Jos 5:2-10 | TNotes | STEP | 5:2 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.

a5:2►

b5:3►

c5:4-7►

dNum 14►

e5:8►

f5:9►

g5:10►

hNum 9:1-5►

‏ Joshua 5:2-10

5:2 ^a 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 ^b 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 ^c 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 ^d). 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 ^e until they were healed: Recovery from circumcision, a relatively minor surgery, usually takes about three days if no complications occur.
5:9 ^f Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew word galal (“to roll”)—this place was where God rolled away the reproach of Egypt.
5:10 ^g 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 ^h). 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.