Joshua 5:1–12
5 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.1 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.
8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal2 to this day.
10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
1 Gibeath-haaraloth means the hill of the foreskins 2 Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for to roll
Section Overview
The boundaries of episodes in the opening section of Joshua are more fluid than chapter numbers would suggest. This is true of the single-episode pairing of chapters 3–4, which combine; it is true in a different way of chapter 5. Each of its four small vignettes could serve as a conclusion of the Jordan-crossing narrative that precedes: (1) 5:1 continues interest in the reactions of the “peoples of the earth” mentioned in 4:24a; (2) 5:2–9 and (3) 5:10–12 all speak to Israel’s interest in obedience in the land implied in 4:24b; and (4) 5:13–15 confirm Joshua’s “exaltation,” established before “all Israel” in 4:14. From another perspective, each of these vignettes also points forward, introducing the next phase of Israel’s movements: Scene 1 anticipates similar language at 9:1; 10:1; and 11:1. Scenes 2 and 3 establish this generation, born in the wilderness, in a state of readiness for the demands to come of settling the land. And scene 4 is the immediate setting for the Lord’s conquest of Jericho, narrated in chapter 6. This chapter, then, is more staging post than stopping point; it is properly transitional.
Joshua 5:1 momentarily picks up the perspective explored in the Rahab episode (ch. 2), as the reader now gets a glimpse into the perceptions outside Israel of the miraculous events occurring in the region. The rest of the chapter returns to the intra-Israel story. Joshua 5:2–12 recounts two different aspects of the ritual preparation of the wilderness generation for life in the land: circumcision (vv. 2–9), which necessarily involves only Israelite males, and Passover celebration (vv. 10–12), which includes the whole community. The final paragraph, verses 13–15, bears distinctive characteristics setting it apart from the rest of the chapter, and thus it is dealt with independently in the next section.
Section Outline
I.E. The Camp at Gilgal (5:1–12)
1. The Nations React (5:1)
2. Circumcising Israel (5:2–9)
a. The Lord’s Direction and Joshua’s Compliance (5:2–3)
b. Historical and Theological Rationale (5:4–7)
c. Joshua’s Compliance and the Lord’s Affirmation (5:8–9)
3. The First Passover in the Land (5:10–12)
Response
This remarkable and rapid transition from Israel’s being a landless people to arriving in their appointed home takes place against the briefly sketched but significant backdrop of the fear of the watching nations. The description of the emotions of the watching nations shares language with Rahab’s account of the fear with which Israel was regarded on account of the actions of Israel’s God. At this point the fearful response has not been translated into hostile action—that will be a later development. As of this moment, however, nothing prevents the kings of the Amorites and Canaanites from drawing the same conclusion Rahab did and adopting her solution: recognizing Israel’s God as their God. This tends not to be the way of kings, however (cf. Psalm 2). But it is important to observe this space for a response that could lead to life, given the hasty, anachronistic, and mistaken accusations of “genocide” the book of Joshua can provoke.
At the heart of this passage is a forthright contrast between the disobedience of the exodus generation and the call to obedience and faithfulness of the wilderness generation. This moment invites connections, too, to the prayer of Nehemiah 9, in which, centuries later, this very transition from wandering to settlement provides a means to consider and repent of generational sin, especially as it finds a foothold in Nehemiah’s own time (Neh. 9:23–25). Concerns with ancestral guilt are mute in Western contexts but may be felt much more acutely in African and Asian settings, in which ancestors play a much more active role than they do in the Western world. Jesus’ rebuke to the lawyers in Luke 11:47–52 suggests that it is not only an OT matter. The challenge of this wilderness generation on the brink of a faithful life in the Land of Promise is not only to reject and repent of the sins of the generation past but also to commit to live faithfully into the future. That they, too, ultimately fail (Neh. 9:26) provides its own cautionary tale.
At least at this time they demonstrate a desire for personal purity in taking on the covenant sign of circumcision. This is what prepares them for keeping the Passover and enjoying the presence of God as the people of God. Even Deuteronomy knows of the circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; cf. Jer. 4:4; Rom. 2:28–29). The call of this passage is for that external behavior to be consistent with one’s inner disposition.
Gibeath-haaraloth means the hill of the foreskins
Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for to roll
5:1 This brief insight into the reactions of the watching nations is dense with resonances to other passages. Attending to them heightens the sense of the transitional point at which the narrative has now arrived.
The clearest connection on first reading is the reaction of the Amorite and Canaanite kings, with hearts “melted” and dispirited—exactly the characterization offered by Rahab of the “inhabitants of the land” (2:9). This observation brings another: this dismay was occasioned by news that the Lord had “dried up the water” of the Red Sea (2:10). Only three verses in the OT use this form of the verb “to dry up” with “water”: 2:10, of the Red Sea; 4:23, equating God’s work in drying up the Jordan with that of the Red Sea; and 5:1, in terms of the crossing of the Jordan only. Putting these together, it is clear that the forty-year memory that has continued to inspire awe has now had a significant update in the Jordan crossing itself. This moment shares fully in the dynamic Rahab described at yet another level: while the saving action is seen clearly to be the work of God, the fear inspired in the watching nations is of his people.
To those retrospective connections within the book, another is added beyond it. The pairing of the Amorite and Canaanite kings with which the verse begins is striking. It is common to see these names as part of a longer list of nations to be dispossessed by the Israelites (e.g., 3:10; cf. comment on 3:9–13). But there appears to be only one other occasion on which only the Amorites and the Canaanites are named. As Moses begins to address the people gathered on the plains of Moab, he recounts the Lord’s instruction to the Israelites to move from Horeb and to press on toward, and into, the Promised Land. As its extent is described (Deut. 1:7), these two nations are named and represent the entire sweep of the “land that the Lord swore to your fathers” (Deut. 1:8). These two names thus serve as a kind of geographical shorthand. Additionally, this subtler echo reinforces the sense that the God who met with Israel in the wilderness and above all at the “mountain of God” (Ex. 18:5) is the same God who now leads them into the land.
The final set of connections from this verse points forward. As noted in the Section Overview, the distinctive wording “As soon as . . . heard” (Hb. wayhi kishmoaʿ) that begins this verse is found again in Joshua 9:1; 10:1; and 11:1. Together these plot the successive movements of Israel into the land, marking the occasion of their taking first its central region, then the southern and northern regions. This chain of events is anticipated here, as the news that is heard inspires fear. When it is met again later in the book, to that fear will be added outright hostility.
5:2–3 Circumcision has been a sign of the covenant community since the time of Abraham (Genesis 17). Although known and practiced in ancient Egypt, circumcision seems to have been erratically carried out under the difficult circumstances of slavery and infanticide depicted in the opening chapters of Exodus. Its importance as a covenant sign persisted, however. This, at least, is to be inferred from the mysterious episode between Moses and Zipporah in Exodus 4:24–26, which holds some resonance with this moment of establishing the Israelite camp in the Promised Land (the use of “flint knives” in particular). There, maintenance of the covenant sign appears to be a matter of life and death, although the episode contains obscurities.
The meaning of the detail that Joshua is to carry out this procedure a “second time” (Joshua 5:2) remains uncertain. One suggestion is that Egyptian circumcision used only an incision in the foreskin rather than its removal, as in Israelite custom. This second circumcision, the argument goes, was to complete the task and explains as well the “reproach of Egypt” mentioned in verse 9. This solution commands limited support in the commentaries and does not accord well with the explanation stated in the text itself: it had not been carried out “on the way” (vv. 4, 5), which is further understood as disobedience. It seems more likely, then, to understand this “second” operation on Israel as intended to return it to the state that, presumably, it held prior to the sojourn in Egypt (such as is implied, e.g., in the narrative assumptions of Genesis 34).
5:4–7 The focus now falls on the exodus generation to explain this intervention in Israel’s first days in the Promised Land. Although these verses may appear static, given the structure they display a discernible dynamic. The statement of Israel’s moral failure and death in the wilderness is simply stated in Joshua 5:4–5 before a theological explanation for the sequence of events is provided in verses 6–7. The rhetorical emphasis falls on accounting for this community action, with the introductory phrase “And this is the reason why” followed by a chain of four further logical particles. As demonstrated in the structural analysis, the issue turns on the disobedience of the exodus generation, which by implication here includes its failure to circumcise the boys born en route. Why is there such concern at this moment to give such a thorough explanation? Multiple factors are likely in play. The obedience displayed here to the simple divine demand conveyed through Joshua (vv. 2–3) carries on the disposition that characterizes this people through the first part of the book: they are obedient to a degree not seen in their immediate forebears. Verse 6 censures the exodus generation emphatically. The formula “did not obey the voice of the Lord” applied to those who left Egypt is used regularly for covenant failure. It harks back to the failure of the spies (Num. 14:22) and anticipates the explanation offered for the fall of the northern kingdom (2 Kings 18:12), as well as the final offense of the last of the Judean refugees after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (Jer. 43:7; 44:23).
The rationale offered here further exonerates this generation from whatever guilt or impediment their parents’ failure had entailed. The use in this context of the striking phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” (given “to us”!) in verse 6 further ties in with this understanding. In “Joshua and the Prophets” this phrase is used exclusively in “reference to Israel’s obeying or disobeying its covenant with God.” And positively, it has prepared this replacement generation (v. 7) for the celebration of the Passover, which is the immediate aftermath of the circumcision of the “whole nation” (v. 8). Israel must be in a fit state to keep the feast.
5:8–9 The timing of the process is not spelled out by the narrator, but the time for “healing” can be inferred from the chronology specified in 4:19, dating the crossing of the Jordan to the tenth day of Abib (the first month), and 5:10, putting the Passover celebration on the fourteenth day of the same month. Thus three full days are allowed for this process, an echo of the “three days” between the investiture of Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan (cf. comment on 3:2–4). This is marginally better than the timing at which Simeon and Levi took revenge on the men of Shechem after they submitted to circumcision (“on the third day”; Gen. 34:25).
In verse 9 the Lord again addresses Joshua, now with the assurance that the “reproach of Egypt” has been “rolled away” (a form of the Hb. verb galal). This is linguistically related to the place name Gilgal, already introduced in Joshua 4:19. That much is obvious, but what is intended by the “reproach of Egypt” is not. One suggestion has already been mentioned in the comment on 5:2–3. The two most common interpretations understand the “reproach” (herpah) to be shame either from the slavery Israel endured in Egypt or, more immediately in this context, from the state of being uncircumcised in the wilderness (cf. Gen. 34:14). But the Hebrew term can also have the nuance of “scorn,” that is, insulting language. If this nuance comes to the fore (cf. Lam. 3:61; Jer. 42:18 [in a context with Egypt]), then perhaps the reviling of Israel’s God and the nation itself, an integral element of the struggle for power during the plagues, is in mind. Now, as the people are rightly related to their covenant God, those insults have been silenced.
5:10 Among the further exodus references relating to the final paragraph of this transitional passage, two in particular inform its interpretation. Now that Israel is ritually prepared to celebrate it, Passover observance immediately begins. This sequence is a matter not only of timing, although that plays its part (cf. Ex. 12:8; Num. 9:3), but also of obedience. On the brink of departing from Egypt (Ex. 13:5–6, noting too its use of the “milk and honey” phrase appearing in Josh. 5:6), Moses charges the people to keep the festival upon entering the land promised to “your fathers” (Ex. 13:5). The simple statement here of its observance is a further sign of the obedience this generation maintains as it enters the land.
5:11–12 The second exodus reference illuminating this paragraph is one of the OT’s deliberate intertextual connections. As Israel embarks on its journey from Egypt to the mountain of God after crossing the Red Sea, their immediate needs of water and bread are met by miraculous divine provision, each in response to the people’s murmuring (Ex. 15:22–16:36). This in itself is a demonstration of God’s merciful regard for his people (not dealing with them as they deserve), as well as his gracious provision (dealing with them as they do not deserve). The account of the arrival of “bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4) concludes by noting, “The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Ex. 16:35), twice repeating “ate.” Now camped on the “plains of Jericho” (Josh. 5:10), they are at the border of the land. Three times in the space of verses 11–12 the narrator stresses that “they ate” the fruit of the land of Canaan. In both cases we see gracious provision, but of two different kinds: in the wilderness manna had a miraculous origin (cf. John 6:30–34), and now in Canaan Israel eats the land’s produce, for which they have not worked (cf. Deut. 6:11; Josh. 24:13). And with the cessation of the manna their new life in the Land of Promise has truly begun.