Joshua · chapter 5 of 24
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Joshua 5 tells that, after the crossing of the Jordan, the kings of Canaan lose heart and Joshua circumcises the new generation of Israel at Gilgal. The people keep the Passover, eat from the produce of the land, and the manna stops. Near Jericho, Joshua meets the commander of the Lord's army, bows before him, and is told to take off his sandals because the place is holy.
Israel has crossed the Jordan and is about to face Jericho, but before the war God requires something that seems illogical in military terms: renewing the sign of the covenant, keeping the Passover and pausing before him. The chapter teaches that God's order is first relationship with him, and then conquest.
When the Amorite and Canaanite kings across the Jordan hear that the Lord dried up the waters before Israel, their hearts melt and they have no spirit left to face them. Then the Lord tells Joshua to make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel again. The text explains why: all the males who came out of Egypt had died in the wilderness for disobedience, and those born on the journey had not been circumcised. After the circumcision the people stay in camp until they heal, and the Lord says that today he has rolled away the reproach of Egypt from them; so the place is called Gilgal.
On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the Israelites keep the Passover in the plains of Jericho. The next day they eat the produce of the land, unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stops that same day, and from then on Israel is fed by what Canaan produces.
Near Jericho, Joshua lifts his eyes and sees a man standing with a drawn sword. He asks whether the man is for him or for his enemies. The man answers no, he has come as commander of the army of the Lord. Joshua falls on his face to the ground and asks what message he brings. The commander tells him to take off his sandals, because the place where he stands is holy, and Joshua obeys.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The kings of Canaan, hearing that the Lord dried up the Jordan before Israel, lose heart and have no spirit left to resist. God had won part of the battle before a single sword was drawn.
The Lord says that today he has rolled away the reproach of Egypt from Israel, and so the place is called Gilgal. Circumcision marks the new generation as the covenant people and removes the shame of slavery and of the years of disobedience.
The manna stops the day after they eat the produce of the land, and Israel no longer receives it. God provides according to the stage: in the wilderness, bread from heaven; in the land, its fruit.
The commander answers that he is not on anyone's side but is the leader of the Lord's army. Joshua bows down and removes his sandals because the ground is holy. Before the battle he learns that the question is not whether God is on his side but whether he is on God's side.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Their hearts melted and they had no spirit left before the Israelites. — Joshua 5:1
Answer: Because the males born in the wilderness on the journey had not been circumcised. — Joshua 5:5
Answer: The reproach of Egypt, and the place was called Gilgal. — Joshua 5:9
Answer: The Passover, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. — Joshua 5:10
Answer: It stopped the day after they ate the produce of the land, and they had it no more. — Joshua 5:12
Answer: That he was neither for Joshua nor for his enemies but the commander of the army of the Lord. — Joshua 5:13-14
Joshua 5 invites us to order our priorities. Before attacking Jericho, Israel stops to renew the sign of the covenant, keep the Passover and worship. Sometimes we want to move fast with projects, ministries or decisions without pausing to remember who we are before God. Ask your group which habits place us again before the Lord before we act: prayer, fellowship with other believers, the Lord's Supper, reading the Word.
Joshua's question, whether the commander was for him or for his enemies, echoes in us when we ask God to bless our plans. The answer is an invitation: we do not try to recruit God but to place ourselves under his command. Taking off the sandals is acknowledging that the ground already belongs to him.
Joshua 5 ends with Joshua bowed before the commander of the Lord's army on holy ground. With the covenant renewed and the manna ended, Israel is ready for Joshua 6, where God will give an unexpected strategy for the fall of Jericho.
The text does not give his name, but he accepts Joshua's worship and tells him to take off his sandals because the place is holy, just as Moses was told at the burning bush. Many Christian readers see him as an appearance of the Lord himself, and others as a high-ranking angelic being. In both cases the message is that the Lord directs the war.
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant with Abraham. During the wilderness years it was not practiced on those born there, so before entering the land and keeping the Passover, the people had to be marked as the covenant people. The text does not say why it had been interrupted.