Joshua 5 - Introduction
_JOSHUA, AT THE COMMAND OF GOD, CIRCUMCISES THE ISRAELITES. THEY CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER AT GILGAL. THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST APPEARETH TO JOSHUA._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_JOSHUA, AT THE COMMAND OF GOD, CIRCUMCISES THE ISRAELITES. THEY CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER AT GILGAL. THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOST APPEARETH TO JOSHUA._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN ALL THE KINGS OF THE AMORITES_— We have before remarked, that these were the most valiant of all the Canaanites. The next clause seems added to shew, that besides the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, whom the Israelites had already subdued, on the east of... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _AT THAT TIME THE LORD SAID UNTO JOSHUA_— This was the morning after the passage, the 11th day of the first month, as the learned Usher and others have very probably conjectured. _MAKE THEE SHARP KNIVES_— Or, as in the Margin of our Bibles, _knives of flints;_ which stones might be found i... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 3. _AND JOSHUA—CIRCUMCISED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL_— He caused the commands of God to be performed by all the people, whether on this or on the other side of Jordan, and, as it appears, by all on the same day, that every Israelite might be enabled to celebrate the passover. The matter was no w... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4-7. _AND THIS IS THE CAUSE,_ &C.— The reason is clearly expressed in the text. Excepting Joshua and Caleb, all the six hundred thousand fighting men, who came out of Egypt, had died during the forty years that the people had dwelt in the desarts of Arabia; and during this interval of time th... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7. _AND THEIR CHILDREN—JOSHUA CIRCUMCISED_— Putting together the chief arguments for the renewal of this ceremony, God may be said to have subjected the Israelites to it, 1. To _take from them the reproach of Egypt,_ as it is expressed, ver. 9. 2. To enable them to celebrate the passover. 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 8. _AND—THE PEOPLE—ABODE IN THEIR PLACES—TILL THEY WERE WHOLE_— They kept quiet in their tents, undisturbed by any one, till after their entire cure. The ceremony was performed the 11th of _Nisan;_ the 13th the sore was at the worst, and on the 14th began the solemnities of the passover. As t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _AND THE LORD SAID UNTO JOSHUA, THIS DAY,_ &C.— Among many conjectures respecting the sense of these words, most interpreters have agreed to understand by _the reproach of Egypt,_ uncircumcision, which rendered the Israelites like the Egyptians, and had rendered the Egyptians abominable in... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 10. _AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL—KEPT THE PASSOVER_— This was the third time they had celebrated this feast: the first time was on their departure from Egypt, and the second the year following, when the tabernacle was reared at the foot of mount Sinai; so that for thirty-nine years they had no... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 11. _AND THEY DID EAT OF THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND,_ &C.— i.e. of the corn of the preceding year, which they found in divers places, abandoned by the people on retiring to Jericho. However, the matter is not very certain, and several interpreters do not thus understand the Hebrew. They are of... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 12. _AND THE MANNA CEASED_— The Israelites having no more need of this miraculous food, by reason of the plenty of corn and other provisions which they found in the land of Canaan, God, who never works a miracle unnecessarily, ceased to shower it down from heaven. Hence we see clearly, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN JOSHUA WAS BY JERICHO_— The solemnities of the passover being ended, and Joshua being come nigh to Jericho to reconnoitre the city, and judge of the dispositions to be made in order to lay siege to it with success, was greatly surprised, after having been but fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14, 15. _AND HE SAID, NAY; BUT AS CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD,_ &C.— "No," replied the Unknown to Joshua, "I am no hostile visitant; I am the chief of the army of the Lord." Joshua, on these words, threw himself to the earth, and, adoring the sacred personage, respectfully inquired what w... [ Continue Reading ]