5th chapter, if you would open first to Joshua 4, as I was thinking about this chapter, also considering at the end of Joshua 5, Joshua meets what I believe we can say is a Christophany, a pre-incarnate witness of Jesus Christ, the commander of the Lord's army. And I was thinking of how this chapter connects to the baptism of Jesus, also in the Jordan River. Matt, I don't know if you thought of this or others, but in Joshua 4.14, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they feared him. And think of the word that's given of Jesus at his baptism. This is my son in whom I am well pleased. I thought, I think there's a little bit of a connection and correlation there. We have to be careful how far we sometimes push, but we don't want to miss some of these connections. And as I say, Joshua will meet Jesus, pre-incarnate form, at the end of chapter 5. This chapter begins with a very long verse. I think it's the second longest verse in Joshua, verse 1. Then we have the circumcision of Israel, the celebration of Passover, And then Joshua meets the commander of the Lord's army. So we'll look at this chapter in four parts. Let's begin with verse one. So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel." So here we have just two groups mentioned. The Amorites, and they represent those just west of the Jordan. The Canaanites, those farther west, living alongside the Great Sea, the Mediterranean Sea. Sometimes there are seven groups that are listed, the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and other groups. Here it's just the two groups, and they kind of stand for the whole Canaanites in terms of geography. And then what we have in this verse is similar to what we've seen before. If we go back to Joshua chapter 2 and verse 11, Rahab said, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. At the end of chapter two, as the spies bring word to Joshua, they say, truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint hearted because of us. At the end of Joshua four, Joshua tells the people that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord that it is mighty that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Specifically, though, now here in chapter five, it's not what God did to the Red Sea, but now what God did to the Jordan. So in a sense, it's getting closer. The Red Sea, that was 40 years ago, and that caused the people to fear, but now this miracle Even though the Jordan is not as mighty as the Red Sea, still it is an incredible testimony to God's power. And so their hearts are melted. They have no spirit. them any longer in Joshua 8 20 we also find reference to there's no power to flee which would connect here later in 1st Samuel 28 20 there was no strength in him that is in Saul so the Lord is as Matt and I have mentioned there's a There's a focus on the children of Israel right at the Jordan River and just crossing the Jordan River. And we can say it parallels coming out of Egypt. The Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, now it's the crossing of the Jordan, and again, the celebration of Passover. Any comments or questions on this first opening verse for Joshua 5? Let me check one thing here. Yes, yes. Yes, I think you could say it's because of what God is doing in the life of Israel. Yeah, I think that's an interesting comment. I think you can explain it that way. You know, when Rahab says, the Lord has given you the land, the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea. So I think that you could, John Calvin liked to use the word synecdoche, one part standing for something larger. So you could say it is a synecdoche in that it is what God is doing in Israel, it is his work that he's doing. Yeah, I think we're having a little trouble with the recording there. Not sure what. No, not true. Well, let's look at verses two through nine. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of Vorskins. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Before the children of Israel could celebrate Passover, they had to be circumcised. Why the second time? Because the generation that came out of Egypt who had been circumcised, they died. Now the younger generation had not been circumcised. Bruce Waltke says the older portion of the militia may have had to be circumcised again because Egyptian circumcision was incomplete. unlike the Israelite complete circumcision. And he says this interpretation best explains the emphasis on flint knives and the reference to the reproach of Egypt. Genesis 17.10 says this, this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. And we should observe that as Israel is commanded, so they obeyed immediately. It is sort of a refreshing note that they obeyed what God told them to do. They immediately carried out that command. Verse three, Joshua made the knives, circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the Forskins. Now we know there is both from the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is both a physical and a spiritual circumcision. In Deuteronomy 30, verse six, we read, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. The two are not in conflict. God is telling them to do this physically. He must do the spiritual circumcision, obviously. We might ask the question, or we should ask the question, why did the children of Israel not circumcise their children in obedience to Genesis 17.10 while they were in the wilderness? That's not given a direct answer. MacArthur says they just ignored it. That's a possibility. Bruce Metzger said, had the unbelieving generation circumcised their children in the desert, it would have reduced the gracious ritual to levity. That's an interesting point. Is this part of God's judgment on the people because they did not obey his voice? Kylan Dalich said this, as the covenant of the Lord with the fathers was abrogated, the sons of the rejected generation were not to receive the covenant sign of circumcision. Nevertheless, this abrogation of the covenant with the generation that had been condemned was not a complete dissolution of the covenant relation, so far as the nation as a whole was concerned, since the whole nation had not been rejected, but only the generation of men that were capable of bearing arms when they came out of Egypt. For this reason, the Lord did not withdraw from the nation every sign of His grace, but in order that the consciousness might still be sustained in the young and rising generation, that the covenant would be set up again with them when the time of punishment had expired. He left them not only the presence of the pillar of fire and cloud, but also the manna and other tokens of His grace. As the covenant of the Lord with the fathers was abrogated, The sons of the rejected generation were not to receive the covenant sign of circumcision. That's an interesting view. The older generation is under judgment, but God does not entirely cast them off. He still is guiding them. He is still providing for them, but their children who would enter the land, at this time, it is proper for them to receive the sign. So they are circumcised. There is a time of rest. Then verse nine, The Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt. And that is a very challenging phrase as you look at other commentators. My initial thought was this referred to their rebellion and unbelief as they left Egypt. That might be partly true. The word reproach is a word used about 70 times in the Old Testament. In some cases, it means someone is taunting you, reviling you. So that's one way of understanding it. It's like a taunt. So you could understand it, the taunting of Egypt has now been rolled away. The word reproach also can mean something that is a disgrace or a shame. Being childless is termed a reproach. Being uncircumcised is also a reproach or a shame. So some believe that reproach of Egypt now refers to the enslavement of Israel. They were formerly enslaved. Now, as it were, that enslavement, that has been wiped away. That's one way of understanding it. Some would say the insulting social position or the ridicule the Egyptians had heaped on them. Those first three views are somewhat similar. Something referring to the Egyptians or how the Egyptians treated them. Another view would be the lack of being circumcised. John Calvin gives a very interesting understanding. He says, when the children of Israel left Egypt, it could have been viewed as an improper revolt, like their exodus somehow was not legitimate. And so John Calvin says, they might therefore have been regarded as deserters had not the disgrace been wiped off by the appeal to circumcision by which the divine election was sealed in their flesh before they went down to Egypt. It was accordingly made by the renewal of the ancient covenant that they were not rebels against legitimate authority, nor had rashly gone off at their own hand, but that their liberty was restored by God who had long ago taken them under his special protection. It's just, it's an interesting view. Kyle and Dalich say this refers to the perfect restoration of the covenant and a pledge that the Lord would now give them the land of Canaan for their inheritance. Maybe it's a combination of all those things. We can say this, whatever that reproach of Egypt was, it has now been wiped away. Gilgal is related to the verb to roll something away. So it's a play on words. To roll away, and now that rolling away becomes the basis for the name Gilgal. So it's a Hebrew play on words, as it were, a connection of the two actions. Any questions or comments on those verses? You know, I think Jericho is the city that's just still a little farther west. They're on the outskirts of Jericho. Correct. They are in the promised land west of the Jordan, yes. I don't know if it had a name officially, yeah. Their camp. They're maybe seven miles away from Jericho, approximately. So they're getting closer, but still some distance away. Any other questions or comments? Let's look at verses 10 through 12. Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. So here is a significant celebration and then a significant change. So now they are celebrating the Passover. It is interesting that at least later in Kings and Chronicles, this is really the spiritual litmus test for the nation. Will they celebrate this feast, speaking of God's deliverance? And so, do you know in which book of the Bible the Passover is mentioned most often? Just by word count. I'm sorry? It is not Exodus, no. It is 2 Chronicles. And that has to do because the Passover is restored by Hezekiah and by Josiah. Pesach is the Hebrew word translated as Passover, used 49 times. So it first appears obviously in Exodus. When a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised and then let him come near and keep it. and he shall be as a native of the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat it." After the book of Joshua, it's interesting, the next time Passover is mentioned is not until 2 Kings 23, verse 21. I don't think we should think they didn't celebrate Passover for however long that would be, But for whatever reason, it's just not mentioned by name. So in 2 Kings 23, it actually speaks of Josiah's celebration. Hezekiah's celebration is only mentioned in 2 Chronicles, though that chronologically is before Josiah. So 2 Chronicles 30 is Hezekiah's great celebration. Interestingly, in Ezra, Ezra 6, 19 and 20 after the children of Israel returned to the land from the exile there is reference to Passover again being celebrated So this is now the first Passover in the promised land and what what a special celebration of that must have been. Now you could say it's the deliverance from Egypt is entrance into the promised land. Now it's a fuller celebration, we can say, looking back now to what God is doing. Bruce Waltke says this, this is a forerunner of Jesus Christ, whose blood provides Christians with salvation from God's judgment on Satan's world, whose flesh, symbolized by bread, provides for their sanctification. References to Exodus 12, 1-7, Exodus 12, 8-11. So that's the first thing we see in these verses. Second then, after the celebration of the Passover. Now remember, Passover, there's a day for Passover, and then there's seven days, that's the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And it's brought together. Sometimes it's called Passover, sometimes it's the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So we have reference After the Passover celebration, they started eating grain from the promised land. The unleavened bread, parched grain on the very same day. And this is food that they were able to find somehow just growing up. Maybe they're taking over the fields from Jericho or other surrounding cities. They're taking the produce now from the land. And one commentator writes, the Israelites are not pictured as eating it in relation to a harvest festival, but simply eating grain ready to hand, growing wild in the fields they had not planted. The same applies to the unleavened bread. This is the typical bread for a journey. that to which a wandering people would be accustomed. The point is not that Israel denied themselves the use of yeast for festival regulations, rather the point is one of joy. They could eat their normal diet with the prospect of much more to come because the whole land lay before them. The third point is the manna then ceased. Verse 11 and verse 12 have what's called a chiastic structure that you have. Look at verse 11, they ate the produce of the land. The end of verse 12, they ate the food of the land of Cain in that year. That's the first point, again, repeated at the end. And then the two middle sections are the manna ceased. Notice that's repeated twice. The manna ceased. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. That's the first time the children of Israel no longer had manna. It's twice repeated. And this is, you might say, this is the equivalent of bold print in the Hebrew Bible. When they really want to highlight something, sometimes this, what's called this chiastic structure, this one only has these four points. It could be longer, but that's, it's used. The manna now has finished. God has made provision for his people. He no longer has to make provision for them in the same way. The man is gone. They will now eat whatever they can find in the promised land. So it's a beautiful way that God ended his provision for his people in this special way. Any questions or comments there? If not, let's look at the final verses, 13 through 15. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. So what a powerful, scene we have described here. The children of Israel are six, seven miles just east of Jericho. Not surprisingly, Joshua is out. He's described, as it were, by himself. Did he have others with him? That we're not told. The focus, though, is just on Joshua. We can imagine Joshua is considering not only the city of Jericho, but all the other cities that the children of Israel will have to fight in order to take possession of the land. Joshua is not described as praying, but I think he's not just out there contemplating other things. He is being very serious. It is a beautiful picture of our Lord, isn't it, who often went out on his own to pray. Then, out of nowhere, it would seem, Behold, our attention is called, now this man stands just opposite him with a sword drawn in his hand. Notice Joshua is quite brave. Joshua went to him. Joshua is not going to back down. He goes to this man with a question. Maybe he stays a little bit away, but he does approach him. Are you for us or for our adversaries? Whose side are you on? And that's a good question. to ask. Notice that Joshua in this section asks two questions, and two answers are given, but not the answers in the way that Joshua would have wanted. So this pre-incarnate picture of our Lord Jesus, we can say, He does not answer the question directly, but rather says, I am the commander of the Lord's armies. a quote that's attributed, I think it's legitimately attributed to Abraham Lincoln, this is in the Civil War, and the question, whose side is God on? And Lincoln said, sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. That was a profound thought by Lincoln, and that's the answer here. I'm the commander of the Lord's army, Appropriately, Joshua then falls on his face and worships. Then, what does my Lord say to his servant? What I think part of this scene is Joshua, though he is the earthly leader now of Israel, he also is going to act as a prophet, in a way like Moses, right? The prophets were given usually some powerful revelation of God's presence, some sort of a sign. Isaiah, the vision of God in his holiness. The prophet Ezekiel with a powerful vision. So this is Joshua also being in a special way called as a prophet. So Joshua asks, what's the message? And notice, There is a message given, but not, again, not in the way that Joshua was wanting. What is the message? You are on holy ground. Isn't that a powerful message? Joshua is really told what is most important, that Israel must keep in mind they are living before a holy God. That is what is most important. Other things, you know, God will reveal. And doesn't that directly connect with Isaiah's vision of God in His holiness? And this also then connects very well to chapter 6 and chapter 7, where there is sin because the holiness of God is not properly appreciated, at least not by Achan, and it has consequence for the entire nation. So this call, this reminder of God's holiness is quite significant as the story continues. It foreshadows, as I say, the next two chapters. We think of some of the references in the New Testament. Paul writing to Timothy, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood. and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Hebrews 12, verse 14, pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. That is the message. And you can imagine that that is the word that Joshua would have delivered to the children of Israel. Other information is given. Now I'll let Dave answer this question. The Lord says to Joshua, I've given Jericho into your hand. Does that come? Is that another revelation? Or is that the continuation of chapter five? I haven't thought through that yet. More information will come, but the first thing, Israel must recognize the presence of God. The place where you stand is holy. Any final questions or comments on this chapter? Hebrews 12, 14. Yes. I think that is part of it, yes. The circumcision, the celebration of the Passover, specifically it is the presence of the Lord in a more special way directly now in this commander of the Lord's army. Correct, that's right. And this would parallel Moses at the burning bush, where also he is told, take off your sandals, right? Correct, yes. I think so, yeah. It is capitalized, and that would be, that's in a sense an interpretation, but I think a good interpretation with the translation, yeah. No, go ahead. That's right. Oh, Joshua 6, 2. Oh, sorry, 2 Timothy 2, 20 through 22 also. Matt? That's right. Yes. Commander of the armies of the Lord, or of the hosts of the Lord, yes. That's right. Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same. Any other comments or questions? If not, let us close our time with prayer. Father, we thank you again for your power. Our prayer is that we will wait on you. We will seek to be faithful where you have called us, not in these dramatic scenes. We are not to expect the same thing in the same way that Joshua did, but you have also called your people to live in holiness. And we think of all the plans, the ideas we have, sometimes good ideas, but we can easily forget the call to walk in humility and holiness before you. Work in our hearts so that we are not hypocrites. The world so easily does highlight the hypocrisy the Christian church, and some of that is rightfully deserved. So as a local church, then, we do not live according to our own holiness and use that as the ground of our boasting, but rather as our response to your grace. So as we continue now this day in worship, in service to you, a hot, sticky day, we thank you for the comforts that you give to us to make it a little more bearable, help us to have our focus, then where it should be, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Friends, next week, Lord willing, Joshua chapter six.