Joshua 5:9
‘Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.’
This has been a long time coming. It should have happened forty years earlier. However the people’s faith was weak and they didn’t trust God to bring them into the land. The sign of circumcision would have been meaningless.
Egypt represented slavery. They were there over four hundred years. They weren’t slaves the entire time. However, much of it they were. God freed them forty years ago. Unfortunately, many craved Egypt. They were returning in their hearts. Yes, the desert crossing was rough. But it wasn’t their home.
They were freed as a nation. We hear the grumblings of many in Exodus 14:11, ‘They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?”‘
The deliverance from Egypt is a type of becoming a christian. It’s like being delivered from the world and sin. The comparison fails as we do this individually because we want to. Israel came out as a nation which contained many whose hearts were still in Egypt. They brought much negativity to the experience. They contributed to the failure to enter the land forty years earlier.
Today’s verse has them receiving freedom and the removal of shame. They are choosing to believe and enter the Promised Land. The sign of circumcision is appropriate. This symbol is done one their bodies and their hearts.
This is just like us and baptism. This is done as we choose to follow Jesus. We dip down in the water and symbolically leave our old life in the water. As we emerge from the water we are a new person in Christ. It’s been done in reality. Jesus calls it being born again.
What an exciting time for Israel. En masse they walked through the Jordan on dry ground. I believe the people of Jericho saw this. This had to instill panic. The people in our lives see us change in Christ. Not as dramatic, but God does His work in their hearts.
Thank You, Lord, for the real change You’ve done in us as well as the symbols and rituals You’ve given us to go through. A symbol to the world to what we’ve done.