Joshua 5:1-15

Renewal Of Circumcision And Celebration Of The Passover

The two incidents recorded in Joshua 5:2;—Circumcision and the Passover—represent the final stage in the preparation of the people for the Holy War. The Circumcision was a necessary preliminary (Exodus 12:44; Exodus 12:48) to the Passover Feast, besides marking for the new generation a reversal of the sentence of 'excommunication 'virtually pronounced in Numbers 14:33;'; and the Passover—the first recorded celebration since the first anniversary of its institution (Numbers 9:5)—was signalised also by the cessation of the extraordinary 'sacrament' of Manna. Thus the period of the Wanderings is definitely brought to a close.