2. flint knives. The story takes place in the Late Bronze Age and was composed sometime in the Iron Age, but flint knives are introduced precisely because they are archaic, and hence the appropriate implements for this ritual act. In the enigmatic story of the Bridegroom of Blood, Exodus 4:24–26, Moses’s wife takes a flint knife to circumcise their son, and the phrase “on the way” that is used in this story appears three times here in relation to the lack of circumcision

4. Joshua circumcised them. The object of the verb in this clause, “them,” is merely implied.

the males, the men of war. This is an indication of age, twenty years old being the beginning point for military service. This generation, now died out, is about to be replaced by a new generation of adult males who will carry out the campaign of invasion.

6. the whole generation. The Masoretic Text reads “the whole nation,” which is surely too sweeping, but several Hebrew manuscripts as well as the Targum show “generation” instead of “nation.”

who had not heeded the LORD’s voice. The specific reference is to the pusillanimous report of the ten spies, an episode already invoked in the story of the two spies who go to Jericho. The ten spies in fact use the formula of a land flowing with milk and honey.

7. they had not been circumcised. Literally, “they had not circumcised them.”

8. they remained in their place until they revived. It must be said that, in realistic terms, circumcision of all the fighting men just three days before battle is joined would be a rather imprudent measure. But the writer is focusing on the state of ritual purity necessary for the celebration of Passover and for the conduct of warfare, and so he is prepared to have us assume that all the men are fully recovered and ready for action after three days.

9. I have rolled away from you the shame of Egypt. The verb here, galoti, is an etymological pun on Gilgal, a word that can mean either “circle” or, as in this instance, “wheel.” The “shame of Egypt” may have a double sense, referring to slavery—now, as free men entered into the covenant of Abraham, the Israelites are ready to conquer their own land—and to their uncircumcised condition, which was not the case while they were in Egypt but was entailed by their flight from Egypt and their wanderings, during which it was not feasible to circumcise the male infants.

10. performed the Passover rite. Of all the stipulated festival sacrifices, it was the Passover that confirmed a person’s full participation in the community of Israel. For a male, being circumcised was a necessary condition for taking part in the rite, as is made clear in Exodus 12:44. The celebration of the first Passover took place on the eve of the departure from Egypt, and so this second Passover marks the liminal moment of leaving the wilderness for the land as the first Passover marks the leaving of Egypt for the wilderness.

11. they ate from the yield of the land. Evidently, the Israelite troops have been foraging in the territory adjacent to Jericho. The substitution of the produce of the land for the manna is another marker of the end of the Wilderness experience.

13. at Jericho. The Hebrew particle b^e, which usually means “in,” here must refer to the vicinity of Jericho, which Joshua may be reconnoitering.

and look, a man was standing before him. This is a crystal-clear instance of the use of the presentative hineh, “look,” as a shifter to the character’s visual perspective. The as yet unidentified figure is thus called “a man” because that is how he appears to Joshua.

Are you ours or our foes’? The translation seeks to emulate the compactness of the Hebrew, halanu ʾatah ʾim-letsareinu. This brisk wording is beautifully appropriate to the military context, as a sentry might urgently challenge an unknown figure, wasting no words.

14. I am the commander of the LORD’s army. This is a bit of fleshed-out mythology not attested to elsewhere. God, who is not infrequently a warrior god, is often referred to as the LORD of Armies, but elsewhere there are no indications that He has an officer staff. This piece of imagining is perfectly apt in a dedication scene for Joshua because the LORD’s emissary can address him as (superior) commander to commander.

Now have I come. This pronouncement, just two words in the Hebrew, is meant to sound portentous: now is the beginning of my great mission of conquest in which you will serve as my human deputy.

15. Take off your sandal from your foot, for the place on which you stand is holy. This is a direct quotation of God’s words to Moses at the burning bush, Exodus 3:5, with the marginal difference that both “sandal” and “foot” are plurals in the Exodus story (here the singular usage implies the plural and might be thought of as a kind of synecdoche). The alignment of the present episode with the one of Moses at Mount Horeb points to differences as well as similarities. Both stories are dedication episodes as a leader is about to embark on his mission. But Moses is addressed by God Himself, as is appropriate for the greatest of prophets and the lawgiver, and at the site is a miraculously burning bush, proleptic of the moment when this very mountain will be enveloped in lightning during the great epiphany. Joshua is the legitimate heir of Moses but a lesser figure and no prophet, so he is addressed by the commander of the LORD’s army, not by God Himself, and there is no pyrotechnic display on this holy ground.