Circumcision, Passover, and the End of Manna

5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. 5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.” 5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins. 5:4 This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt. 5:5 Now all the men who left were circumcised, but all the sons born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised. 5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, a land rich in milk and honey. 5:7 He replaced them with their sons, whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way. 5:8 When all the men had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed. 5:9 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal even to this day. 5:10 So the Israelites camped in Gilgal and celebrated the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho. 5:11 They ate some of the produce of the land the day after the Passover, including unleavened bread and roasted grain. 5:12 The manna stopped appearing the day they ate some of the produce of the land; the Israelites never ate manna again.

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Before Jericho, the Lord tells Joshua to circumcise the new generation. Israel obeys, keeps the Passover, and then eats the produce of the land. The passage shows that covenant obedience comes before conquest, and that God’s provision changes when his people enter the land.

The peoples of Canaan were afraid because the Lord had dried up the Jordan for Israel. But Israel’s first step in the land was not battle. The Lord told Joshua to make flint knives and circumcise the people again. Joshua obeyed. The men who had left Egypt had died in the wilderness because they had disobeyed the Lord. Their sons had not been circumcised during the years in the desert, so the covenant sign was restored to the new generation.

The men stayed in camp until they healed. This shows real weakness, but also real trust. The Lord then said that he had taken away the disgrace of Egypt from them. The place was called Gilgal to remember what the Lord had done.

After that, Israel kept the Passover in the camp at Gilgal, on the plains of Jericho. The next day they ate the produce of the land. The manna then stopped. God had not failed them. He had brought them into the land, and now he provided for them through the land’s produce.

• The Lord had already made the Canaanite kings afraid.
• God commanded circumcision before conquest.
• Joshua obeyed the Lord’s command.
• The older generation died in the wilderness because of disobedience.
• The new generation received the covenant sign before entering battle.
• The Lord said he had removed the disgrace of Egypt.
• Israel kept the Passover in the land.
• The people ate the produce of the land.
• The manna stopped when they began to eat the land’s produce.

• Command: Joshua must circumcise the Israelites again.
• Command: Israel must keep the Passover.
• Warning: the disobedient wilderness generation died and did not enter the land.
• Promise: the Lord has taken away the disgrace of Egypt.
• Promise: God now provides for his people through the land’s produce.

This passage stands at the turn from wilderness judgment to land inheritance. God had promised the land to the fathers, and now he prepares the next generation to receive it. Circumcision restores the covenant sign given to Abraham. Passover remembers the Exodus. The end of manna marks the move from wilderness provision to life in the promised land.

God’s people should put obedience and remembrance before outward success. Covenant signs and memorials matter because they keep God’s people grounded in what he has done. This passage should be applied by principle, not by direct copying of Israel’s national rites.

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