Joshua - Joshua 5:4-9 DailyBibleStudy.Org

To receive notice of each days Bible Study,
please go to my Twitter and Facebook pages and sign up.

Daily Bible Study
You can help people worldwide. Please make a small donation. Make a difference in someone elses life.	Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your email inbox.	Express your comments, opinions, questions, etc.

Joshua 5:4-9

Lesson # Josh. 5:4-9
Study Material - Josh. 5:4-9

You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.

Josh. 5:4-9

4 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, died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to whom the LORD had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 And their children whom He raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them along the way. 8 Now it came about when they had finished circumcising all the nation, that they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 'Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.' So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

Gilgal means to take away, and that is what was removed from Israel, the reproach of Egypt, the idolatry, the negative attitude, the fundamental rejection of God and His provision.

For forty years a generation of adults wandered through the desert. Their wandering in the desert is proof of their negative attitude, of their looking back to the pleasures of Egypt (they forget the brick making part of it of course).

This generation that left Egypt was circumcised. But who circumcised them? Their parents. Their parents were positive and continued or at least recovered the practice of circumcision in that last older generation in Egypt. The adult male generation that came out of Egypt did not circumcise themselves at eight days of age. No infant can do that, but his parents performed the ritual in compliance with Gods command, not the child.

Now the child has grown up and has seen the miracles of God. Yet this generation remained stubborn to the point that God even threatened to keep them out of the promised land lest they change their minds. They did not. That stubborn generation did not circumcise their new born children. Those born in the desert. They did not follow Gods commands as written and documented by Moses, so they died in the desert, seeing the promised land. They could always look off to the horizon, or across the river, but they would never enter into the land.

The land represents spiritual maturity. The crossing of the Red Sea represented salvation, deliverance from Egypt, from slavery to sin and certain death. So all who crossed over were saved. They were just negative.

The crossing over of the Jordan River represents advancing to spiritual maturity, the crossing over into maturity and the place of blessings. The land of milk and honey - the best of life provided by God.

Those who came out of Egypt were circumcised but negative toward God. Those who crossed into the promised land were uncircumcised yet positive toward God. They immediately complied with Gods command to circumcise themselves.

Circumcision of the flesh has nothing to do with the spiritual life. It is a mere representation of compliance with Gods mandates. Clearly the generation leaving Egypt was defiant and the generation entering into the land was positive. The real circumcision is of the soul. That is the cutting away of the dead parts of the soul, expressing faith in Christ the savior, and continuing in a positive attitude toward God thereafter.

Both generations were positive, yet the latter entered into the land while the former was denied entrance into the land.

Those who are positive and comply with Gods commands will reach spiritual maturity and they will in turn receive the blessings of spiritual maturity. By the way, that is the goal of the spiritual life - to attain that position of maturity and remain there throughout our life. It becomes the basis for even greater blessings (above and beyond all we can imagine) in eternity.

Those who reject God, those who remain disinterested in God, those who are apathetic toward God, those who look to replacements or substitutes for God, to all of these there will be great disappointment. They may have some good things in life, but those are from God as well. Their life will end and misery and doom will be their great legacy. They will receive nothing and if they rejected salvation through Christ, then they will really lose everything for all of eternity. If they happened to believe in Christ during their life, but remained negative for the remainder of their life, then they will lose all of those exceeding great blessings of eternity. Eternity is a long, long time. Now is the time of making the greatest of all investments that a person can make in ones life.

As the negative generation could see the promised land during all of their wandering in the desert (they knew their destination), so too everyone of us, everyone on earth has or will have ample opportunity to see what is out there waiting for them through Gods Word. Unfortunately most will ignore the opportunity. Most will ignore the warning signs of great loss in the life. They will live their life and come up short of great blessing.

The physical act of surgery does not save you nor make you grow up spiritually. Nothing you do in life can save you or make you grow up spiritually. Only the act of faith, and a positive attitude toward God can do that. God does all of the work. God gets all of the credit.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

If you enjoy these Bible Studies, please consider making a Donation