Joshua 5:5

5 The men who left Egypt had been circumcised. However, the men born later, on the way through the desert, were not circumcised.

Joshua 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:5

Now all the people that came out were circumcised
All that came out of Egypt, and males, were circumcised, whether under or above twenty years of age; for though it is possible all were circumcised before they came out of Egypt, which favours the opinion of Dr. Lightfoot, that they might be circumcised during the three nights' darkness of the Egyptians, when they could take no advantage of it, as Levi and Simeon did of the Shechemites; and which seems more probable than that it should be on the night they came out of Egypt, when many must have been unfit for travelling, and seems preferable to that of their being circumcised at Mount Sinai, which was a year after their coming out of Egypt:

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;
the reasons of which neglect; (See Gill on Joshua 5:2). The phrase, "by the way", seems to point at the true reason of it, at least to countenance the reason there given, which was on account of their journey; that is, their stay at any place being uncertain and precarious; so the Jews say {z}, because of the affliction or trouble of journeying, the Israelites did not circumcise their children. This is to be understood of all males only born in the wilderness, they only being the subjects of circumcision.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 29.)

Joshua 5:5 In-Context

3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the men of Israel at the Hill of Circumcision.

4 This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the soldiers had died on the way through the desert after they left Egypt.

5 The men who left Egypt had been circumcised. However, the men born later, on the way through the desert, were not circumcised.

6 For 40 years the Israelites wandered through the desert until all their soldiers who left Egypt died. They died because they disobeyed the LORD. The LORD swore that he would not let them see this land flowing with milk and honey which he had sworn to give our ancestors.

7 The sons who took their place had not been circumcised on the way. So Joshua circumcised them.