Anne Fountain - What Joshua had for Breakfast

Joshua 4:19–5:12 – The Passover at Gilgal

Scene 1: Gilgal

^4:19So the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and they set up camp in Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho.

²⁰And these twelve stones, which they took from the Jordan, Joshua raised in Gilgal. ²¹ He spoke to the children of Israel saying, “When, in the future, your children ask their fathers saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you will let your children know saying, ‘On dry ground Israel crossed over this Jordan.’ ²³ For the Lord your God caused the waters of the Jordan to dry up from before you until you had passed over; as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea which he dried up from before us until we had passed over. ²⁴ In order that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is strong; (and) in order that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

Scene 2: The Land of Canaan

^5:1So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the other side, the west of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had caused the waters of the Jordan to dry up before the Children of Israel until we had crossed over, then their heart grew fearful and there was no longer any spirit in them in the face of the children of Israel.

Scene 3.1: The Circumcision

²At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself and again circumcise the children of Israel a second time.” ³So Joshua made for himself flint knives and circumcised the children of Israel at Gibeath Haaraloth.

⁴And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised: all the people who came out from Egypt, the males, all the men of war, died on the way in the desert as they came out from Egypt. ⁵For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born on the way, after they came out of Egypt, were not circumcised. ⁶For forty years the children of Israel walked in the desert until all the people were destroyed, [including] all the men of war who came out of Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that they would not see the land the Lord swore to their fathers to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷So he raised up their sons (children) instead of them. Joshua circumcised them for they were uncircumcised because they were not circumcised on the way.

⁸When they had completed circumcising all the people then they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. ⁹Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So the the place has been called Gilgal until this day.

Scene 3.2: The Passover

¹⁰And the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and they kept the Feast of the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, in the desert plains of Jericho. ¹¹And they ate from the food of the land the day after the Feast of the Passover; unleavened bread and parched grain, on that very day. ¹²Then the manna stopped, on the day after they ate the food of the land, so there was no longer manna for the children of Israel, but they ate the produce of the land of Canaan in that year.

(translation Anne G. Fountain 2016-11-19)

Sermon notes - What Joshua had for Breakfast

0. The story so far

Scene 1: Gilgal

Scene 2: The Land of Canaan

Scene 3.1: The Circumcision

Scene 3.2: The Passover