The army is across the river, camped within sight of Jericho — and before a single battle, God stops everything for a knife, a meal, and a meeting. The men are circumcised; the covenant sign, dropped for forty years, is restored. They keep the Passover and the manna stops the next morning. Then Joshua meets a man with a drawn sword who will not take a side, because He does not come to take sides — He comes to take command.
A study in Joshua 5 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
This Day Have I Rolled Away The Reproach Of Egypt
“And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.”
Joshua 5:9
The whole generation born in the wilderness had never been circumcised — the sign of the covenant had lapsed through the forty years of rejection. Before Israel fights for the land, God restores the mark that says whose people they are. It is a strange moment tactically: an entire army deliberately makes itself sore and defenceless in enemy territory. But the point is not military readiness; it is belonging. Gilgal means rolling, and the name preaches every time it is spoken: the shame of slavery has been rolled off.
“Now, however, the years of rejection were ended. Once more God acknowledged Israel as His people, and the sign of the covenant was restored.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 485
They Kept The Passover, And The Manna Ceased
“And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more.”
Joshua 5:11-12
The first Passover in the land is kept on the plains of Jericho — the feast of the exodus celebrated at the door of the inheritance. The next day they eat the produce of Canaan, and the day after that the manna stops, after almost forty years. God’s provision did not fail; it changed form. When the wilderness is over, the wilderness bread is over too, and the same God now feeds them from the ground He promised. Grace does not run out when the circumstances change; it meets you in the new place.
Art Thou For Us, Or For Our Adversaries?
“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come.”
Joshua 5:13-14
Joshua asks the natural question of a soldier: whose side are you on? The answer is a flat Nay — neither. He has not come to join Joshua’s army; He has come to take charge of it. The question was the wrong one. It is never “is God on my side?” but “am I on His?” The commander of Israel discovers he is not the commander after all, and the right response is not strategy but surrender: What saith my lord unto his servant?
Loose Thy Shoe From Off Thy Foot
“And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”
Joshua 5:15
It is the same charge God gave Moses at the burning bush — “put off thy shoes from off thy feet” on holy ground (Exodus 3:5) — and it tells us who this is. Joshua “fell on his face to the earth, and did worship” — and unlike the angel in Revelation who refuses worship (Revelation 22:9), this one receives it. A patch of dirt outside a doomed pagan city becomes holy ground because He is standing on it. The battle for Jericho is already decided; what Joshua needs first is not a plan but a posture.
“The same command given to Moses in Horeb, ‘Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy,’ revealed the true character of the mysterious stranger. It was Christ, the Exalted One, who stood before the leader of Israel.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 487
