Jos 4-6 | TNotes

4:2 ^a The twelve men represented Jacob’s twelve sons. The tribe of Levi was not counted because the Levites settled in designated cities among the other tribes (Gen 49:5-7 ^b; Num 1:49-52 ^c; 18:20 ^d). However, the number of tribes remained at twelve because Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) were accounted as separate tribes (Gen 48:5 ^e).
4:5 ^f Carrying the stone on a shoulder implies that the men each chose stones weighing some 100 pounds.
4:6 ^g Joshua twice (4:21 ^h) told the Israelites to prepare to answer future generations. The stone memorial would serve as a teaching aid.
4:9 ⁱ A second memorial of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan was submerged as soon as the river resumed its flow. The monument’s top would be visible in the dry summer seasons.

• Their existence to this day indicates that the memorials stood for generations, until the final editing of the book (see Joshua Book Introduction, “Author and Date”).
4:14 ^j Now that God had brought the Israelites safely across the Jordan River, Israel recognized God’s presence with Joshua as a great leader and revered him as much as they had revered Moses. Their confidence in Joshua would be crucial in the years ahead.
4:18 ^k After Israel crossed the river, the Jordan overflowed its banks as before. These events could not occur without God’s intervention.
Summary for Josh 4:19-20: 4:19-20 ^l The tenth day of the first month occurred a few days before Passover.

• Gilgal became an important worship center for early Israel. Although its location is uncertain, it was somewhere just east or northeast of Jericho. Its name (which means “wheel of a cart,” cp. Isa 28:28 ^m) implies that Joshua set the twelve stones in a circle (cp. study note on Josh 5:9).
4:24 ⁿ In addition to future generations of Israelites, all the nations of the earth were to understand God’s power. At least some individuals in every group respond to the God who cares for them (Rev 7:9-10 ^o).

‏ Joshua 5

5:1 ^p After news of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan River spread, all of southern Canaan was in a state of alert awaiting Israel’s expected invasion.

• With Israel’s impossible crossing of the Jordan, the Canaanites lost heart and were paralyzed with fear. They knew they faced the people of a God more powerful than any they worshiped.
5:2 ^q Before the Israelites turned their attention to Jericho, God directed Joshua to perform the covenant renewal ceremony of circumcising all the males born in the forty years since the exodus from Egypt. Because the land was part of the covenant promise, Israel’s men needed to demonstrate their personal participation in the covenant through circumcision in order to enter into the land.

• Flint is found in a natural state, so flint knives were mandated for circumcision as a symbol of purity or holiness.
5:3 ^r The name Gibeath-haaraloth (“hill of foreskins”) suggests that the circumcision ritual took place on a hill outside Israel’s camp at Gilgal.
Summary for Josh 5:4-7: 5:4-7 ^s This unexpected detour in the narrative provides an important reminder of Israel’s earlier refusal to believe that God would bring them safely into the land of Canaan (Num 14 ^t). This summary of God’s judgment upon their fathers reminded the present generation that trusting in God was still necessary if they were to occupy the land their ancestors had forfeited. Further, it signaled the completion of God’s judgment upon the earlier generation.
5:8 ^u until they were healed: Recovery from circumcision, a relatively minor surgery, usually takes about three days if no complications occur.
5:9 ^v Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew word galal (“to roll”)—this place was where God rolled away the reproach of Egypt.
5:10 ^w The Passover lamb was slain on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. Just as the Passover in Egypt marked the exodus from slavery, the celebration of this Passover in Canaan marked the attainment of the goal God had been leading the Israelites toward. This Passover also anticipated God’s promised rest for his people in their new land.

• This was apparently the first Passover Israel had celebrated since they had been encamped at Sinai (Num 9:1-5 ^x). For the younger Israelites, it was their first Passover ever; for the older ones, their first since childhood. Celebrating the Passover after such a long lapse, particularly on the eve of the campaign to take the Promised Land, heightened both the joy and the solemnity of the occasion.
Summary for Josh 5:11-12: 5:11-12 ^y God’s daily provision of manna (Exod 16:31 ^z; Num 11:9 ^aa) could cease because the produce from the land was now available. 5:11 ^ab Israel reinstituted the Festival of Unleavened Bread, observed for seven days following Passover (Lev 23:6 ^ac). The people ate unleavened bread and roasted grain, a favorite food of the harvest season (see Ruth 2:14 ^ad).
5:12 ^ae Israel harvested the crops that the people of Jericho did not have time to harvest before Israel crossed the Jordan.
Summary for Josh 5:13-15: 5:13-15 ^af The commander of the Lord’s army gave Joshua instructions for conducting the siege of Jericho (6:2-5 ^ag). Like God’s earlier message to Joshua (1:1-9 ^ah), this encounter was to encourage Joshua on the eve of action against the enemy. 5:13 ^ai Joshua was scouting the land and the city’s defenses near the town of Jericho to follow up on the report of the two spies (2:23-24 ^aj). Joshua demonstrated personal courage when he approached the unknown figure whose sword was already drawn.
5:14 ^ak Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence when he understood who stood before him. Joshua’s action demonstrated that he was available for God’s service, wholeheartedly and without reservation.

• Scholars disagree whether the commander was an appearance of God, the pre-incarnate Christ, or an angel. His reference to himself as commander of the Lord’s army might imply that he was an angel. However, he did not prevent Joshua from worshiping him, as angels usually did (e.g., Rev 22:8-9 ^al; cp. Acts 10:25-26 ^am).
5:15 ^an Take off your sandals, for the place ... is holy: This was what God told Moses at the burning bush (Exod 3:5 ^ao). Joshua certainly recognized the similarity. This encounter would have encouraged Joshua of God’s blessing on Israel’s first action against Canaan.

‏ Joshua 6

6:1 ^ap Jericho guarded two important entrances into the heart of the hill country. If the Israelites did not conquer the city first, they would leave a well-armed enemy at their back, standing between the Israelite forces and their families encamped at Gilgal. They had to conquer Jericho first.
6:2 ^aq God’s reassuring words, “I have given you Jericho,” must have lifted Joshua’s spirits. All Joshua had to do was obey God, and he had a lifetime of practice at that.
6:4 ^ar Seven is a biblical number of perfection.

• The seven priests were to precede the Ark, the emblem of God’s presence, at the head of Israel’s forces. This arrangement symbolized that God himself fought against the town. Israel had only to march and observe, then shout and observe, and finally mop up after God delivered the town into their hands.

• The ram’s horn (Hebrew shofar) could sound several pitches to signal either battle or worship. In battle, the shofar alerted troops or townsfolk to an enemy’s approach or sounded the call to advance or retreat.
Summary for Josh 6:6-9: 6:6-9 ^as The Ark, the priests blowing the horns, and the military honor guard all symbolized God’s presence and his leadership of the siege.
Summary for Josh 6:10-11: 6:10-11 ^at Warriors would often shout in battle to lift their morale and intimidate the enemy.

• until I tell you: After thirteen circuits of Jericho by Israel’s army with only the sound of trumpets, the psychological shock when Jericho’s defenders heard shouting would be devastating.
6:15 ^au Marching around Jericho seven times on the seventh day again symbolized that this was God’s battle.
6:16 ^av Joshua’s command, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!” was not a device to cause Jericho’s walls to fall. Rather, Joshua exhorted the Israelites to celebrate God’s victory.
6:17 ^aw completely destroyed: Joshua reminded his troops that the town and everything in it belonged to God as the firstfruits of their inheritance in the land of Canaan. See Lev 27:28-29 ^ax; 1 Sam 15:3 ^ay.

• Rahab: See Josh 2:12-21 ^az.
6:20 ^ba Following Joshua’s last-minute commands, a final blast of the rams’ horns signaled the climax.
Summary for Josh 6:22-23: 6:22-23 ^bb The two spies fulfilled Joshua’s command and their oath to Rahab. Through the actions of God’s people, a pagan household saw that God is trustworthy.

• the prostitute’s house: See study note on 2:1.

• Moving Rahab and her family near the camp of Israel provided security.
Summary for Josh 6:24-27: 6:24-27 ^bc Jericho’s citizens had already been executed (6:21 ^bd). Now Joshua destroyed the town and its contents. The firstfruits of the spoils of war, as with all else, belonged to God. 6:24 ^be The fire melted and purified the silver, gold, bronze, and iron. These metals had probably been used for the figures of pagan gods. As these images melted, the metals were purified and made fit for dedication to God.
6:25 ^bf The statement that Rahab lives among the Israelites to this day affirms the breadth and depth of God’s grace. Rahab was not only accepted into Israel; she ultimately was an ancestor of the Messiah (see Matt 1:5 ^bg).
6:26 ^bh Joshua placed a curse upon the site because Jericho was the first Canaanite town to resist God’s purposes in bringing Israel into the land. Jericho was also the first town to experience God’s judgment upon Canaan’s great wickedness. As the firstfruits of Israel’s conquest of Canaan, it belonged to God (Exod 13:2 ^bi; 23:19 ^bj). God executed Joshua’s curse on the first man to defy it (1 Kgs 16:34 ^bk; cp. Josh 7 ^bl).
6:27 ^bm As the first chapter in Israel’s conquest of Canaan closed, both the Israelites and the Canaanites could see that the Lord was with Joshua, as he had promised (1:5 ^bn, 9 ^bo; cp. 4:14 ^bp). Crossing the Jordan and taking Jericho established Israel’s presence in the land, causing the people of Canaan to fear Israel and Israel’s God.