Notes: May 24, 2008 - Joshua 4 & 5

Bob Feather May 24th, 2008

Crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 4)

And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. (Joshua 3:17)

  1. How long this took, we don’t know. Imagine the strength of body and mind required to stand there doing the Lord’s work while hundreds of thousands of your family, friends and neighbors passed by. Christians should be so disciplined in their spiritual service.
  2. Two memorials of 12 stones each were set up, one on the edge of the river (Joshua 4:8) and the other in the middle of the river (Joshua 4:9). Their purpose was to elicit questions from future generations and to provide a forum for presenting a testimony about God (Joshua 4:7,23-24).
    • God dried up the Jordan River so that our ancestors might pass over.
    • God did a similar thing to the Red Sea for a previous generation.
    • This is to be a testimony to all people of the earth.
    • Men should know that God is powerful.
    • You should fear the Lord forever.

Circumcision and the Captain (Joshua 5)

10  This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13  He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14  And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. (Genesis 17:10-14)

24 ΒΆ  And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.
25  Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
26  So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. (Exodus 4:24-26)

  1. Why hadn’t anyone been circumcised the entire time that Israel was living in the wilderness (Joshua 5:5-7)? Wasn’t circumcision a perpetual obligation? Didn’t Moses realize the serious consequences of failing to keep the commandment? Thinking a bit more about this, why would their unbelieving parents have observed the commandment when disobeying God was normal in their lives? We don’t expect the children of unbelievers to have learned anything about God from their parents, do we?
  2. Did you notice that this crossing of the Jordan and the circumcision of the new generation took place in the first month, in preparation for the annual passover celebration (Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:10)?
  3. With their arrival in the promised land, Israel had no more need of the miraculous and regular provision of manna, so the miracle ceased (Joshua 5:12). Too many people keep looking for miracles when they should be attending to God’s normal means of providence.
  4. Joshua’s interview with the Captain extends through the first five verses of chapter 6.
  5. The Amorites and Canaanites were afraid of the Lord and His people (Joshua 5:1). So afraid was Jericho, that it had locked itself in (Joshua 6:1).
  6. The Lord appears to Joshua. Who else could this be but the Lord?
    • He is called the LORD (Joshua 6:2)
    • He is worshipped by Joshua (Joshua 5:14)
    • He speaks like the LORD did to Moses  (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15).
  7. Joshua, no doubt mindful of the military task before him, sees a man with a drawn sword (Joshua 15:13), and asks a perfectly normal question of the suddenly appearing soldier, “Are you for us or against us?” Everyone should ask this question of the LORD: “Are you for me or against me?”
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Joshua 4:8
8And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
Joshua 4:9
9And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
Joshua 4:7,23-24
7Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
24That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.
Joshua 5:5-7
5Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.
6For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
7And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
Joshua 4:19
19And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
Joshua 5:10
10And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Joshua 5:12
12And 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; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
Joshua 5:1
1And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
Joshua 6:1
1Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
Joshua 6:2
2And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Joshua 5:14
14And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
Exodus 3:5
5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Joshua 5:15
15And 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 15:13
13And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.

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