Joshua 5:8

8 And after that they all were circumcised, they dwelled in the same place of their tents, till 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 till they (all) were wasted, that heard not the voice of the Lord, and to which he swore before, that he should (not) show to them the land flowing with milk and honey. (Yea, for forty years, they went on the way of the very broad wilderness, until all of them had died who had not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and to whom he had sworn before, that he would not let them see the land flowing with milk and honey.)
7 The sons of them came afterward into the place of [the] fathers, and they were circumcised of Joshua; which, as they were born, were in prepuce, neither any man had circumcised them in the way. (Their sons came afterward into the place of their fathers, and they were the ones whom Joshua circumcised; for they all had foreskins, as when they were born, for no one had circumcised them on the way.)
8 And after that they all were circumcised, they dwelled in the same place of their tents, till they were healed.
9 And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have taken away from you the shame of Egypt. And (so) the name of the place was called Gilgal , unto this present day.
10 And the sons of Israel dwelled in Gilgal, and made pask in the fourteenth day of the month at eventide, in the field places of Jericho; (And the Israelites stayed at Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, on the plains of Jericho;)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.