Wrapping Up, Moving Forward

            As if to underscore that the Conquest is the completion of what the Lord had started 40 years earlier with the Exodus, the men of Israel are circumcised.  I’ll admit that doesn’t make much sense to me.  First—and this is a quibble—why not do the circumcising on the other side of Jordan, before you cross and leave yourself all exposed to the Canaanites?  I don’t know the answer to that one either.  Second, why weren’t they circumcised in the wilderness?  One commentator suggests that circumcision had been suspended because throughout the wilderness wandering their status as God’s covenant people was, in a way, suspended.  I don’t find that convincing.  On the other hand, given how much of our reading has been dominated by God’s laws, I don’t find it terribly convincing that they forgot.  I don’t know why they hadn’t been circumcised, but the bigger point is that they are now:  things are moving forward.

            That things are moving forward is also indicated by the celebration of Passover, which forms a sort of bookend between leaving Egypt and receiving the land.  So, in Egypt there was Passover then Exodus, in Canaan there’s exodus then Passover.  That chapter of their national story is complete, and it’s time to move forward.  The manna ends, the commander of the army of the Lord (presumably an angel, perhaps Michael the archangel, perhaps the angel of the Lord) appears to Joshua, and it is time to start conquering this land.  (This commander has a message that bears some thought, too, but I’m out of time:  Joshua asks, “Are you for us or against us,” and the commander basically asks, “The better question is: are you for the Lord or against Him?”)