Joshua 5:8

8 After all the Israelites had been circumcised, they stayed in camp until 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

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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 The Israelites had moved about in the desert for forty years. During that time all the fighting men who had left Egypt had died because they had not obeyed the Lord. So the Lord swore they would not see the land he had promised their ancestors to give them, a fertile land.

7 Their sons took their places. But none of the sons born on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised, so Joshua circumcised them.

8 After all the Israelites had been circumcised, they stayed in camp until they were healed.

9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "As slaves in Egypt you were ashamed, but today I have removed that shame." So Joshua named that place Gilgal, which it is still named today.

10 The people of Israel were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho. It was there, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, they celebrated the Passover Feast.