2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time." 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
1. wow... the Israelite camp would have been a place for a lot of sore unmoving men for a while.
and
2. Obedience to the Lord... it costs us something.
Sometimes I wonder about God's need for circumcision for the Israelite men. I wonder why he had them do it.
I know there are health benefits but I tend not to think that was why God had them do it.
So then I wondered, was Israel the only nation that did this? I had this vague recollection that other folks did it as well so I went searching for verification on that. I found this page on Bible Tools. Which told me the following:
However, two things are certain to those who look into these things. First, no people used it as extensively or consistently as Israel did. Second, no other people circumcised their male children on the eighth day of life.
yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised
So God said... "You're not getting into the land that I promised you". In essence he was saying "You aren't doing what you are supposed to be doing, I don't need to uphold what I said". The people knew they weren't following through so.. they corrected their actions.
Once they were all circumcised and healed up from doing so, then God said
The people were able to go into the land that God promised them.
All this makes me wonder.... if things are not going as you want in life, and you are a believer in the Lord God, are there things that God is asking of you that you aren't doing?
Sometimes God withholds things from us due to our lack of obedience.
Being a follower of the living Lord God sometimes requires sacrifice on our part. It wasn't an easy thing for the Israelites to be circumcised, particularly for the older men, but it was something needful of doing.
Is there something needful of doing in your life today?
For me right now... I just need to trust God to see me through a health struggle I am going through. It calls me more to him, which is a good thing. It's hard sometimes to trust and not just try to manage it all on my own with my own good sense. But when my own good sense is not making a whit of difference, then comes more the reliance on God to see me through. And so, today, I need to rely on God more and myself less.
Amen!