Joshua 5:10-12

The Keeping of the Passover Joshua 5:10-12

10 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.
11 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.
12 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.

10.

Could the Passover be kept on the fourteenth day of that month? Joshua 5:10

The circumcision of the people was performed on the day after the crossing of the Jordan. According to Joshua 4:19, the crossing was the tenth day of the first month. Now, as the Passover was kept on the fourteenth (Joshua 5:10), the two accounts are said to be irreconcilable. The account of the circumcision is said to have been set down as a later and unhistorical legend. Several objections are made to the historical credibility of this account. One is that the suffering consequent upon circumcision made a person ill for several days, and according to Genesis 34:25 was worst on the third day, so that the people could not have kept the Passover on that day (see Leviticus 15:1 ff.). Genesis 34:25 by no means proves that the pain was worst on the third day. Even if this were the case, it would not prevent the keeping of the Passover. The lambs could have been killed and prepared by the thousands of men who had been circumcised as children in Egypt. Those who were still unwell could join in the meal, since it was only Levitical uncleanness and not disease or pain which formed a legal obstacle to this (Numbers 9:10 ff.).

11.

What day was the morrow after the Passover? Joshua 5:11

In Numbers 33:3, this phrase refers to the fifteenth of Nisan. Here it must be understood as signifying the sixteenth. The produce of the land, of which they ate not only on that day but according to Joshua 5:12 throughout that year, was both the corn of the previous year, and the produce of that same year. This would be new corn, and they were not allowed to eat any of that until it had been sanctified to the Lord by the presentation of the wave sheaf on the second day of the Passover (Leviticus 23:11). The fact that both the old corn and the parched corn are mentioned in the same verse throws some light on the abundant crops which grew in the land. The Israelites were able not only to eat of the produce of the present year, but there was produce left over from the previous year. It was a good land which God had promised to them.

12.

When did the manna cease? Joshua 5:12

Special prominence is given to the words, in the selfsame day, because not only did the eating of the new corn commence on that day, but from that day forward the children of Israel had manna no more. This statement is evidently related to Exodus 16:35 and must be understood according to that passage as signifying that on this day the gift of the manna entirely ceased (Exodus 16:14-36; Psalms 78:25; John 6:31; John 6:49; John 6:58; Revelation 2:17). God had abundantly provided for His people all during the days of the wilderness wanderings. Each day they had a supply of manna to form the mainstay of their diet. On the day before the Sabbath they gathered a double portion. It did not spoil as they kept it over the Sabbath day. Whenever they tried to become greedy and gathered a double supply during the week, the manna spoiled and would not keep for them. This was a miraculous provision God had made. When they got to the land of promise, there was no need for this special providence.