Joshua 5:3

3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. ^[a]

Joshua 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:3

And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children
of Israel
Not that Joshua circumcised them himself, any more than he made the knives himself, but he ordered both to be done, and took care that they were done. And as any that had skill might make the knives, so might any circumcise; circumcision was not restrained to any order of men, not to the priests and Levites, but any might perform it; so that though the number to be circumcised was great, it might soon be finished: and this was done

at the hill of the foreskins;
as the place was afterward called from hence; these being heaped up one upon another, made a hill of them, as the Jews say ^F25, being covered with dust. This circumcision performed by Joshua, or his orders, was typical of the spiritual circumcision without hands, which those that believe in Jesus, the antitype of Joshua, partake of.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 29.) Jarchi in loc.

Joshua 5:3 In-Context

1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again. ”

3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

4 Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt.

5 Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gibeath-haaraloth means the hill of the foreskins.