Joshua 5:7-15

7 Joshua circumcised their children, the ones the LORD had set in their place. They were uncircumcised because they hadn't been circumcised on the way.
8 After the whole nation had undergone circumcision, they remained in the camp until they got well again.
9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." So the place was called Gilgal, as it is today.

Passover

10 The Israelites camped in Gilgal. They celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho.
11 On the very next day after Passover, they ate food produced in the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.
12 The manna stopped on that next day, when they ate food produced in the land. There was no longer any manna for the Israelites. So that year they ate the crops of the land of Canaan.

Commander of the LORD’s heavenly force

13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up. He caught sight of a man standing in front of him with his sword drawn. Joshua went up and said to him, "Are you on our side or that of our enemies?"
14 He said, "Neither! I'm the commander of the LORD's heavenly force. Now I have arrived!" Then Joshua fell flat on his face and worshipped. Joshua said to him, "What is my master saying to his servant?"
15 The commander of the LORD's heavenly force said to Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet because the place where you are standing is holy." So Joshua did this.

Joshua 5:7-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 5

The Canaanites being dispirited on the passage of the children of Israel through Jordan, Jos 5:1; Joshua is ordered to circumcise such of the people of Israel that were uncircumcised, Jos 5:2-9; in order to their eating of the passover, which was now to be kept, Jos 5:10; and they being now provided with corn sufficient, the manna ceased, Jos 5:11,12; and there appeared to Joshua a divine Person, in an human form, to encourage and direct him what to do in the conquest of the land, and particularly Jericho, Jos 5:13-15.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Gilgal sounds like the Heb verb galal, 'to roll away.'
  • [b]. March–April, Nisan
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