Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I have a challenging question for us: Do you know anyone having a hard time moving beyond their past? Or do you know anyone living in the dark shadow of the past of their parents or grandparents?
Once again Joshua’s journey speaks so powerfully to us today, 3400 years later, about these very situations. Come, let’s rejoin Joshua and more than 1 million Israelites as they awaken their first morning in the land of promise at Gilgal. Oh, the Jordan river is still flowing at flood stage, but this morning they’ve awakened for the first time on the West side of the Jordan and this morning, for the first time in 4 decades, they do not step out of their tents looking at the desert sand! Can you imagine their excitement as they contemplate their future in this new land?
Sadly, this excited generation of young Israelites were all living under the dark shadow of 40 years of their parents’ rebellion toward God! Joshua records for us the shocking news he heard from God: “At that time the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites!” (Joshua 5:2) What? What’s happening here? This is not describing normal circumcision of baby boys on the 8th day after their birth. Oh no, God was commanding Joshua to lead the circumcision of grown, adult men! Why?
Joshua records for us why: “Now this is why: ‘All those Israelites who came out of Egypt of military age died in the desert. All the Israelite men who had fled Egypt had been circumcised, but all the Israelite sons born in the wilderness, on the journey from Egypt, had not!“ (Joshua 5:5) There it is my friends, the tragedy of sons growing up in rebellious families with parents refusing to obey God! Do you anyone who has grown up in a family with parents who rebelled against God?
This really fascinates me. For centuries the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his 12 sons had been born, lived and died in Egypt. For a very long time they lived as slaves in bondage so even if they wanted to return to their homeland, which God had given to Abraham so many years ago, they were slaves, shackled to slave work in Egypt. It should not be difficult for us to imagine how painful life was for them and how easily these people could have become very resentful toward God. Very easily they could have concluded God had turned His back on them and withdrawn His Covenant with them.
But the sign of that Covenant God made with Abraham was the mark of circumcision given to every baby boy born to Israelite parents. On that same day of circumcision, they were also given their carefully selected name. It was a very significant ceremony in every Israelite family, slave or free. Joshua tells us all those men rushing out of Egypt had been faithfully circumcised by their Israelite enslaved parents and grandparents. While they had no hope of deliverance from slavery, at least they would continue the tradition of bearing the mark of God’s Covenant with His people.
But something changed at Kadesh Barnea when Moses received the report from those 12 young men, he’d sent in to spend 40 days investigating this land of promise, 40 years ago. The report, which 10 of those young men gave, frightened the people and they refused to trust God and follow Him into the new land. Only two, Joshua and Caleb stood calling the people to recognize all God had done to free them from Egypt and sustain them since leaving Egypt, but the people refused to hear them.
God’s response, as you know, was that this entire nation of people would wander in the hot Sinai desert, one year for every day those young leaders had investigated the new land. And while they wandered for those 40 years all of those over age 20 would die, several each day, until finally no one who had rejected God’s invitation was alive!
Now, do you see something very significant my friends? Those faithless adults wandering the desert allowed their hearts to become hard, bitter, resentful toward God. How do I know? While they depended on God for their daily food supply of Manna each morning; and God’s miraculous water supply for 1 million people; and God’s protection from the desert heat as he kept a cloud over them by day; and as they celebrated God’s symbol of His Presence with them and Love for them, with the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night hovering over the Tabernacle… still those hard hearts refused to give their sons born during those 40 years, the mark of God’s Covenant!
And thus, this entire generation of young men lived without the blessing of God, do you see the problem? This generation of men lived daily with the shame of being uncircumcised, knowing their parents had refused to give them the Covenant mark of God! (Joshua 5:6,7)
Now, I don’t know how Joshua spread God’s instructions to hundreds of thousands of men, nor do I know how those men responded when they heard this news? I can’t tell you exactly how this huge task was accomplished, but Joshua’s record simply says this: “After all the Israelite men had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.” (Joshua 5:8)
No anesthesia, no super sharp surgical instruments, no antiseptic, no operating rooms, no sterile bandages! Can you hear the screams throughout the camp? Can you hear the groans of agony for many hours, perhaps days after these terrible adult circumcisions? Can you imagine what these men were thinking about their parents who had refused to give them this Covenant mark of God when they were little baby boys? Women, can you imagine the efforts of wives, daughters and mothers in trying to comfort and ease the pain of their men?
And all through the camp during these days of circumcision and recovery, I suspect there was one major thought everyone was contemplating: oh, the price of rebellion against God! 40 years of wandering in the desert and now this! And that’s why what God said next to Joshua is so important: “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ On the evening of the 14th day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.” (Joshua 5:9,10)
Forgiveness is one of the greatest human experiences of all, do you agree? Forgiveness from God and stepping forward into a new future, with God, forgiven of the past is exhilarating! That’s what was happening here at Gilgal, and what better way to recommit themselves to God as God’s people, then celebrating the Passover!
Did you notice it was on the 10th day they crossed the Jordan river, and we presume it was on the 11th day they experienced this circumcision and then three days later they celebrated their new future as God’s people with the Passover! Do you see the symbolism my friends? Looking back 40 years, their experience connected them with the generation of their parents who fled Egypt the night of the first Passover.
Looking forward, was this experience pointing forward to the Passover weekend when Jesus would become the Passover Lamb, giving His life as the atonement sacrifice for Jews and all peoples of the world, and making new life in Christ possible for anyone?
I think we should pause right here…oh so much to consider. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you understand how God wants you to apply all this to your personal life, your life story, the shadow of your past, the shadow of your parents’ past. And here’s a wonderful song to help us thank Jesus, my friends…
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 5:2-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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