Joshua 5:1-9

(20 — 5:9) It would seem that these verses all belong to one section. The use of the first person in Joshua 5:1, “until we were passed over,” is most naturally explained by taking the verse as part of what the Israelites were to say to their children by the command of Joshua. The difficulty has been met in the Hebrew Bible by a Masoretic reading, in which “they” is substituted for “we.” But the more difficult reading is to be preferred. There is nothing else in the section that creates any difficulty. The twenty-third verse authorises a comparison between the passage of Jordan and the passage of the Red Sea. As the one is called a “baptising unto Moses,” in the New Testament, we may call the other a baptising unto Joshua. (Comp. the “us” in Joshua 4:23, with the “we” of Joshua 5:1.) The first person also appears in Joshua 4:6, “that he would give us.” It would appear that, besides explaining the erection of the stones, the Israelites were also to explain to their children the meaning of Gilgal, the place where the stones were, and this explanation is not completed until the end of Joshua 4:9.