COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA - CHAPTER S 5-8. In this section the circumcision of the men of Israel is accomplished, followed by the observance of the Passover. Then commences the initial parts of the invasion. First Jericho is taken, and then a contingent moves up the pass to capture Ai, only... [ Continue Reading ]
COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF JOSHUA - CHAPTER S 5-8. In this section the circumcision of the men of Israel is accomplished, followed by the observance of the Passover. Then commences the initial parts of the invasion. First Jericho is taken, and then a contingent moves up the pass to capture Ai, only... [ Continue Reading ]
‘At that time YHWH said to Joshua, “Make yourself knives of flint and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.” ' This did not mean circumcising those who were already circumcised for a second time (see Joshua 5:7), but reintroducing circumcision as something to be carried out on th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua made for himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.' The action is depicted as Joshua's but he would no doubt be assisted by able and worthy men. The flint knives had to be fashioned and then all the uncircumcised males circumcised. Durin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out were circumcised. But all the people who were born in the wilderness by the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed because they did not obey the voice of YHWH, to whom YHWH swore that he would not let them see the land which YHWH swore to their fathers that he would gi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And their children whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were circumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.' Here it is specifically stated that those who were now to be circumcised were those born ‘by the way' i.e. on the journey, those who replaced... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And so it was that when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were whole.' Having undergone the rite of circumcision all the males under forty were in some discomfort and had to rest up in the camp. It has been questioned whether a genera... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 5:9 a. ‘And YHWH said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.” ' The general idea was that circumcision had now finally made them a circumcised nation, as a free people within the covenant, in their own land. They were now YHWH's people in YHWH's land. “... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, in the plains of Jericho.' There are six mentions of the keeping of the Passover in the Old Testament, Exodus 12; Numbers 9:2 (at the first movement towards the land); 2 Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they ate of the produce of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn, on the selfsame day.' That is they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread the next day with unleavened cakes and parched or roasted corn which was the produce of the land. It was a day o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the produce of the land, neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.' Manna was ‘wilderness food'. The ceasing of the manna was the final sign that their wanderings were ov... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And so it was that when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man opposite 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?” ' Joshua was probably on a surveying expedition to loo... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 5:14 A ‘And he said, “No, but as Captain of the host of YHWH am I now come.” ' To Joshua's astonishment the man replied that He had come as Captain of YHWH's host. At the mention of YHWH's host Joshua's mind may well have gone back to the ‘ten thousands of holy ones' described by Moses (Deut... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the Captain of YHWH's host said to Joshua, “Put off your shoe from off your foot, for the place on which you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.' Compare for this incident Exodus 3:5 where Moses too was told to remove his shoes for the same reason. And like Moses Joshua, aware that he w... [ Continue Reading ]