Joshua 5:1-12
There are a lot of things in our world that mark the end of one thing and the beginning of another. We countdown at 11:59:30 on December 31st, ringing in the new year with celebrations, Ryan Seacrest and fireworks. High School and College graduates sit through ceremonies and at the moment they are pronounced graduates, they toss their caps into the air. I know Summer is about to start because Chick-Fil-A adds the peach milkshake back to the rotation. Leaves changing signifies Fall, as new growth and flowers budding signify Spring.
We have certain moments built into our society that help to move us forward, out of one season and into another. As we saw last week, the Lord had finally moved Israel into the land of Canaan, the land of promise. Before they crossed the Jordan River, they had to consecrate themselves. They had to perform symbolic rituals of cleansing, and changing clothes, signifying putting off their sinful behavior, and readying themselves to be used by God. Now, they are camped at Gilgal, with the city of Jericho in their sights. But, God was not done preparing the people spiritually. They still had work to do before they were fully ready to be used by the Lord to take the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Read Joshua 5:1-12
Big Idea: Circumcision and the celebration of Passover usher in a new beginning for Israel.
Think about verse 1 for just a moment. I mean does this not sound like the perfect time to attack? All the kings that lived in the promised land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, had heard what the Lord did at the Jordan River. Word travelled fast. “Their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit left in them.” They were terrified! But, even though human logic might tell us that it was the perfect time to attack, the “Lord’s ways are not our ways,” and His plans are perfect in their timing. There was some unfinished business that Israel had to take care of, and like the process of consecration from just a few days before, it was spiritual in nature.
1. The Significance of Circumcision (2-9)
In order to fully understand this, we have to take ourselves back to Genesis 17. God had made a promise to Abram, and had reminded him of the promise at different times. Here we find God changing Abram’s name to Abraham, Abram meaning “exalted father” and Abraham meaning “father of a multitude.” Here’s what else we find in Genesis 17:
“And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you…Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
We see a few things here. First, we see that circumcision was an outward sign of the covenant. We also see that anyone who had not been circumcised would be cut off from the people of Israel. This presents a huge problem for Joshua. After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness, the people were constantly disobedient. So much so, that any man who was over the age of 20 at the time of the Exodus would not enter the Promised Land, the exception of course being Joshua and Caleb.
In the midst of their rebellion, they failed to circumcise any boy who was born during the wilderness wandering. So what Joshua has before him is a generation of young men who, based on the covenant promise in Genesis 17, are not allowed to inherit the promise. Now, as a brief sidenote, as we see with Abraham’s name change, and the significance of the meaning of his new name, most names in Scripture have some significance. Because of young ears, I won’t tell you what the Hebrew name “Gibeath-haaraloth” means in verse 3, but you can look it up if you want to.
So Joshua has all the young men circumcised, and this puts Israel in a vulnerable position. Without getting too much into detail, the men would be out of fighting commission for at least a couple of days. This would have been a perfect time for the Canaanites to attack. Fortunately, in the Lord’s sovereignty, they were all locked up in their fortresses trembling at the thought of the God of Israel.
Speaking of names with significance, look back at verse 9 (Re-read vs. 9). So the reason why they named the city Gilgal was because it sounded like the Hebrew word “Galal” which means “to roll.” Alright, so all of this is done, and let’s be reminded of the effect. The Lord rolled away the reproach of Egypt. What does that mean?
Well the word “reproach” means “an expression of disapproval or shame.” There is much debate over what specific shame from Egypt is being rolled away. It could be the shame brought upon Israel in their desiring to go back to Egypt, rather than trusting in the Lord’s provision. It could be the shame brought upon Israel by being enslaved, and mistreated, and oppressed. It could be the shame of idolatry in the wilderness, where it caused Israel to disregard the importance of circumcision. Whatever the specific reproach was, one thing is clear: the shame is attached to Egypt. So whether it is direct or indirect shame or reproach, the Lord is doing a new work in their midst. He is taking what was true of their lives before, doing away with all of that, and moving them into something new.
And so the application for us becomes apparent. No matter what shame we might carry from our past, whether brought on by others or ourselves, the Lord wants to do away with that shame and move us into something new. Let me prove it to you.
Let me first remind us all that in the Old Testament, circumcision did not trump obedience. While circumcision was an outward sign of the covenant, that wasn’t enough. For the Lord, it’s always been about the heart. We see this early on in Deuteronomy 30:6, where it says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” Later, in Jeremiah 4:4: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
In other words, the Lord will cut away the sin that plagues our hearts, and will provide for us new life. How? How does this happen? Paul tells us in Romans 2:29, “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter…” It’s not about the Law, Paul says, it’s about the Spirit’s sanctifying work in our hearts. And it’s not by our own power, but it’s by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Let me state it simply. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God cuts away the “flesh” (sin) of our hearts, creating in us something new. Oh if you don’t know Jesus let that be true of you today.
Alright, the Lord isn’t quite done yet. There’s one more thing that Israel needs to do before they begin their conquest of the land.
2. The Significance of the Passover (10-12)
We again have to take our minds back to Egypt, when the Lord was unleashing the plagues upon the land. Pharaoh’s heart was continually hardened, until the final plague, in which the firstborn in all the land would be killed. For Israel however, there was a way to avoid the judgment of death. They were to take a pure spotless lamb, kill it, and put the blood of the sacrifice on the doorposts at the entrance of their homes. When the angel of death passed through Egypt that night, any household that had blood on the doorposts would be saved.
After this final plague, Pharaoh’s own son is killed, and he finally agrees to let Israel go free. It was in and by the blood of the spotless lamb that the Israelites were granted their freedom. The blood of the lamb saved them. And the Lord told them that every year they were to celebrate this moment with a feast, the feast of the Passover. It commemorated the Lord’s deliverance, as well as His continued protection.
It’s important to note that Israel only celebrated the Passover 1 time in their 40 years in the wilderness, the first year. It’s also interesting to note why this might have been. One of the requirements for celebrating was that one had to be circumcised. We know now that there was a whole generation that was unable to participate in the Passover celebration. There is also the issue of the manna which the Lord fed the people, and if there would have been enough food for Israel to celebrate it properly as laid out in Exodus. There is also the issue of Israel’s constant rebellion and disobedience. All that to say, that this was the first time that Israel celebrated the Passover in nearly 40 years. The proverbial table was now set. The men had been circumcised, the land had provided them the food they would need, and in a final act of closing the door on that rebellious chapter, the manna ceased, and the people ate in abundance that which the Lord provided for them by way of the land.
What a beautiful picture of restoration.
Application
Big Idea: Circumcision and the celebration of Passover usher in a new beginning for Israel.
As always we need to remind ourselves that this story has a historical context that we cannot place ourselves in. Circumcision was given to Israel as a sign of the covenant the Lord made with Abraham, and the Passover celebration was instituted so that Israel would remember how the Lord had saved them out of slavery. However, we do see a direct connection to Christ, which means that there is application for us as well.
As we continue to talk about our desire to be used, as a church, by the Lord to reach our communities, spiritual preparation is key. If we reach into last week and combine consecration, circumcision and the Passover, we have a pretty incredible picture of the gospel. For it is the blood of a spotless lamb, Jesus, by which we are saved from our sin. That is the Passover. And at the moment that we profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters our lives and begins to cut away the sinful flesh that plagues us. That is circumcision. And in that moment the righteousness of God is imputed into us, which means we become the righteousness of God, holy and set apart for His kingdom work. That is consecration.
Church, if we want to be used by the Lord, if we desire to be on mission for Him, which is my prayer of all of us, then we must take our pursuit of Christ seriously. We must place our lives at the feet of Jesus as a living sacrifice, and plead with Him to use us however He so desires.
Let us be that kind of church. Amen.
