March 8: Joshua 5:1 -
8:23
Once
the Israelites had crossed, the God’s first request for obedience was to
“circumcise the sons of Israel a second time”.
The Israelites did not practice circumcision while in the desert, so
this was a ‘second’ circumcision on the whole group to bring everyone into the
covenant originally established with Abraham. That caused me to wonder why they
didn’t do it before crossing the river, since there were efforts on the eastern
side of the Jordan to consecrate themselves before crossing.
The
group then celebrated Passover, another matching ‘bookend’ to the desert trip.
The next day the Israelites ate food from the land, and the manna stopped. From
this point on they ate what they harvested.
The
passage moves quickly from this point as the Israelites are told the plan for
taking Jericho. I can only imagine the looks on the faces of the warriors as
Joshua told them what they were to do! Encyclopedias state that Jericho was
about 10 acres in size, so at most it was about a quarter mile walk around it.
It is reported that the walls were about 13 feet high, and approximately 2000
people lived in the city. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is
also one of the lowest at 846 feet below sea level!
Unfortunately
one man kept some of the plunder, and the Israelites suffered a loss because of
it. It is hard to understand why his entire family had to suffer stoning
because of his sin, but again we have to trust God and his commands. When you
read the words God said to Joshua as he lay in front of the Ark praying (v
7:10), how did you portray God’s attitude? Patient, frustrated, angry, or
something else?
TOMORROW’S TEXT: Joshua 8:24 – 11:9
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