"This chapter [five] records four experiences which God brought to Joshua and the people, each one centered about a token, or symbol . . . The Token of Circumcision: Restoration to covenant favor (5:2-9) . . . The Token of Blood: Anticipation of deliverance (5:10) . . . The Token of Fruit: Appropriation of the blessing (5:11-12) . . . The Token of a Sword: Revelation of a holy war (5:13-15)."61
God guaranteed Joshua's success only as he kept the Mosaic Law (1:7). It was necessary therefore that all the males who had been born in the wilderness and had not undergone circumcision should do so. Circumcision included the individual male in the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 17). It was a prerequisite for partaking in the Passover that God required of all Israelites yearly (Exod. 12). As the stones just set up, circumcision was also a memorial.
5:1 This verse at first might seem more appropriate as a conclusion to the previous chapter. However it explains how the Israelites were able to take several days to perform an operation that rendered them very vulnerable to their enemies militarily. Israel's foes feared them greatly as a result of the miracle of the Jordan crossing, and they did not attack.
This reference to the Amorites and Canaanites groups all the native tribes together. The people who possessed the South and the mountains of the land were mainly Amorites. Many of them had lived in Transjordan and were the mightiest of the warriors among the tribes. Those who lived in the North, in the lowlands by the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Valley of Jezreel, were mainly Canaanites. The Canaanites were traders rather than warriors. The writer sometimes put all the native people in one or the other of these two groups. This depended on the area in which they lived (South or North, highlands or lowlands) or the general characteristic of the people that occupied most of that area (warlike or peaceful).62
"From the human standpoint, if ever there was a time to strike at the Canaanites it was right after the Israelites had gained entrance to the land. Fear had taken hold on the inhabitants of Palestine. But divine plans are not made according to human strategy."63
5:2-9 "The book of Joshua continues as a dialogue between the divine and human commander."64
Flint knives (v. 2) were sharp flint rocks (obsidian). The first mass circumcision of the Israelites evidently took place in Egypt before the first Passover and the Exodus.
"The sentence upon the fathers, that their bodies should fall in the desert, was unquestionably a rejection of them on the part of God, an abrogation of the covenant with them. This punishment was also to be borne by their sons; and hence the reason why those who were born in the desert by the way were not circumcised."65
Another explanation is that most of the older generation simply neglected to circumcise their sons out of forgetfulness, discouragement, or for some other reason.
Why did God wait to command the circumcision of the new generation until now rather than on the plains of Moab? Perhaps He did so because He wanted to bring the people into the land before enforcing this aspect of the law. This is consistent with God's dealings with humankind. He first gives and then asks (cf. Rom. 12:1).
"Had Joshua acted on the principles common to all other generals, when invading an enemy's country, he would either have prosecuted his advantages instantly, while his enemies were filled with terror, and crushed them before they had time to prepare for their defence [sic]; or he would have fortified his own camp to prevent surprise, and to be in constant readiness for any emergency that might arise. But instead of adopting any military plans whatever, the very day after he had invaded the country, without waiting to know what effect the invasion would have, he appoints nearly every male in the congregation to be circumcised! Thus by one act disabling the greater part of his whole army from even standing in their own defence [sic]! What but a principle of the most triumphant faith could have brought them to submit to such an injunction as this?"66
The reproach of Egypt (v. 9) was the charge that originated with the Egyptians that Yahweh had led the Israelites out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness (cf. Exod. 32:12; Num. 14:13-16; Deut. 9:28). Now that He had brought them into the land He had promised them, He had negated or "rolled away"this criticism. Gilgal means "rolling"as well as "circle."The Israelites seem to have regarded the rolling away of the foreskins in the circumcision operation as having a double symbolic meaning. It represented God's removal of their reproach as well as their renunciation of the flesh (cf. Gen. 17).
"Flint knives [cf. Exod. 4:25] are sharpened by chipping away at the edge of the stone, so that clean, sterile stone is exposed, since bacteria and viruses cannot grow in rock. Circumcision was thus performed with an instrument possessing comparable sterility to today's surgical scalpels. In view of the likelihood of infection following this operation with a contaminated instrument, use of the flint knife was enormously beneficial and therefore commanded by the Ultimate Healer (or in this case the preventer).67
God specified knives of flint even though this was the bronze age, and bronze implements were common.
5:10-12 The Law prescribed that only members of the covenant community could eat the Passover. It was a memorial to God's redemption of Israel out of Egyptian slavery in the Exodus. It symbolized God's deliverance of His people from the tyranny of sin (cf. Exod. 12:43-51).
In the Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover the people were able to use the grain of the land to make bread (v. 11). God now provided for His people's need for daily bread by giving them the produce of the land rather than manna, which now ceased (cf. Exod. 16:35).
"We are prone to look upon our common mercies as matters of course, and God sometimes withdraws them to teach us our dependence more effectually."68
Sometimes obeying God makes us vulnerable to the attacks of our spiritual enemies. Notwithstanding God will protect those who trust and obey Him in these situations.
