From Manna to Maturity Text: Joshua 5:10-12
Introduction: The Great Hand-Off
We come now to a pivotal moment in the history of redemption. It is a moment of transition, a great spiritual hand-off. For forty years, the people of Israel had been God's welfare recipients in the wilderness. They were entirely dependent on a daily, supernatural dole. Every morning, God rained down angel food from heaven, and every evening He provided quail. Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their sandals. They were, in a very real sense, living in a state of protracted childhood, a necessary but temporary condition. But the time for that has now come to an end.
They have crossed the Jordan, a miracle that bookends the miracle of the Red Sea crossing. They have renewed the covenant sign of circumcision, rolling away the reproach of Egypt. They are now camped at Gilgal, on the plains of Jericho, on the very doorstep of the Promised Land. And here, on enemy soil, before a single battle has been fought, God commands them to do something audacious. He commands them to have a feast. He commands them to celebrate the Passover.
This passage marks the end of one economy of grace and the beginning of another. It is the transition from supernatural provision to what we might call natural provision, which is, of course, simply a different form of supernatural provision. It is the move from manna from heaven to grain from the ground. This is not a move from dependence to independence. It is a move from the dependence of a toddler to the dependence of a mature son who has been given his inheritance and told to work it. God is not withdrawing His care; He is changing the form of it. And in this transition, we find a profound lesson for the Christian life, for our families, and for the mission of the Church in the world.
The Text
Then the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal and celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.
And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the yield of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain.
Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.
(Joshua 5:10-12 LSB)
Covenant Renewal on Enemy Soil (v. 10)
We begin with the act of worship that precedes the warfare.
"Then the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal and celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho." (Joshua 5:10)
Notice the priorities here. Before they draw their swords, they gather at the table. Before they march on Jericho, they feast with their God. This is not a military strategy that would make any sense to the Pentagon. The inhabitants of Jericho are watching, terrified. Israel has just crossed a flooded river on dry ground. And what is their first move? They disarm, in a sense, by circumcising all their fighting men, rendering them vulnerable for days. And their second move? They throw a dinner party. This is holy defiance. This is an act of profound faith.
The Passover was the memorial of their redemption from Egypt. It was a remembrance of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts that shielded them from the angel of death. To celebrate it here, in Canaan, was to stake a claim. It was to say, "The God who delivered us from Pharaoh is the same God who is giving us this land." This was the first Passover celebrated in the land of promise. The Passover in Egypt was a meal eaten in haste, with sandals on their feet and staff in hand, ready to flee. This Passover is a meal of arrival. It is a declaration that the promise made to Abraham hundreds of years before was now being fulfilled.
This teaches us a fundamental principle of spiritual warfare. Our strength for the battle does not come from our own ingenuity or might. It comes from our fellowship with God. It comes from remembering our redemption. We fight not for victory, but from victory. The blood of the Lamb has already secured our deliverance. So when we come to the Lord's Table, which is our Passover, we are not just having a sentimental memorial. We are renewing our covenant oath. We are feasting with our King on enemy soil, reminding ourselves and the spiritual forces of darkness that this world belongs to the God who bought it with the blood of His Son.
The First Taste of the Inheritance (v. 11)
The day after the feast, the diet changes dramatically.
"And on the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the yield of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain." (Joshua 5:11 LSB)
The timing is precise. "On that very day." The day after celebrating their deliverance, they begin to enjoy the fruits of that deliverance. They eat the produce of the land. For forty years, they had eaten food that came directly from the sky. Now, they are eating food that comes from the soil. They are eating the grain that the Canaanites had planted. This is the first taste of their inheritance. God had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and here is the down payment.
They make unleavened cakes, which connects this meal directly to the Passover feast. But they are using Canaanite grain. This is a picture of the gospel taking over a culture. The ordinary stuff of life, the grain of the land, is now being consecrated and used for the worship and sustenance of God's people. God's intention is not to keep His people in a perpetual state of miraculous dependency, but to teach them to take the raw materials of the world He has given them and cultivate it for His glory.
This is a postmillennial text. The goal of history is not for the saints to be perpetually fed manna in a desert while the pagans run the world and own all the fields. The goal is for the saints to inherit the earth. "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Here is the Old Testament picture of that inheritance beginning. They are eating the enemy's lunch, and they are doing it as an act of worship, the day after Passover.
The End of the Angel Food (v. 12)
The consequence of this new provision is the cessation of the old.
"Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year." (Joshua 5:12 LSB)
God's providence is not wasteful. The manna was a wonderful gift, a necessary grace for a particular season. But that season was over. As soon as the ordinary means of provision were available, the extraordinary means were withdrawn. The scaffolding comes down once the building is able to stand.
This is a crucial lesson in Christian maturity. God deals with us as sons, and sons are meant to grow up. There are seasons in the Christian life, particularly at the beginning, that are filled with remarkable interventions, what we might call "manna moments." But God's goal is to train us to live by faith in the ordinary means of grace. He wants us to learn to plow, to plant, to harvest, and to bake bread. He wants us to read our Bibles, to pray, to be faithful in corporate worship, to work hard in our callings, and to see His faithful provision in the paycheck, not just in the sky.
To long for the days of manna when God has given you a field of grain is a sign of immaturity. It is to prefer the nursery to the inheritance. The Israelites were now responsible. They had to gather the grain, grind it, and prepare it. They had to work. The Christian life is not passive. We are called to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). God works in us, yes, but He works in us so that we might will and do of His good pleasure. The cessation of manna was not a punishment; it was a promotion. It was God saying, "You are no longer children in the wilderness. You are sons in my land. Now, get to work."
From Canaan to Christ
As with all things in the book of Joshua, this points us to the true Joshua, the Lord Jesus. This entire episode is a beautiful type of the Christian's journey of faith.
We begin our journey in Egypt, slaves to sin. We are delivered by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus our Passover. We then enter a wilderness period. In this life, we are pilgrims, and God sustains us with manna from heaven. Jesus identified Himself as that manna. "I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6:48, 51). In the wilderness of this life, we are utterly dependent on this direct, supernatural provision. We live on Christ.
But the goal is not the wilderness. The goal is the Promised Land, the inheritance. And when we cross our Jordan through death, or when Christ returns, the nature of our provision will change. The manna will cease. Why? Because we will no longer need it. We will no longer be living on the daily bread from heaven because we will be feasting in the very presence of the one who is the Bread. We will no longer see through a glass darkly, sustained by faith in a distant promise. We will see face to face. We will eat the full produce of the heavenly country.
The cessation of manna was a good thing for Israel. It was a sign of their arrival and their maturity. And the cessation of our current mode of spiritual life, our dependence on Bible reading, on sermons, on the Lord's Supper, will also be a glorious thing. Those are the means of grace for the wilderness. But when we enter the land, when we see Him, the means will give way to the reality. We will no longer need the sign when we have the thing signified.
Therefore, let us be faithful with the manna God gives us today. Let us depend on Christ daily. But let us not become so comfortable in the wilderness that we forget where we are going. God is training us for something. He is maturing us. He is weaning us from childish dependence on the spectacular so that we might learn the robust, mature faith of a son who knows how to work the inheritance. He is preparing us to be kings and priests who will reign with Him, feasting on the produce of a new heaven and a new earth forever.