The Day of Flint Knives

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD—to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. (Joshua 5:2-9)

Details are easily forgotten. Those born in Egypt had all been circumcised, since the Egyptians practiced circumcision. In fact, not being circumcised in Egypt would have been hard. But in the wilderness, wandering from place to place, surrounded by wastelands, picking up food that had fallen from the sky every morning without fail, drinking water from springs that magically sprang from the ground, led by a pillar of fire by night and smoke by day, with Moses up front, apparently it was hard to remember all the stuff God expected of them. Even the rituals seem to have been too much effort, let alone things like loving people and loving God.

When it was time to enter the land and conquer it, Joshua forced the people to finally start paying attention to the agreement they had with God. Circumcision was an easy part of that: it was just a ritual. Joshua hoped that by performing even the simplest of rituals, particularly a painful one, that perhaps the people would start to think more about God. Certainly the men, who endured the operation, would have time to reflect while they healed. God has different ways of trying to get our attention.

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