The Kings of Canaan Are Afraid
Study note
News of the Jordan River miracle spread quickly. All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings along the coast were terrified. Their courage completely melted away. This was exactly what Rahab had described to the spies in chapter 2. God was fighting for Israel before a single battle was fought.
1 The Amorite kings west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings along the coast heard the news. The Lord had dried up the Jordan for the Israelites until they all crossed over. When they heard this, their courage melted away. They could not face the Israelites anymore. And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
Circumcision at Gilgal
Study note
God told Joshua to circumcise all the Israelite men. Circumcision was the physical sign of God's covenant with Abraham, performed on every male. The generation that left Egypt had been circumcised, but they had all died in the wilderness during the forty years of wandering because of their disobedience. Their children, the new generation, had never been circumcised. By performing this ceremony, the new generation renewed their covenant with God. The name Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew word for 'rolled away,' and God said he had rolled away the disgrace of their time in Egypt.
2 At that point the Lord told Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men." At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
3 So Joshua crafted flint knives and circumcised the men at a spot they named Gibeath-haaraloth. And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
4 Here is why this was needed. Every fighting man who left Egypt had died. They died during the journey through the desert. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
5 All the men who left Egypt had been circumcised. But none of the boys born during the forty years of wandering had been circumcised. Now all the people that came out were circumcised: 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.
6 The Israelites wandered the desert for forty years. Every soldier from the age group that left Egypt died. They died because they refused to obey the Lord. The Lord had sworn they would never see the promised land. He had promised their fathers a land flowing with milk and honey. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
7 Their sons, who grew up and replaced them, were the ones Joshua now circumcised. They had never been circumcised during the journey. And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
8 After all the men were circumcised, they rested in camp until their wounds healed. And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.
9 The Lord told Joshua, "Today I have lifted off the disgrace of Egypt from you." That is how the place got the name Gilgal, and it is still called that. And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.
The First Passover in Canaan
Study note
The Israelites celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, just four days after crossing the Jordan. This was the same festival that marked their freedom from slavery in Egypt. The day after Passover, they ate food from the land of Canaan for the first time: bread made without yeast and roasted grain. The very next day, the manna stopped. Manna was the miraculous bread-like food God had provided every morning in the wilderness for forty years. Now that they were in the Promised Land, they would eat from its produce.
10 While camped at Gilgal on the plains near Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. They did this on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
11 The very next day, they ate food that had grown in the land -- flatbread and roasted grain. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12 The manna stopped appearing the day after they ate food from the land. The Israelites never received manna again. From then on, they ate what grew in the land of Canaan. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
The Commander of the Lord's Army
Study note
While Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword. Joshua boldly asked whether the man was friend or enemy. The man identified himself as the commander of the Lord's army. Joshua fell face down in worship and asked for instructions. The commander told Joshua to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, the same command God gave Moses at the burning bush. Many scholars believe this was an appearance of God himself or a powerful angel. This encounter showed Joshua that the coming battle for Jericho was not his to fight alone; God's heavenly army was leading the way.
13 While Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and noticed a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua walked right up to him and asked, "Whose side are you on -- ours or the enemy's?" And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14 The man answered, "Neither. I have come as the commander of the Lord's army." Joshua dropped to the ground, bowed his face to the earth, and asked, "What message does my lord have for his servant?" And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
15 The commander of the Lord's army told Joshua, "Remove your sandals -- you are standing on holy ground." Joshua did as he was told. And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.