Joshua 5: The Circumcision and the Passover

In this chapter, the Israelites are now in the land of Canaan, and local Amorite and Canaanite kings lose heart to oppose them because of God’s miracle at the river Jordan.

God tells Joshua to circumcise all the men who were born since they left Egypt, because none were circumcised in the wilderness, and their fathers who were have now all died. So Joshua obeys, requiring circumcision of all the men of Israel.

As a result, God says to Joshua : “I have this day rolled away the stain of Egypt from you.” The place was therefore called Gilgal, which means “rolling”. The Children of Israel camped there till they were healed. They then ate the Passover using the food of the land for the very first time, and the daily manna, which had been provided by God every day in the wilderness, stopped.

Then, Joshua has an encounter with an angel:

When Joshua lifted his eyes he saw a man opposite him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” The man answered, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Joshua fell and worshipped and asked what he should do? The man said, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy”. And Joshua did so.

Note that this chapter is the very first one when the Israelites are in Canaan, and straightaway two important Jewish rituals are carried out – circumcision and the Passover. Circumcision is the cutting off of the foreskin. It means to become purified from loving oneself and the world, and the outer things of life, and to be righteous before God inwardly. (See Arcana Caelestia 2102.)

This meaning helps us see why elsewhere in the Bible it often talks about “circumcising your heart”. The circumcision in Canaan was to mark the new generation, which spiritually for us means that our regeneration always involves new states. (True Christian Religion 601)

The Passover was originally a meal to mark leaving slavery in Egypt, so it is very appropriate for celebrating entering the promised land. The spiritual meaning of the Passover is rich and complex, but, put simply, it is about the presence of the Lord with us, especially when we attribute life’s good events and blessings to the presence of God. “The Lord has done this for me… The Lord has done that for us.” (Arcana Caelestia 7902) The reason that it is a meal is that we share meals together, often in families, and spiritually everything in us comes together to be joyful and thankful.

The first camp of the Israelites in Canaan was at Gilgal, a place close to Jericho, the name of which means “rolling”. We’ve looked at its connection with circumcision but more generally, to ‘roll’ is to move forward, move on, keep going. This is a powerful early-in-the-story description of our regeneration, with its trials and blessings, both of which aim to keep us moving forward to be evermore in the life the Lord wants us to have. (Arcana Caelestia 8911)

With all this early first feeling of having finally got to Canaan, the land which God had always promised to give them, it is so very appropriate that Joshua is met by a militant angel of the Lord, the Commander of the army of the Lord. (Arcana Caelestia 7277). Note carefully that when Joshua asks if he is for us or for our enemies, the Commander says “No.” Spiritually this is very significant because the Lord uses everything – good and evil – peace and temptation – to lead us towards heaven.

The Commander declares that Joshua is to remove his sandal from off his foot because where he stands, this is holy ground. Spiritually, “holy ground” is the whole sweep of life, and our sense that all of it is the Lord’s gift to us. (See Arcana Caelestia 566, 1585)

2187. 'And they ate' means communication in this manner. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, and also being joined together, as is also evident from the Word. The injunction that Aaron, and his sons the Levites, and also the people were to eat the consecrated elements of the sacrifices in a holy place meant nothing other than the communication, conjunction, and making one's own, as stated above in 2177, at the point where Leviticus 6:16-17, is referred to. For it was celestial and spiritual food that was meant by the consecrated elements, and thus making that food their own by eating those elements. These consecrated elements were those parts of the sacrifices which were not burned on the altar but were eaten either by the priests or by the people who brought the offering, as becomes clear from very many places where the sacrifices are the subject. The consecrated elements that were to be eaten by the priests are referred to in Exodus 29:32-33; Leviticus 6:16, 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Numbers 18:9-11; and those to be eaten by the people, in Leviticus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere. And that those who were unclean were not to eat of them is referred to in Leviticus 7:19-21; 22:4-7. These ritual feasts took place in a holy place near the altar, either at the gate or in the court outside the tent. And they meant nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and making of celestial goods one's own, for those feasts represented celestial food. For what celestial food is, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695. And all those consecrated elements were called 'bread', for the meaning of which see above in 2165. Something similar was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the loaves of the presence, or the shewbread, in a holy place, Leviticus 24:9.

[2] The reason for the law given to the Nazirite that during the days of his Naziriteship he was forbidden to eat anything that is produced from the grape - from which wine is made - from pips even to skin, Numbers 6:4, is that the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such as is not willing even to mention spiritual things, see Volume One, in 202, 337, 880 (end), 1647. And because 'wine' and 'the grape', and also whatever came from the grape, meant that which is spiritual, the Nazirite was therefore forbidden to eat of them, that is, to have any communication with spiritual things, to join himself to them, or to make them his own.

[3] Something similar is meant by 'eating' in Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:1-2.

And also what is said in John,

To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the Paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.

'The tree of life' is the celestial itself, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself since He is the source of everything celestial, that is, of all love and charity. Thus 'eating from the tree of life' is the same as feeding on the Lord; and 'feeding on the Lord' is being endowed with love and charity, thus with those things that belong to heavenly life, as the Lord Himself declares in John,

I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. He who feeds on Me will live through Me. John 6:51, 57. But they said, This is a hard saying. Jesus said however, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:60, 63.

From this it is evident what is meant by 'eating' in the Holy Supper, Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20 - having communication, being joined together, and making one's own.

[4] From this it is also plain what is meant by the Lord's statement that

Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matthew 8:11.

The Lord did not mean that they were going to feast with these three in the kingdom of God but that they were to enjoy the celestial goods meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is to say, they were to enjoy the inmost celestial goods of love, meant by -Abraham'; also a lower type of goods, which are intermediate, as those are which belong to the rational, meant by 'Isaac'; and a still lower type of goods which are celestial-natural, such as occur in the first heaven, meant by 'Jacob'. These are the things which constitute the internal sense of these words. That such things are meant by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, see 1893, and wherever else they are the subject. For whether one speaks of enjoying those celestial things, or whether one speaks of enjoying the Lord, whom they represent, it amounts to the same since the Lord is the source of all those things, and the Lord is their All in all.