about?

"The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance t his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by."

 

Joseph,

The notes in my study bible regarding 5:13 say, "The experience is taken by many to be an encounter iwth God in human form (theophany), or with Christ (Christophany). But angels also were ent on missions of this kind (Judges 6:11; Judges 13:3) and some were identified as captains over the heavenly armies (Daniel 10:20; Daniel 12:1).