Joshua 5:1-8 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Joshua 5:1-8. Let’s go!
Joshua 5:1 (NIV)
1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
On verse 1: Upon hearing about the past miracles God had performed for the Israelites, Israel’s enemies were very much intimidated. Nevertheless, as we will see in the verses that follow, God would lead the Israelites through an important process internally before they would be ready to enter and conquer the promised land.
What can we learn from this? God has a promised land for you to conquer. That promised land is the dream God has placed in your heart, the destiny God made you for, the calling on your life. But before you can take over your promised land successfully, God has an internal, private preparation process that He wants you to go through, one which people who know you from a distance will not be aware of. Promotion in public is preceded by preparation in private.
Joshua 5:2-8 (NIV)
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.”
3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.
4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt–all the men of military age–died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt.
5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not.
6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.
8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.
On verses 2-8: The Jewish law required boys to be circumcised on their eighth day of life (Leviticus 12:3). However, during the 40 years that Moses and the Israelites wandered in the desert after escaping Egypt, the children born to them during their desert wanderings were not circumcised. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant God made with the Israelites (Genesis 17:11). Yet ironically, the circumcised Israelites died in the desert while their uncircumcised children – the next generation – were making their way to the promised land. Now here we see God requiring this next generation of Israelites to be circumcised before entering the promised land.
What can we learn from this? Physical circumcision is not a requirement in order to follow Jesus or to receive salvation. However, the New Testament compares the process by which a person receives salvation through faith in Christ to circumcision. Here’s how the apostle Paul puts it in Colossians 2:11-13:
“11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ…”
In other words, when we placed our faith in Jesus, God removed from us our sinful nature and gave us a new nature. Instead of sinners, we became children of God, holy, righteous and acceptable to Him. Paul likens this salvation process to circumcision. Though you may not have been physically circumcised, through faith in Christ we have been spiritually circumcised and made acceptable to God by what Christ has done for us. Through what Christ did for us, we can enter the promised land that is God’s kingdom.
Lord Jesus, thank You for the private preparation process You take me through to prepare me for the greater things that lay ahead. Even more, thank You for what You did on the cross for me, how You set me apart and made me acceptable in God’s sight by shedding Your precious blood. Now I live to serve You in this world. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
