Joshua 5:1-9

Joshua Circumcises the Israelites. Here we have an interesting but quite unhistorical account of the institution of circumcision. Circumcision (pp. 83, 99f.) is a prehistoric rite practised by many nations in antiquity and by the South Sea Islanders, African, and Australian aborigines in the present day. Here we have an attempt to date its origin in Israel from the entry into Palestine, while in Genesis 17* (P) its origin is dated from the command given by God to Abraham. The endeavours of subsequent scribes to bring the two accounts into conformity with one another are seen in the insertion of Joshua 5:3. The original narrative is probably to be found in Joshua 5:2 and Joshua 5:9. Joshua is ordered to circumcise the nation by Yahweh, who says, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. The only meaning to be attached to these words is that the Egyptians had reproached the Israelites with being uncircumcised, just as the Israelites themselves subsequently reproached the Philistines. Later writers however, especially in the face of Genesis 17, could not admit that the Israelites were uncircumcised in Egypt; Joshua 5:3 was accordingly added, stating that the Israelites who were circumcised at Gilgal were those who had been born in the wilderness, and for some unexplained reason had never undergone the rite, though this, of course, leaves the words, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you, quite without meaning. That the original account gave offence to later editors is also seen from the interesting fact that the stone knives here mentioned are again found in LXX Joshua 21:42 and Joshua 24:30, where they are said to have been preserved at Timnath- serah. These passages, no doubt, belong to the old tradition that circumcision was instituted by Joshua at Gilgal, but as being in conflict with the priestly account in Genesis 17 were omitted from the Hebrew text.

Joshua 5:2 f. knives of flint: this, like the parallel case of Zipporah's circumcision of her son with a flint (Exodus 4:25), is an example of what is known as the conservatism of the religious instinct. The rite dated back beyond the period when metal knives were in use. A Central Australian tradition (Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 223f., 394- 402) carries us back beyond even stone knives to the use of the fire-stick for circumcision, but stone knives are said to have been introduced because so many of the boys died under the operation (pp. 224, 401f.). Any deviation from traditional routine is felt to be dangerous in religious ceremonies, and just as the fire-stick was employed after flint knives were known, so the latter relic of the Stone Age continued to be used after metal knives had been introduced. See Joshua 8:31 *. A. S. P.]

Joshua 5:10, which records the eating of the first passover in the Promised Land, belongs to the Priestly writer. The editor took care to put the account of the circumcision before that of the Passover, for, according to Exodus 12:48, no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.