Joshua 5:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 5:4
And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
war
הַמִּלְחָמָ֗הha.mil.cha.Mah
H4421
a battle (i.e. the engagement) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
died
מֵ֤תוּMe.tu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
wilderness
בַמִּדְבָּר֙va.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
way
בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְba.De.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
out
בְּצֵאתָ֖םbe.tze.Tam
H3318
to go (causatively · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Egypt
מִמִּצְרָֽיִםmi.mitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 26:64-65 But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilde…
Deuteronomy 2:16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
1 Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these t…
Deuteronomy 2:14 And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the genera…
Hebrews 3:17-19 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 5:1-9
A vast show, no doubt, the numerous camp of Israel made in the plains of Jericho, where now they had pitched their tents. Who can count the dust of Jacob? That which had long been the church in the wilderness has now come up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved, and looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. How terrible she was in the eyes of her enemies we are here told, Jos 5:1. How fair and clear she was made in the eyes of her friends, by the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt, we are told in the following verses.
I. Here is the fright which the Canaanites were put into by their miraculously passing over Jordan, Jos…
this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise--The omission to circumcise the children born in the wilderness might have been owing to the incessant movements of the people; but it is most generally thought that the true cause was a temporary suspension of the covenant with the unbelieving race who, being rejected of the Lord, were doomed to perish in the wilderness, and whose children had to bear the iniquity of their fathers (Num 14:33), though, as the latter were to be brought into the promised land, the covenant would be renewed with them.
Adam Clarke on Joshua 5:4
This is the cause why Joshua did circumcise - The text here explains itself. Before the Israelites left Egypt all the males were circumcised; and some learned men think that all those who were born during their encampment at Sinai were circumcised also, because there they celebrated the passover; but after that time, during the whole of their stay in the wilderness, there were none circumcised till they entered into the promised land. Owing to their unsettled state, God appears to have dispensed, for the time being, with this rite; but as they were about to celebrate another passover, it was necessary that all the males should be circumcised; for without this they could not be considered wit…
The circumcision was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings and after the promise, as a sign to set him and those born of him and those of his household apart from the Gentiles in whose midst he was living. And this is obvious, because, when Israel spent forty years alone by themselves in the desert without mixing with any other nation, all those who were born in the desert were not circumcised. However, when Joshua brought them across the Jordan, they were circumcised and a second law of circumcision was made. For, under Abraham a law of circumcision was given, and then it was inoperative for forty years in the desert. Then, after the crossing of the Jordan, God again gave the law for a second time, as is written in the book of Joshua, son of Nave [Nun]: "At that time the Lord said to Joshua: make knives of stone from the sharpest rock, and sitting down circumcise the second time the children of Israel"; and a little further on: "for during forty-two years Israel dwelt in the wilderness of Midbar, and for this reason very many were uncircumcised of the sons of the fighting men who had come out of Egypt, who had disobeyed the commandments of God and to whom he declared that they should not see the good land which he had sworn to give to their fathers, the land flowing with milk and honey. The children of these he made to succeed in their place whom Joshua circumcised because of their not having been circumcised in the way." Hence, circumcision was a sign by which Israel was set apart from the Gentiles among whom they lived.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Circumcision — Cutting around. This rite, practised before, as some think, by divers races, was appointed by God to be the special badge of his chosen people, an abiding sign of their consecration to him. It was…
Circumcision · .Israelites at Gilgal — .Israelites at Gilgal
Gilgal · .Circumcision renewed at — .Circumcision renewed at
Revivals · .Un — .Un
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Joshua 5:4
And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise,.... Or the reason of the command given him to circumcise the children of Israel at this time, namely, what follows:
all the people that came out of Egypt that were males, even all the men of war; meaning such that were twenty years old, and upwards:
died in the wilderness, by the way, after they came out of Egypt; not directly, but in a course of forty years, as they journeyed through the wilderness; this is to be understood with an exception of Joshua, Caleb, Eleazar, &c. but then there was a large number who were under twenty years of age, that came out of Egypt, and were now living.
John Calvin on Joshua 5:1-9
Joshua 5:1-9
1. And 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.
1. Fuit autem quum audissent omnes reges Aemorrhaei qui erant trans Jordanem ad Occidentem, et omnes reges Chananaei, qui juxta mare, quod siccasset Jehova aquas Jordanis a facie filiorum Israel donec transirent, liquefactum fuit cor eorum neque fuit amplius in eis, Spiritus a facie filiorum Israel.…
Circumcision of the People. - Jos 5:1. Whilst, on the one hand, the approach of the passover rendered it desirable that the circumcision of those who had remained uncircumcised should be carried out without delay, on the other hand the existing circumstances were most favourable for the performance of this covenant duty, inasmuch as the miracle wrought in connection with the passage through the Jordan had thrown the Canaanites into such alarm that there was no fear of their attacking the Israelitish camp. To indicate this, the impression produced by this miracle is described, namely, that all the kings of Canaan had been thrown into despair in consequence. All the tribes of Canaan are groupe…
This unexpected detour in the narrative provides an important reminder of Israel’s earlier refusal to believe that God would bring them safely into the land of Canaan (Num 14). This summary of God’s judgment upon their fathers reminded the present generation that trusting in God was still necessary if they were to occupy the land their ancestors had forfeited. Further, it signaled the completion of God’s judgment upon the earlier generation.
Rashi on Joshua 5:4
And this is the reason. [Lit. and this is the thing] After this speech he circumcised them. He said to them. “Do you think you will inherit this land while you are yet uncircumcised? Was it not said to Avrohom, ‘And you will preserve My covenant etc.’ ‘and I will give you and your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings.’”4Bereishis 17:8,9. Thus the inheritance of the land was dependent on their preserving the covenant, which was the rite of circumcision.
All the people that went out. Not one of them was here for they had all died, and they had all been circumcised, as it is said, ‘for they were circumcised.’5Next verse.
