Joshua 5:5

5 the which all were circumcised. But the other people that was born in desert by forty years, in the way of the full broad wilderness, was uncircumcised, (were all circumcised. But the other males, those who were born in the wilderness, were uncircumcised.)

Joshua 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 5:5

Now all the people that came out were circumcised
All that came out of Egypt, and males, were circumcised, whether under or above twenty years of age; for though it is possible all were circumcised before they came out of Egypt, which favours the opinion of Dr. Lightfoot, that they might be circumcised during the three nights' darkness of the Egyptians, when they could take no advantage of it, as Levi and Simeon did of the Shechemites; and which seems more probable than that it should be on the night they came out of Egypt, when many must have been unfit for travelling, and seems preferable to that of their being circumcised at Mount Sinai, which was a year after their coming out of Egypt:

but all the people [that were] born in the wilderness by the way, as
they came forth out of Egypt, [them] they had not circumcised;
the reasons of which neglect; (See Gill on Joshua 5:2). The phrase, "by the way", seems to point at the true reason of it, at least to countenance the reason there given, which was on account of their journey; that is, their stay at any place being uncertain and precarious; so the Jews say {z}, because of the affliction or trouble of journeying, the Israelites did not circumcise their children. This is to be understood of all males only born in the wilderness, they only being the subjects of circumcision.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 29.)

Joshua 5:5 In-Context

3 Joshua did those things which the Lord commanded, and he circumcised the sons of Israel in the hill of prepuces (and he circumcised the male Israelites at the Hill of the Foreskins).

4 And this is the cause of the second circumcision; all the people of male kind, that went out of Egypt, all the men fighters of them, were dead in (the) desert by the full long compasses of (the) way, (And this is the reason for the second circumcision; all the males, who went out of Egypt, yea, all their fighting men, who had died in the wilderness on the very long journey on the way,)

5 the which all were circumcised. But the other people that was born in desert by forty years, in the way of the full broad wilderness, was uncircumcised, (were all circumcised. But the other males, those who were born in the wilderness, were uncircumcised.)

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.)