Joshua 5:4

4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people that had come out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, had died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

Joshua 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:4

And this [is] the cause why Joshua did circumcise
Or the reason of the command given him to circumcise the children of Israel at this time, namely, what follows:

all the people that came out of Egypt [that were] males, [even] all
the men of war;
meaning such that were twenty years old, and upwards:

died in the wilderness, by the way, after they came out of Egypt;
not directly, but in a course of forty years, as they journeyed through the wilderness; this is to be understood with an exception of Joshua, Caleb, Eleazar but then there was a large number who were under twenty years of age, that came out of Egypt, and were now living.

Joshua 5:4 In-Context

2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.

3 And Joshua made himself sharp knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people that had come out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, had died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

5 Now all the people that had come out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt, were not circumcised.

6 For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the people that were men of war, who had come out of Egypt, were consumed because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD; therefore, the LORD swore unto them that he would not let them see the land which the LORD had sworn unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that flows with milk and honey.