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Joshua 5

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1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted; neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

4 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.

5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth from Egypt, them they had not circumcised.

6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: to whom the LORD swore that he would not show them the land which the LORD swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

8 And it came to pass when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.

9 And the LORD said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you: Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to This day.

10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

11 And they ate of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the same day.

12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

13 And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went to him, and said to him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

14 And he said, No; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, What saith my lord to his servant?

15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place on which thou standest is holy: and Joshua did so.

   

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Jordan (the river)

  
Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, by Benjamin West

The river Jordan separates the land of Canaan from the lands to the east. This separation represents the division of the human mind into an internal part and an external part, and it is the internal mind where the church is formed in a person. The river is also limited by two lakes in the north, Merom and Galilee, and the Dead Sea in the south. Inside these limits are the interior things of the mind, and outside are the exterior things. The countries outside, as they are mentioned in the Bible, can be helpful. They represent basic knowledge, reasoning ability, rationality, curiosity, and other qualities that, as friends, can support our religious beliefs, or as enemies can argue against them or conjure up false gods for us to worship. The land inside represents a regenerating state, or it can represent the ultimate end of that state, which is heaven. From outside, then, the Jordan is the entrance to something better, the goal of the journey, and its waters represent the mental washing of repentance, which is the first thing of the church, which is why John baptized there, and Naaman washed there. From the inside the Jordan is the edge of what is outside the church, and for this reason the Children of Israel were so often troubled by those nations outside: the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, Egypt, and Babylon, and the other nations we read about in the Books of Judges and Kings, and in the Prophets. The mental abilities of our external minds can work for what is good, but they can also work for what is bad.