Bible Strands
Joshua 5:4
Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator explains Joshua’s action at Gibeath-haaraloth immediately after the Israelite camp is established east of Jericho and before the conquest begins. The text addresses the second generation of Israelites, accounting for the administrative delay in administering the covenant sign.
The words — הַדָּבָר (ha-davar) denotes the specific cause or reason for the action, while מָל (mal) is the active verb describing the cutting of the foreskin. Joshua performs this rite to address a specific historical gap in the people’s status.
The thread — The text traces this demographic reality to the wilderness judgment recorded in Numbers 26:64 and Deuteronomy 2:16, where the exodus generation died due to disobedience. The pattern of wilderness failure and divine judgment is later referenced in 1 Corinthians 10:5.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to recognize that covenant obedience cannot be assumed across generations and must be actively administered. It establishes a clear boundary between the old generation that fell and the new generation entering the promise.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:64 Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
- Deuteronomy 2:16 Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,
- 1 Corinthians 10:5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
- Numbers 14:22 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Deuteronomy 2:14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
- Hebrews 3:17 And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?