Joshua 5:1-9

The Covenant of Circumcision Joshua 5:1-9

And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel,
2 At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
4 And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.
6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that Were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not show them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.
9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

1.

Who were the kings of the Amorites? Joshua 5:1

The kings of the Amorites were the lords of the various cities located west of the Jordan River. The word Amorite means specifically the high one, and it is generally supposed that the Amorites were highlanders (Numbers 13:29; Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 1:20; Joshua 10:6). Many of the cities of the Canaanites were located in high places, and this is probably a reference to the kings who ruled in the hill country. They were undoubtedly those kings which joined together in the southern coalition as they went out to fight against Joshua.

2.

What light is thrown on the question of authorship by this reference? Joshua 5:1 b

Both the King James Version and the American Standard Version translate the phrase, until we were passed over. Some variations of meanings are found which would cause the translation to be, until they were passed over. The majority of texts point to the first person plural form of the verb, and this is an indication that the book was written by an Israelite who was among the multitude who crossed over into the land of Canaan. Joshua would certainly fit this description, and this is substantiatory evidence of his being the author of the book.

3.

Why was it necessary to stop for the circumcision of the people? Joshua 5:2

When the people came out of Egypt, all of them had been circumcised, as distinctly affirmed in verse five. During their journey through the wilderness, circumcision had been neglected. Since a new generation had arisen, the nation was no longer circumcised, and therefore it was necessary that circumcision should be performed upon all the men who had been born in the wilderness. This was an inviolable commandment; and if Joshua were to keep the Law perfectly, it was an act which had to be performed. It was necessary for the people to be circumcised before they could eat of the Passover. This was especially specified, as Moses gave the directives about the first Passover (Exodus 12:48).

4.

Why had circumcision been neglected in the wilderness? Joshua 5:4

As the covenant of the Lord with the fathers was broken, the sons of the rejected generation were not to receive the covenant sign of circumcision. Nevertheless, this abrogation of the covenant with the generation which had been condemned was not a complete dissolution of the covenant relation, so far as the nation as a whole was concerned. The whole nation had not been rejected, but only the generation of men who were capable of bearing arms when they came out of Egypt. The younger generation who had grown up in the desert were to be delivered from the ban. Some students of the Scriptures have suggested that the people did not have time to perform the rite of circumcision since the people were constantly on the march through the wilderness. A close study of their journey will reveal they were at some forty-one different places and they wandered for nearly forty years. They had an average of almost a year to spend in each place. They surely had time to take care of this important matter if they had been so inclined. They must have felt that since they had disobeyed God and were doomed to die in the wilderness it would be a mockery for them to keep this sign of the covenant.

5.

How many were circumcised? Joshua 5:5

The number of persons to be circumcised is estimated, by some, at a million. According to the general laws of population, the whole of the male population of Israel, which contained only 601,730 of twenty years of age and upwards, besides 23,000 Levites of a month old and upwards, when the census was taken a short time before in the steppes of Moab, could not amount to more than three million in all. Of these between birth and sixty years of age perhaps one half were thirty-eight years old. They would have been born before the sentence was pronounced upon the nation at Kadesh, and for the most part before the exodus from Egypt. These had already been circumcised. Consequently, the proportion between the circumcised and the uncircumcised was one to two. The operation could, therefore, be completed without any difficulty in the course of a single day.

6.

How could Canaan be a land of milk and honey? Joshua 5:6

Their food was produced where grass and flowers abound. These provided nectar for the bees. It was well-watered and good for grazing cattle, sheep, and goats (Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:5; Leviticus 20:24; Numbers 13:27; Deuteronomy 6:3; Deuteronomy 32:14; Judges 14:8; Matthew 3:4). These animals would produce milk, and thus it could be said that the land literally flowed with milk and honey. The expression is a quaint way of saying that it was a highly productive land.

7.

How long did the men remain in the camp? Joshua 5:8

The Scripture says the men stayed in their camp till they were whole. This was probably at least a period of three days since we learn from other records that the rite of circumcision left the men sore for at least this long a period of time (Genesis 34:25). Such was the case in the days of Jacob and his sons when the men of Shechem submitted to the ordinance. The time they stayed in their camp would have hardly been much longer than this inasmuch as they did participate in the Passover which fell on the fourteenth day of the first month, The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and there would thus be only a four-day period between these two events,

8.

What was the reproach of Egypt? Joshua 5:9

Two unsatisfactory suggestions have been made, as follows:

a.

As slaves (Genesis 34:14; 1 Samuel 17:26)

b.

As taunted (Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:13-16; Deuteronomy 9:28)

The reproach probably was the sentence which rested on Israel as the nation was condemned to wander restlessly about and to die in the wilderness. The reproach was involved in the thoughts and sayings of those who would believe that the Lord had brought the Israelites out of Egypt to destroy them in the desert (Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:13; Numbers 14:16; Deuteronomy 28). This was constantly on the mind of Moses, and he made reference to it as apparent failure repeatedly faced the nation he was leading. After they had crossed over into the Promised Land, there was no more danger of this happening; and so the reproach was rolled away from them.

9.

Where was Gilgal? Joshua 5:9 b

The word Gilgal means rolling. The name was given to the place as a means of recalling what had transpired at that point. The place was also known as the hill of the foreskins (Joshua 5:3) or Gibeath-haaraloth. The place must not have been far from Jericho, for it was here that the Israelites first encamped after they crossed the Jordan. It was here that they set up the twelve stones as a memorial, and it was here that they made preparations to attack Jericho. Two other places in the Promised Land bear the name; one is known as the Gilgal of Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:1-2; 2 Kings 4:38). This was a locality some four miles away from Bethel and Shiloh in the hill country of Ephraim. There is another spot known as regal Gilgal in the American Standard Version (Joshua 12:23). This reference speaks of the king of Goiim in Gilgal, and it is believed that the Goiim probably means the nomadic nations who had been driven away by Joshua and settled in a particular unknown spot in Canaan.