“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13-15, what’s called a “theophany.”

Or a “Christophany,” being an Old Testament Appearance of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

Joshua “encounters” a “man!”

This Happening transpires just prior to the attack on Jericho. Or should I just say “march” around Jericho? God did the fighting!

As if to further encourage Joshua, this One appears!

The first line, “Joshua (both) LIFTED UP his eyes and (also) LOOKED” … suggests some sore of double vision, I mean double apprehension, double realization! One being physical … here’s a man. The other being spiritual, a (the) Man! (Note the capital “M” on Man!)

The Man, apparently dressed as a Soldier, has a Sword in His Hand! This is God the Warrior! Who’s come to help Joshua and the Jews in tomorrow’s encounter! (Exodus 15:3 … “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.” Words of the song chanted by Moses, Miriam and Israel as they exited the dry Red Sea basin!)

Next. Joshua asks for some identification … “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?”

He then gets a clear answer … “As CAPTAIN OF THE HOST OF THE LORD am I now come.” Wow, as Captain!

Then, Joshua bows to worship this “Man” … and He does not restrain Joshua at all, not in the least! Had this been merely an angel, such worship would have been forbidden, denied! (As occurred to John in Revelation 22:8-9. “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the ANGEL which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou DO IT NOT: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: WORSHIP GOD.” Amen!)

But Jesus does not restrain Joshua one whit! “Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?” (This sounds a lot like Paul’s “What would Thou have me ot do?” Acts 9:6)

Then, the final proof this is Jesus … in a Pre-Incarnate Form … meaning prior to the Virgin Birth … “And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.” The very same words God said to Moses, back at the burning bush!

Holy Ground!

Take off thy shoes!

Amazing!

Think of it … Jesus came and encouraged Joshua on the eve of Israel’s first battle … her first volley claiming the Promised Land!

Oh, dear readers …

I find Him (via the Holy Spirit) doing the same for me … time and time again, as encouragement is needed!

How about you?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Ever heard His “still small voice?”

 

SOME MAJOR CHANGES …

“And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and KEPT THE PASSOVER on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they DID EAT OF THE OLD CORN OF THE LAND on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And THE MANNA CEASED on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” Joshua 5:10-12

Barely in the land, the Jewish people are observing the Passover! Which had not been commemorated in decades. And they did so on the right day, too.

Passover, which is a picture of Christ Jesus our Lord (the Real Lamb of God) dying to provide our salvation, safety, redemption! “When I see the BLOOD,” you remember don’t you?

And the next day after the Passover … “They did eat of the old corn of the land.”

The Lord provided them grain to eat, likely grown by the heathen who inhabited the surrounding acreage, but who had fled from the approaching army! (As promised in Deuteronomy 6:10-11 … “And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full …” A promise kept to the fullest.)

But note this too. “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” No more manna! Which also had lasted for decades, “forty years” in round numbers.

Note: God fed His people miraculously … until they reached their land where they could farm naturally!

Point being … what we can’t do … GOD CAN. But what we can do, GOD WON’T!

Wow!

By the way, the “manna” is a picture of Jesus in His Humility. (Quietly coming from heaven to earth, being quite small, yet white and sweet, certainly available to all!)

The corn of the land is a picture of Jesus in His Glory! (The grain having been planted, having died, and having come back up out of the ground, and having born fruit as well! Death, Burial and Resurrection!!!

Amazing!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

“And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.” Joshua 5:8-9

The rite (actually, a surgical procedure) of circumcision (performed on all the males) was somehow VERY IMPORTANT to the Lord. He had commanded it since the days of Abraham!

God to Abraham: “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.” Genesis 17:11, a personal requirement. Then immediately, in the very next verse, a national requirement. “And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.” Every little baby boy!

But WHY is this so significant?

Our Text today supplies a “hint,” if not a “reason!”

Here it is once more, with some word emphasized, capitalized. “And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I ROLLED AWAY THE REPROACH OF EGYPT from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.”

God took something away (here called a “reproach”) from the Israelites that day. As if that excess skin being cut off each man’s body was a “symbol,” a “picture” of the PUTTING OFF of something!

And it is!

The putting off of the “flesh!”

I suppose God could have asked them to cut off a finger, a toe, etc. … BUT HE DID NOT. The message would have been essentially the same, either way. As followers of God … people must always be wary of the flesh, the body, which does not always cooperate with the things of God!

We owe a lot to the Prophets, and to Paul … for an understanding (spiritually) of what circumcision represents, even yet today in our Christian lives.

Deuteronomy 30:6 gets us started. “And the LORD thy God will CIRCUMCISE THINE HEART, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Hearts having been clipped of fleshly longings … so it is not just a physical thing.

Jeremiah is (typically) more blunt. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and TAKE AWAY THE FORESKINS OF YOUR HEART, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” Jeremiah 4:4, hearts wrongly craving the sensual things of the flesh! See it, “hearts” circumcised again, a spiritual truth taught by a prior physical act!

Then Paul also shows us the metaphorical, typological, symbolic purpose of circumcision. “For he is not a Jew, which is one OUTWARDLY; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one INWARDLY; and circumcision is that of the HEART, in the SPIRIT, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:28-29

So … today’s lesson … every Believer in Jesus Christ … man or woman … can live a life of “excision” (“separation”) from the fleshly desires of our old sinful natures!

We can “put off” (parallel to “circumcise”) these things!

Paul again: “Now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” Colossians 3:8, now THAT’S the principle of circumcision for us today!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, in keeping with this central theme, the circumcision of Israel occurred at a place named “Gilgal.” Which means in Hebrew … “a rolling away!” Putting off the sins of the flesh!

Wow!

 

The Lord required of all the Jews (the men) a certain physical operation called “circumcision.”

It was a “sign” that those dear people belonged to God, were of the seed of Abraham, were in “covenant” with the Almighty. See Genesis 17:10 for proof.

But for all the years of wandering, apparently not a single child had been circumcised! Astounding!

“Now all the people that came out (of Egypt many years ago) were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had NOT circumcised.” Joshua 5:5

It even seems that Moses, leader supreme, had NOT circumcised his sons … until God’s wrath insisted he did! Here’s the account, written as Moses returns to Egypt to confront Pharaoh: “And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.” Exodus 4:24-26, clearly God takes circumcision very seriously. Looks like the Lord was about “to kill” Moses … for his negligence in NOT circumcising the boy!

Wow!

So … “At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2

If Israel “neglected” putting this special “mark” on her sons for those thirty-eight years of wandering (Deuteronomy 2:14) … I wonder what else she neglected to do during that time?

Observing the Passover … that’s another glaring omission!

By the way, a Jewish male could not take part in the Passover unless he has been circumcised! (Exodus 12:48-49 … “And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will 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 one that is born in the land: for NO UNCIRCUMCISED PERSON SHALL EAT THEREOF. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.” Again, this is called a “proof text” here.)

Spiritual neglect!

So … a whole generation of men must now submit to this (painful) procedure, debilitating the whole army … just as they pass into enemy territory! (Yet … obedience to God is better than a trained fighting force being “combat ready!” Apparently so!)

Spiritual neglect!

If they omitted Passover all those years, what about the additional Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles?

No record whatsoever!

Spiritual neglect!

Like today … not going to Church faithfully.

Laxity in Bible reading/study.

Loose living, under the “guise” of Christian liberty!

Hebrews 2:1 might be a good verse to reference now. “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, LEST AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD LET THEM SLIP.” Which would be called “spiritual neglect!”

Amen!

Folks, be careful of spiritual neglect!

It can only hinder you … once you are growing again!

It prohibits one’s true worship too.

But more about that next week, the Lord willing, from Joshua chapter 5.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I think it might be called “the Fear of the Lord.”

When in the case of today’s Bible Text it is perhaps “the fear of the people of the Lord” as well!

A “cause and effect” sequence: “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.” Joshua 5:1, “giving up” nearly before the battles started!

Cause and effect?

The cause: God’s Power in drying the raging waters of the Jordan River, so the Jews could enter the (promised) land of Canaan.

The effect: paralyzing fear falling on the (grossly wicked) inhabitants of that land!

God had clearly promised this phenomenon years ago, in Exodus 23:27. “I WILL SEND MY FEAR BEFORE THEE, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I WILL MAKE ALL THINE ENEMIES TURN THEIR BACKS UNTO THEE.”

Wow!

Moses sure believed God could so this! He prayed, perhaps even daily: “And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and LET THINE ENEMIES BE SCATTERED; and let them that hate thee FLEE BEFORE THEE.” Numbers 10:35

Back in Joshua chapter 2, if you remember, Rahab also had that “fear” in her heart! “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, OUR HEARTS DID MELT, neither did there remain ANY MORE COURAGE in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” Joshua 2:10-11

God … being so “in” His people, or being so “on” His people … that the enemies who surrounded them fell into debilitating fear! Maybe I could even say, God being so “for” His people!

Even to be fulfilled in the coming days of the tribulation … Jesus taught: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; MEN’S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:25-27

Oh, to be that close to God, to have His Hand so powerfully upon us … to the point others know and recognize His Awesome Presence in our lives!

Maybe we can pray yet today a form of Moses’ ancient prayer. Interceding for our children or grandchildren or other loved ones … “Lord, let the enemies be scattered!”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell