Commentary - Joshua 5:1-9

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we find Israel poised on the very edge of the Promised Land. They have just crossed the Jordan at flood stage, a miracle that consciously echoed the Red Sea crossing a generation earlier. But before the conquest begins, before the first trumpet sounds at Jericho, God commands a halt. The business at hand is not military strategy but covenant renewal. An entire generation of fighting men had grown up in the wilderness uncircumcised, meaning they were not formally marked as belonging to Yahweh. Before God fights for them, they must be set apart for Him. This chapter is about consecration before conquest. It teaches us that God's battles are only fought by God's people, and we must be properly identified as His before we presume to take the field under His banner. The fear of the enemy is a direct result of God's mighty acts, but the strength of Israel is a direct result of their covenant identity. This is a pause for worship, a time to deal with the reproach of their past, before they can seize the future God has promised them.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 1 Now it happened when 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 how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed, that their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel.

The first thing to note is the effect of God's work on the enemies of God's people. The kings of the land, the Amorites in the hill country and the Canaanites on the coast, hear the news. And what news is it? It is not news about the size of Israel's army, or the quality of their weaponry. It is news about what Yahweh had done. The report was that Yahweh had intervened in the natural world, drying up a river at flood stage. This is a gospel report, a declaration of God's mighty acts. And the result is terror. Their hearts melted. This is the same language Rahab used back in chapter 2. The enemies of God are not defeated by military might in the first instance, but by the proclamation of God's power. When God's people are walking in obedience, the fear of God goes before them and does half the fighting. There was "no spirit in them any longer." This is a spiritual collapse that precedes the military one. They were defeated men before the first sword was ever drawn. This is how the gospel advances; the proud are terrified by the news of a crucified and risen King who commands the very elements.

v. 2 At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.”

Just when the enemy is paralyzed with fear, just when the strategic advantage seems to be at its absolute peak, God calls a timeout. A human general would press the advantage. But Joshua is not a human general in that sense; he is the servant of Yahweh. The command is not to attack, but to circumcise. Notice the timing, "At that time." At the moment of maximum tactical opportunity, God's priority is covenantal identity. He is more concerned with the holiness of His people than with the immediate destruction of their enemies. The knives were to be of flint, which points back to an earlier, more primitive time. This is a deliberate archaism, connecting them back to the original sign given to Abraham. This is not an innovation; it is a restoration. And the phrase "circumcise again... the second time" does not mean individuals were circumcised twice. It means the nation as a corporate body was entering into the sign again. The first generation that came out of Egypt was circumcised. Now, the new generation, on the verge of entering the land, was to be marked in the same way. It was a national renewal of the covenant sign.

v. 3 So Joshua made himself flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

Joshua's obedience is immediate and unquestioning. He does not argue about the military folly of disabling all his fighting men in the face of the enemy. He simply obeys. This is the nature of true faith. Faith obeys God, especially when it makes no sense to the world's wisdom. He made the knives and performed the circumcisions. The place was named for the event: Gibeath-haaraloth, which means "the hill of the foreskins." The obedience of God's people leaves a mark on the landscape. Their history with God is written into the geography. This act of bloody obedience, this pile of foreskins, becomes a memorial to their re-consecration as the people of God, right in the heart of enemy territory.

v. 4-5 Now this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way when they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

Here the narrator explains the necessity of the command. There was a generational gap in covenant faithfulness. The generation that came out of Egypt bore the sign of the covenant in their flesh. They were circumcised. But in their unbelief and rebellion, they were disqualified from entering the land. They were the men of war who died in the wilderness. Their sons, the new generation, were born during this period of judgment and wandering. And during that time, the sign of the covenant was neglected. This was a sign of their state of probation, their time of being "under the ban" as it were. They were God's people, yes, but they were in a state of covenant discipline. The failure to circumcise was a visible manifestation of the breach that had occurred at Kadesh-Barnea. Now that the time of judgment is over, the sign must be restored before the promises can be inherited.

v. 6 For the sons of Israel had walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, were completely destroyed because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, to whom Yahweh had sworn that He would not let them see the land which Yahweh had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This verse underscores the reason for the forty years of wandering. It was a judicial sentence. The men of war, the generation of the exodus, were "completely destroyed." Why? "Because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh." Disobedience is deadly. Unbelief has consequences. God had made two oaths. He swore to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give them the land. That is the foundational promise. But He also swore an oath in His wrath against the unbelieving generation, that they would not enter it. God's promises to His people are certain, but the enjoyment of those promises by any particular generation is conditioned on their faithful obedience. The land is described in classic terms as "a land flowing with milk and honey," a picture of abundance and blessing. That blessing was forfeited by one generation through disobedience and is now available to the next generation through obedience.

v. 7 And their sons whom He raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them along the way.

God is faithful to His covenant promises, even when His people are not. He "raised up" their sons in their place. This is the principle of covenant succession. The unbelief of the fathers did not nullify the promise of God. God raised up a new generation to inherit what the previous one had forfeited. And it is this new generation that Joshua circumcises. The reason is reiterated: they were physically present with the people of God, but they lacked the formal sign of covenant membership. This is a crucial point. One can be among the people of God without being formally identified with them. But before you can fight God's battles and inherit God's promises, that formal identification is required. For them, it was circumcision. For us, it is baptism. The principle is the same: God requires the outward sign to be applied as an act of faith and obedience before He grants the promised inheritance.

v. 8 Now it happened that when they had completed circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

Here we see the practical result of their obedience. The entire army of Israel is now incapacitated, wounded, and healing. They are completely vulnerable. From a military perspective, this is insanity. They are sitting ducks. But from a covenantal perspective, this is the safest place they could possibly be. Their trust is not in their own strength or military readiness, but in God's command. By obeying God, they have placed themselves entirely in His hands. Their weakness becomes the occasion for God's strength to be displayed. True security is found not in our ability to defend ourselves, but in our radical obedience to God. They waited "until they were healed." There is a time for action and a time for waiting on God. Consecration must be followed by a period of recovery before the conquest can begin.

v. 9 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

This is the theological climax of the event. God Himself interprets what has just happened. The "reproach of Egypt" is rolled away. What was this reproach? It could be several things, all related. It was the shame of their slavery in Egypt. It was the taunt of the Egyptians who said God brought them into the wilderness to kill them. But most fundamentally, it was the reproach of being an uncircumcised people, like the Egyptians. During their forty years of disobedience, they had reverted, in a sense, to the status of Egypt. They were covenant-breakers, living without the covenant sign. By renewing the sign of circumcision, God was publicly and formally distinguishing them from the pagan nations once more. He was restoring their covenant identity. The shame of their past failure and their former slavery is now removed. The name of the place, Gilgal, sounds like the Hebrew word for "roll" (galal). The place itself becomes a permanent sermon. Every time an Israelite said the name "Gilgal," they were reminded of the day God rolled away their shame and made them His holy people again, ready for war.

Application

This passage is intensely practical for the church today. We too are on the verge of inheriting great promises, as the gospel goes forth to conquer the nations. But before we can see victory, we must ensure we are a consecrated people. The world is terrified by the mighty acts of our God, but we cannot press that advantage if we are living in covenant neglect.

First, we must prioritize our identity in Christ above all strategic concerns. The world tells us to be pragmatic, to seize the moment. God tells us to be holy. The church's first order of business is always its own consecration. This means dealing with our sin, and it means publicly identifying with Christ and His people through the means He has appointed, chief among them being baptism and the Lord's Supper. An unbaptized army is in no condition to fight the Lord's battles.

Second, obedience often looks like foolishness to the world. Disabling your army on the enemy's doorstep is a terrible military strategy, but it is a perfect strategy of faith. We are called to trust God's commands over our own understanding. When we obey, even when it makes us vulnerable, we are placing ourselves in His care, which is the only true place of safety.

Finally, God is in the business of rolling away our reproach. The Christian life is a journey out of the slavery of Egypt, which is a type of the world and its sin. Through our union with Christ, the shame of our past is removed. At Gilgal, the Israelites were physically cut, and the reproach was rolled away. In our baptism, we are united to Christ's death, buried with Him, and the body of sin is cut away. Our Gilgal is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is there that our shame was dealt with once and for all. Therefore, let us live as a people who have been set apart, a people whose reproach has been removed, so that we might be fit instruments for the conquest of the world for Christ our King.