At that time Jehovah said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of flint, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. And Joshua made him knives of flint, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: all the people that came forth out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt. For all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the nation, even the men of war that came forth out of Egypt, were consumed, because they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Joshua 5:2–6a.
It was the younger generation that was circumcised. Where did this event take place? They had already crossed over the Jordan river miraculously, when the Lord rolled it up. Have you ever been able to pile up water? God can do it. He made a wall out of the Red Sea and He piled up the Jordan River. And they walked through on dry ground.
After the miracle, by which they made the transition over into the land of Canaan, the Lord required something—something that He’s also requiring of us: circumcision.
He wants your heart searched. He doesn’t want anything of the old life left.
He wants to be sure you’re going to respond correctly, so the reproach of Egypt has to be removed.
That is symbolic and if we were to put it into terms of what God has been speaking to people today we would say their responses as slaves have to change.
They have to consider themselves no longer ex-slaves of Egypt but new tenants of Canaan land with a different thinking.
You can get a man out of Egypt, but we have to get the thinking and responses of his mind to Egypt out of him? Does he still flinch every time he hears the crack of a whip? Does he still feel it’s better to crawl and bow one’s head in cowardice and abject submission? Does he murmur and complain and weep because his nightmares and his dreams show him that inwardly he’s still a slave?
He can’t convince himself that he is free. That’s the problem when God is delivering people. He’ll deliver them, but they won’t loose themselves from the bondages, the invisible cords that bind them.
Now, God told Joshua, “We have to get you loose from Egypt, roll off the reproach of Egypt—and so you’re going to circumcise all the younger generation. We don’t want any of the reactions of Egypt. We’re in a new generation, born and created for conquest; we’re going in.” After they circumcised them, they kept the Passover.
And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the passover in the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. Verse 10.
The Passover had almost as much significance for them as it had the night the Israelites left Egypt. They left Egypt to come forth into the wilderness wanderings, and now they were leaving the wilderness wanderings to go in and possess Canaan.
Once again they were looking for judgments just as decisive as God had brought upon the Egyptians. Now they were looking for God to judge the Canaanites in their wickedness.
The conquest of Canaan was twofold: God was giving them protection and possession of what He had promised. God had told Abraham the reason why the Israelites would be in Egypt for 430 years—“The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet come to the full.” (Genesis 15:16.) What did He mean—they hadn’t sinned enough? That’s right, they had to come up to the full measure of their rejection of God and of the truth He had brought to them so that God would be justified in what He ordered for them: total annihilation. It had to be.
If their wickedness had not gone the full course, if they still had had too much righteousness in them to be completely destroyed, their most vile wickedness would have defiled Israel immediately and within one generation the Israelites would have perished in their own iniquity.
By the mercy of God they proceeded to keep the Passover judgment upon their own hearts. By the blood there is a passing over of judgment. But that judgment was soon going to fall on Jericho. As with Egypt of old on that Passover night, so it would soon be with Jericho—its walls were going to come down.
And they did eat of the produce of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten the produce 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. Verses 11, 12.
Their diet had to change. Now they were to have the diet of conquerors: the corn and blessings of Canaan. They were to eat off the land that they conquered: what they did in obedience was to feed them.
Manna is good food when you are wandering in a wilderness, but you don’t want to be in the wilderness forever. Besides, that manna with the taste of wafers and honey could get rather monotonous. They had soon complained “our soul loatheth this light bread.” (Numbers 21:5.) Why does God give food in a rather monotonous way in the wilderness? As wonderful as it was, even called “angel’s food” in the Psalms, still it was meant to have a monotonous quality.
If you were to take one of your favorite foods, and eat nothing but that for a year, the sheer monotony would make you sick of it. So now it was time for them to go and get the old corn of the land. That’s what the conquerors eat. “But there are some Canaanites sitting their guarding that granary.” That’s to give you an appetite; you take the Canaanites before breakfast and work up a good appetite.
There’s a time that God sustains you, then comes the time that He weans you and says, “Now dig for it to feed yourself.”
The children of Israel would have been very happy if the manna had continued, but for their good it stopped, because manna will make you lose your initiative. “What’s the use of working? Tomorrow comes the manna. God blesses me, my clothes don’t wear out, my shoes don’t wear out, my feet don’t swell.”
So the Lord takes it away, and after you sit around three or four days without manna, you’ll get some initiative! You’ll make a snare to catch a jackrabbit or do something because you have to live.
There comes a time when you realize that you don’t grow by just taking in, but by doing the will of God, as Christ said: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. John 4:34.
The ministries are coming forth because God has shown that the shallow level of feeding is over. We will eat the old corn of the land; we will eat the fruit of Canaan this year—going into the area that God’s given us to possess and there we will literally appropriate. With our own bare hands and the appropriation of faith in our hearts we will take the thing that God has for us. This is not a matter of works but of the urgency and earnestness of our faith.
The children of Israel are eating the old corn of the land; they’ve kept the Passover; they’re eating the new food, they’re ready to enter in as conquerors, and Joshua is sizing up Jericho.
And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the prince of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Verses 13–15.
We can picture this and apply it to our situation. “We’re doing the work of the Lord now. Now the battle is on, Lord; are You going to help us or hinder us?” The Lord in this hour is standing with a drawn sword.
Joshua is looking at Jericho, “Lord, we have to fight for our food now. You know, we don’t get the manna anymore. Are You going to help us in this battle or are You going to hinder us?”
The Lord just points His finger, “You’re all confused, Joshua. Do you think I’m going to come along and help you? You have the wrong idea. You think I come here to hinder you? How wrong can you be? I came to take over.
I’m not helping you; you’re helping me. Generals don’t go along helping the lieutenants; the lieutenants help the general.
I’m the Captain of the host of Israel. Oh, you’ll have to get things straightened out, Joshua. You’re not calling on God to use Him in an emergency; you’re here to do the will of God. I’m going to personally take over because I’m a little afraid your initiative and your wisdom is going to mess things up. So I’m going to show you what to do.” As far as we know that presence never left.
The unseen general? No, He was very visible. Will our Captain be visible? He will be so very real to us in so many tangible ways that we will never doubt his presence.
What’s the next step? Into more and more leading of the Lord. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Romans 8:14.
The one transition that takes place in the life of a believer as he comes into spiritual maturity is that he lives less and less by his own reason, pleading for God to help him when he’s in a corner or uptight.
More and more does he walk valiantly by the hand of the Lord right into problems that are even bigger than he ever dreamed of getting into on his own initiative.
You don’t believe that God leads you into a corner? Have you found the biggest troubles you ever got into in your life were in this walk when you were trying to follow the Spirit and you were sure you knew the voice of the Lord, and it led you right into a corner?
Did that ever happen to you? It happened to Israel after they had come out of Egypt. The Lord led them right into a real bottleneck between the Red Sea and the mountains, pursued by Pharaoh. Then they looked for a word from the Lord and He said, “Stand still.” They cried to the Lord, and He said, “What are you crying to Me for? Go ahead. Go forward.”
We’re in Canaan; we’re ready to move. What do we do next? We look for the Lord day by day. I’m less concerned about the quantity of what God does than I am concerned about the quality of our walk with the Lord.
Anyone can add the human qualities to bring success. I’m called to something else. I would rather do exactly what the Lord directs while contending and praying—not for the blessing of God upon my plans—but crying and praying and fasting until I hear what God wants, and then set about in the Spirit to do it.
This will be the key of the Kingdom that will be taken. People who are led by the Spirit of God will possess the Kingdom. The Captain of the host of Israel stands with a drawn sword. He is going to lead you.