Joshua 5 Study Notes

5:10 Israel was explicitly commanded to celebrate the Passover when the people arrived in the promised land (Ex 13:5). Israel thereby inherited the covenantal promises and blessings that the earlier generation had received when it left Egypt. This was the Israelites’ fortieth year out of Egypt but only their third Passover celebration (see Ex 12:1-28; Nm 9:1-14).

5:11 The days of unleavened bread follow the Passover (Ex 12:17,20; 23:15; 34:18). The basic food of Canaan was barley that ripened at this time. Manna had been all that the present generation of Israel knew. Now they would begin to eat from the food of the new land. Israel enjoyed the fruits of the land where they had arrived as a token of the greater abundance they were to enjoy when the entire land was taken.

5:12 The cessation of the manna signaled a new phase in Israel’s history. The people were no longer in the wilderness but in their homeland. They began a new life in keeping with the celebration of God’s historic acts of redemption. Today this occurs with the new life in Jesus Christ whose death and resurrection bring it about.

5:13 God had promised his presence to Joshua (1:7-9), and here he began to fulfill it. Joshua encountered a man with a drawn sword. In Nm 22:23 Balaam’s donkey stopped before such a figure.

5:14-15 The man’s title commander of the Lord’s army suggests someone of importance. The relevant question was not whether he was for or against Joshua, but how Joshua regarded him. Joshua bowed to worship. The man’s command to remove his sandals evokes God’s encounter with Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:5). God appeared to Joshua before this great challenge to encourage him and to provide directions for what he should do.