Joshua 5:1-8
Jos 5:1
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.
Now the word had begun to spread that the Israelites were
now in the land and the Amorites which were on the west side of Jordan and the
kings of the Canaanites which were by the sea which included the Philistines had
become majorly discouraged because they knew that their day of reckoning had
come. The Israelites were a large
group of people and now that they were on the western side of Jordan, the pagan
kings knew their time was very limited.
The word “melted” carries with it the meaning of “liquefy, faint,
discourage.” They had lost their
sharp edge as they knew that a large contingency of people were heading their
way led by the same God who parted the Red Sea and the Jordan River.
They knew they were in for the fight of their life.
Losing their spirit meant they lost their courage and knew that fighting
the Israelites was futile. In
Exodus 23:27, God gave them an encouraging promise.
I will send my fear before thee,
and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all
thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. (Exodus 23:27)
Jos 5:2
At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp
knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Now the LORD had ordered Joshua to make sharp knives.
Ancient knives were made out of flint, bone, copper, iron or steel and
were various shapes and sizes.
Normally circumcision was only done once but here it is being done a second time
to reconfirm the covenant between God and Abraham.
This was being done in the wilderness generation. This was also done to
make sure that all the men were circumcised who were now coming into the land.
Before the Passover in Egypt, any stranger who kept the Passover was to
be circumcised as a sign of the covenant.
And when a stranger shall sojourn
with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be
circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that
is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. (Exodus
12:48)
Jos 5:3
And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the
children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
This was done in Gilgal which name means “heap, roll,
revolution.” In this case it was
not necessary for a priest or Levite to do the actual circumcision but anyone
could do it. What they probably did
with the foreskins was to place them in a mound and then cover them up which
made a hill and rightly called it “hill of the foreskins.”
This was the reaffirming of the Abrahamic covenant so all that entered
the land would be in right covenant with God.
Jos 5:4
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.
The men of war who came out of Egypt were all twenty
years old and up. Their
disobedience to the LORD during that time had caused them to die throughout the
wilderness wanderings. Joshua and
Caleb were two who were obedient to the LORD and survived the wilderness trek.
They initially wanted to go into Canaan but the ten spies came back and
peddled fear so Israel wandered forty years because of their fear of man.
Jos 5:5
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.
During the wilderness wandering the men had not been
circumcised which was a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and for
them to go into the land as a fully covenant people, they needed to be
circumcised as a sign of the covenant.
Physical circumcision had looked forward to the circumcision of the heart
which would take place when a person became saved.
And the LORD thy God will
circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. (Deuteronomy
30:6)
Jos 5:6
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 shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto
their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
All the men of war which came out of Egypt which would
have been those who were twenty years of age and above had died throughout the
40 years of wandering. The only two
were Joshua and Caleb who came into the Promised Land.
Even Moses had a bout of disobedience and was not allowed to come into
the land. Back in Numbers God had
already stated that those who were disobedient would not come into the land.
Surely they shall not see the land
which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see
it: (Numbers 14:23) The milk
and honey was an indication that Canaan was a land which was very good for
agriculture. It would have enough
grass for the cattle to feed on and give milk and the bees would pollenate the
plants thus creating great harvests of fruits and vegetables.
And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from
thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a
staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. (Numbers
13:23)
And they told him, and said, We came unto the land
whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this
is the fruit of it. (Numbers 13:27)
Even after seeing the fruit, they rebelled and disobeyed
God and feared to go in.
Jos 5:7
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.
The children of those who died in the wilderness were
about ready to come into the land but they were not circumcised which meant they
were not in covenant with the LORD because many of them were not circumcised in
the wilderness because of the neglect of the parents to obey the terms of the
covenant.
Jos 5:8
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.