D. The First Circumcision and the First Passover in the Land (5:1-15)

First actions in new circumstances are usually of great symbolic value. Ch. 5 records two initial actions in the new land. The first was circumcision of all males born in the forty years of the wilderness wanderings. For males, circumcision was the sign of participation in the covenant. Included in the covenant was the gift of the land. To enter the land, the men had to be circumcised; i.e., personal acceptance of the covenant was necessary.

The second action was the celebration of the first Passover in the land. As the Passover in Egypt marked the exodus from slavery, so this Passover in Canaan marked attainment of the goal toward which God had been leading them ever since. Passover always has commemorated God’s ancient act; this one also anticipated God’s new act of giving his people the promised rest in the new land.

This Passover is connected also with cessation of the daily provision of manna. Miraculous provision is, by definition, not normal. Now that the produce of the land was available, manna was no longer needed.

These first five chapters lead up to the siege of Jericho, the first engagement with the Canaanites. The chapters are framed by God’s encounter with Joshua in a strong and lengthy speech of encouragement and by a short encounter with the commander of the Lord’s army (v.15). This, too, was for Joshua’s encouragement on the eve of military action against the enemy.