Joshua 5:10-12

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Joshua 5:10. Kept the passover] This was the third passover feast; the first was kept in Egypt, the second at Sinai (Numbers 9:5). The feast of the covenant could not be observed while the covenant itself was broken.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Joshua 5:10

THE FIRST PASSOVER IN THE PROMISED LAND

Several events of deep interest are recorded in these three verses; probably there were others which happened about the same period, of scarcely less significance, of which no mention is made. Somewhere about this time the pillar of cloud must have disappeared. It seems natural to suppose that, having accompanied the people all through the wilderness, it remained with them during the passage of the Jordan; perhaps it departed from them here in Gilgal. Hero, also, the tabernacle would be for the first time set up in the land. Here the ark would be deposited in its place; the altar of burnt offering, for the morning and evening sacrifice, would probably be erected; and the fire which “came out from before the Lord,” and which was never to be suffered to go out, would consume its first victims in Canaan, offered as the morning and evening sacrifices. The first of a long series of observances, to be perpetuated through many years, were, it is likely, even now beginning to be celebrated. Conspicuous above all these was the keeping of the third paschal festival mentioned in these verses.

I. The time at which this passover took place.

1. It was immediately after the renewal of the covenant. During what Jehovah called His “breach of promise” (Numbers 14:34), it was deemed unallowable to perform the rite of the covenant, and not less so to keep the feast of the covenant. Both circumcision and the passover seem to have been discontinued on account of the sin at Kadesh-barnea. God will have no service from us which is untrue, unreal, and insincere. Acts of worship are nothing in themselves; the heart must go with the act. The soul tied to an untrue and dead service might cry with the apostle, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” A service which had ceased to have any meaning, and which represented an untruth, must needs be corrupting in its influence; man should not have it, and God would not. With what care should we, who live in the greater light of these latter days, celebrate the rites and services of the New Covenant! Surely a meaningless baptism, which represents things which have no existence in fact; or a Lord’s Supper, which commemorates the putting away of sin, observed by any who have never sought forgiveness; or worship offered outwardly, when the heart is still in rebellion, must be offensive to God.

2. The passover was celebrated after a long interval of cessation. Thirty-eight years had fled since the Israelites rejoiced together at Sinai in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. This must needs be a time of gladness. It must have been like the joy of the people, after a similar interval of cessation, at the passovers of Hezekiah and Josiah (cf. 2 Chronicles 30:21; 2 Chronicles 30:23; 2 Chronicles 30:26; 2 Chronicles 35:18). They who have been long kept from the service of the house of the Lord may well cry, “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!”

3. This passover was celebrated when the exodus was complete. The people were not only out of Egypt, but in Canaan. In the first passover they celebrated the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham; the second found them far advanced through the wilderness; this was eaten when they were really in the land. The feast of “Christ our Passover” will be ever fresh and precious, and the fulfilment of His promised deliverance of us will be ever seen advancing, as we continually bring our new experiences to aid us in expounding the meaning of the service. The feast may be ever the same; he will find in it no monotony, who eats and drinks in the light of past journeyings, past trials and mercies and victories, new camping grounds, fresh spiritual scenery and surroundings, and who marks that each commemoration finds him one stage nearer being “for ever with the Lord.”

4. This passover was celebrated preparatory to fresh conflicts. Our feastings here are only to make way for our successful fightings. The Saviour Himself went from the baptism to the wilderness, and from the passover, which He had so desired, to Gethsemane and Calvary. “It is not meet that the servant should be above his Lord.”

II. The place where this passover was celebrated. It was “in the plains of Jericho;” in the very front and presence of their foes. God can make us a feast anywhere; He can fill us with contentment and gladness even in our direst necessities. He fed Elijah by the brook during a famine, and refreshed him under the juniper tree when despairing in the wilderness. He gave Daniel peace even in the presence of the lions. He enabled Peter to sleep when in prison, and bound fast with chains, though he might soon be led out to a death like that already suffered by James. He helped Paul to say, when chained to a Prætorian guard as a prisoner of the monster Nero, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” He who bade Israel eat the passover on the plains before Jericho, has been shewing, through all the history of His Church, that He can make a feast for His people, irrespective of their surroundings (cf. succeeding outline on Joshua 5:10).

III. The events by which this passover was followed.

1. The corn of the land became henceforth their food. God had fulfilled His promise, and led them into “a good land.” The well-stored granaries of the Canaanites, who had fled into Jericho, and the roasted ears from the cornfields of Gilgal, enabled the Israelites to find a sufficiency of pleasant food.

2. When they had eaten of the corn of the land, the manna ceased. The cessation of the manna just then would serve to assure them afresh that it had been always given miraculously. They would also see the necessity of at once going on to conquer the country, now that they were dependent on their own efforts for their temporal supplies. God works no miracles where natural supplies are sufficient. We must not expect Divine help to furnish what is within the reach of our own powers.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Joshua 5:10.—THE FEAST OF THE BATTLE FIELD.

God has literally anticipated here, in the plains of Jericho, the song which David sang some four centuries later—“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” What the Israelites at Jericho, and David afterwards thus realized, is still and ever true in the history of the Church of Christ.

I. There is the satisfaction which God provides in the presence of enemies who SURROUND US.

1. Take the case of the scorner. Scorn is loftier to-day than it used to be. A recent writer in the North American Review, speaking of frauds in New York, said, “The cunning civilization of the nineteenth century is but a hypocritical mask spread over the more honest brutality of the twelfth.” Perhaps that is not far from the truth. Formerly people who wished to commit robbery became highwaymen, and used for their instruments fleet horses and deadly weapons; now they study stock exchanges, banking methods, and practise all kinds of handwriting. Similarly the religious scorner has changed his weapons, and altered his bearing. Men no longer hear or use the coarse invective of the past generation of atheists and deists; the seat of the scorner has been removed to the halls of learning and science, and, excepting in occasional instances, the language of the scorner is that of a scholar, and his manners are the manners of a gentleman. And this makes scorn so much the harder for some to endure. Many young men who would be able to laugh at the ribald vulgarities of fifty or a hundred years ago, are concerned to find the atheism of to-day guilty of only decent manners, and to hear it speaking with the reservations of a well-bred courtesy. Perhaps it is only the young and the undecided on whom even this polished scorn makes any considerable impression. Those who have sat at the Lord’s table, and have feasted indeed on the provisions of His love, little care whether the antipathies of infidelity are written down in coarse epigrams, or penned in the politer periods of a better bred animosity. The evidence of the truth of the Gospel is so sufficient, and its pleasant food is so sweet, that the enemies are often almost forgotten, saving in the wish that they could sit at the table too. What would it matter to the hungry labourer, in the presence of good food, in what language or spirit an author might write against genuine bread and healthy meat? classical or rude, he would still feast. So it is with those who really rejoice in the Lord. The character of the Saviour is so strong and lofty and beautiful, that probably no one ever yet felt the beginning of shame because of Him. His doctrines are so lofty, their influences so pure, and the hopes which spring from them so exalted, that the people may still feast joyously, even when fronted by their foes. His name is indeed a strong tower, into which His children may run, and be, not only safe, but glad.

2. Take the case of the patronising enemies. There are men who profess sincerely to pity Christians. Those who keep festival at the table of Christ care not even to reject such pity; it is not worth the trouble, so they simply sit and feast. They have a gospel eighteen centuries old, and never more suitable to the world than now; a Master whose life and words never raised a blush, and “a hope that maketh not ashamed.”

3. Take the case of the seemingly triumphant enemy. There are times when, to the superficial observer, the world seems to have the best of the battle. “The wicked flourish,” and the righteous are “an afflicted and poor people.” It is forgotten that they “trust in the name of the Lord,” and how much of prosperity and satisfaction are contained in that. Paul and Silas in prison; Paul before Felix and Agrippa; Paul at Rome.

4. Take the case of the worldly enemy. There are many foes who are encamped on what Bunyan has called the “Enchanted Ground.” The fascinations of the world. Too many, alas, fall here; but for the man who would really resist there are not only weapons, there are better provisions and richer songs:—

“I need not go abroad for joys;

I have a feast at home.”

So in the presence of all His people’s surrounding foes the Lord enables them to keep the feast.

II. The satisfaction which God provides in the presence of enemies which may be said to be UPON US. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” These touch his very flesh; they come both upon himself and those of his family. Pain and disease and death are the lot of all. What kind of feast does the Lord provide in the front of foes like these?

1. There is Divine forewarning to set over against suddenness and surprise. Christ has “told us before it come to pass,” “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Sorrows come unannounced by any lips of men, and they often come in rapid succession. Like the vultures, in the song of Hiawatha, which follow one another

“From the invisible ether,

First a speck, and then a vulture,
Till the air is dark with pinions.

So disasters come not singly;

But as if they watched and waited,
Scanning one another’s motions.
When the first descends, the others
Follow, follow, gathering flockwise
Round their victim, sick and wounded,
First a shadow, then a sorrow,
Till the air is dark with anguish.”

[Longfellow.]

Thus sufferings came successively to Job; he was able to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Thus, too, Paul writes of having “sorrow upon sorrow;” he does but “reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The Lord has so prepared the minds of His people for suffering, that they can meet it, even when it comes thus heavily, without counting that “some strange thing has happened” unto them.

2. There is Divine sympathy to set over against seeming severity. The love of God, and the sympathy of Him who is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” have been made too manifest to allow of any place for doubt.

3. There are Divine promises to set over against human fears. Every one is “Yea and Amen,” and the number and variety are so great, that no man ever stood where he had to feel there was no promise of God for him.

4. There is the Divine example to set over against the worst sorrows possible. Stand where we may, and “consider Him who endured” for us, He will always be found in front.

5. There are the rod and staff of the Divine Presence to set over against death. Even before the Saviour came to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, faith could look up and say, “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” Christian history continually shews that when face to face with the “last enemy,” the people whom the Lord leads are wont to hold festival.

III. The satisfaction which God provides in the presence of enemies WITHIN US. Our sins are the worst foes of all; but, even here, Christ bids us keep the feast.

1. There is an army of sins in the rear. Can we be forgiven? The Lord provides “patterns for them who should hereafter believe.” David; Peter; the penitent thief; the sinful woman who loved much; Saul of Tarsus, who says, “Sinners, of whom I am chief.” Even Judas is wooed by the love of Christ, and seems to go “to his own place” only because he can find no place for repentance.

2. There is an army of temptations in front, and the best of men feel that they carry terribly correspondent weaknesses within. The habits of half a lifetime are not easily forgotten; the tenacious vitality of the nature, which is always having to be crucified to make it die, cannot but be felt and feared. Even here Divine provision is bountiful and sufficient. Those who testify to His power to save from sin are “a cloud of witnesses,” and He Himself says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Christ our Passover is given:—

I. In view of sin’s bondage and burden. He came to give liberty to the captive.

II. In view of the sinner’s gladness and purification. “Therefore let us keep the feast;” yet “not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.”

III. In view of sin’s judgment and penalty. The warnings which precede the sinner’s overthrow, and the power and grace in which God delivers those who harden not their hearts, tell at once of the love which would “have all men to be saved,” and of the holiness which “will by no means clear the guilty.”

“The first passover on the soil of Canaan:

(1) A feast of thankful remembrance;
(2) a feast of blessed hope. The bread of the land, although not manna, yet also bread from heaven.” [Lange.]

“The passover would assure them that He who had been with them in the exodus would sustain and protect them now. The circumcision would remind them of God’s promise, the passover would remind them of His power to deliver them, and the two together would lead them to encourage themselves in the Lord their God.” [Dr. Wm. Taylor.]

“

1. In whatever circumstances we are placed, religion should be our first concern. If ever there were circumstances which would seem to justify the postponement of religious duties, one would think they were those of Joshua on this occasion.
2. In whatever circumstances we are placed, we should put the most implicit confidence in God. These religious services were in an enemy’s land.” [Bush.]

Joshua 5:12.

“God is everything to His people. In the wilderness they had no pathway; but He led them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. They were in danger; but He was their defence. They had no water; but He gave them streams in the desert. They had no provision; but He rained down manna around their tents. So what Nature refused, Providence furnished; and what could not be derived from the ground came from the clouds.… At length the manna ceased, and wisely too. What was necessary before, became needless now; and what want would have endeared, abundance would have despised. This teaches us not to look for extraordinary supplies when relief is to be had in an ordinary way. He who sustained Israel is as almighty as ever, but we must plough, and sow, and gather into barns. He who fed Elijah by ravens, commands us to labour, working with our hand the thing that is good. If a man neglects the means of subsistence, he is not trusting Providence, but tempting it, and is likely to be reminded by something more than Scripture, that if any man will not work, neither shall he eat. Even in miraculous achievements, what human agency could do, was not done supernaturally. When Peter was in prison, the angel of the Lord opened the door, and broke off his fetters, for this Peter could not have done; but he did not take him up in his arms and carry him out, but said unto him, ‘Bind on thy sandals, and follow me.’ Miracles were never needlessly employed.… The manna was typical. ‘I am,’ said Jesus, ‘that bread of life.’ As the manna came down from heaven, and preserved the Israelites from famine, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ And the Saviour surpasses the emblem. The manna was for the body: He saves the soul. The manna could not preserve from death always: but they who partake of Him live for ever. The manna was confined to one people: He gave His flesh for the life of the world. He therefore is the true bread.
“Shall this Bread cease? Far from it. You shall live by Him, as well as with Him, for ever. But many things now necessary will then be done away. Conjecture, opinion, reasoning, will give place to knowledge.… We are now glad when they say unto us, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord;’ but says John, ‘I saw no temple therein; but the glory of God and of the Lamb was the light thereof.’ When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part will be done away. The fare of the wilderness will be superseded by the produce of Canaan.” [Jay.]