Joshua 5:8

8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

Joshua 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:8

And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the
people
Which seems as if it was done in one day, even on the same day they passed over Jordan, and came to Gilgal; though Bishop Usher


FOOTNOTES:

F1 thinks it was the day following; and so the Jews F2 say it was on the eleventh of Nisan:

that they abode in their places in the camp till they were whole:
till the wound made by circumcision was healed; now as it was on the tenth day they passed over Jordan, and came to Gilgal, where they were circumcised, there were three entire days between that and the fourteenth, when they kept the passover; during which time they kept within their tents in the camp, being unfit to move from thence, for on the third day of circumcision they were usually sore, ( Genesis 34:25 ) ; but being well on the fourth, were able to attend the passover. As the providence of God greatly appeared in favour of Israel, by causing a dread to fall on their enemies, that they durst not sally out of the city and attack them; so it showed great faith in Joshua, and the Israelites, to administer circumcision at this time, just as they were landed in an enemy's country; and when the waters of Jordan were returned, and there was no going back, and if they could, as they were not in a condition to fight, so not to flee.


F1 Annales Vet. Test. p. 38.
F2 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 31.

Joshua 5:8 In-Context

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 Gilgal 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.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.