GOD CIRCUMCISED THE ISRAELITES AGAIN

Joshua 5:1-15
Key Verse: 5:2

    "At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and
     circumcise the Israelites again."

     In the last passage we studied how God trained the Israelites
in obedience. God's command seemed unnecessary to General Joshua, to
bring twelve stones from the middle of the River Jordan. Nevertheless,
he said, "Yes, Sir." He had an absolutely obedient heart to God Almighty.
After listening to God's command he said to his people sternly, "Choose
one man from each tribe and go into the River Jordan and bring one stone
for each tribe." It was indeed a command hard to obey. All the people
of Israel had crossed the River Jordan by faith. Still they needed
enormous courage and strength to overcome their fear. Then again, the
command to bring out twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where
the priests who carried the ark stood was a totally impossible command
to obey. But they obeyed God's command through General Joshua. When
Joshua finished setting up the twelve stones at Gilgal, he taught them a
sense of history by saying, "In the future when your children ask you,
‘What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was
cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and all the people
of Israel crossed the River Jordan on dry land as Moses had crossed the
Red Sea." To remember the historical facts was very important to the
people of Israel. If they didn't remember what God had done for them,
their hearts would be filled with the things of the world and they
would gradually perish. In today's passage, God prepared his people
practically as the soldiers of God who were supposed to destroy the
fortress of Jericho. Then soon they would conquer the entire territory
of the Promised Land. Today, let's study what's most important for each
of us to be the conquerors of our own lives as well as of our nation.

First, God commanded General Joshua to circumcise the people again
(1-5). When the nations of Canaan heard  that the Israelites crossed
the River Jordan, what was their response? Verse one condenses their
surprise, "Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all
of the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up
the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts
melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites." Here we
see their future victory before fighting when they obeyed the word of God
Almighty. Until now all the people from all nations looked mighty big and
strong in the eyes of the Israelites. When the twelve Israelite spies saw
Canaan the first time, the land was flowing with milk and honey, but the
people were too strong to conquer. Ten spies disheartened the Israelites
because of their negative report.  Joshua and Caleb gave convincing
reports but the Israelites did not respond to them. As we studied, the
Promised Land was like America–rich and vast and everywhere was so well
cultivated. The land looked like it was flowing with milk and honey and
was full of fruitful branches of vines, dropping down toward the ground.
But now the people of the nations of the Canaanites were melted by fear
because Almighty God divided the River Jordan. They tried to prepare for
the upcoming warfare with the Israelites, but had no courage to face
them. In this situation, the soldiers of Israel could be complacent
and overconfident and possibly had lost the spirit of crossing the
River Jordan.

     God Almighty knew his people's spiritual condition, and called
General Joshua and said, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites
all over again." Actually there were many who had been circumcised,
but God wanted them to be circumcised all over again. Circumcision was
the sign of being God's covenant people. Circumcision was done to Father
Abraham first and it has been done to all the Israelites after him as a
sign of being God's people and as a sign of their identity as Israelites.
Circumcision is very painful. It is because they have to cut the foreskin
of the child-producing organ in the middle of the body, right under the
bellybutton around eight inches down under. Of course, women do not have
to be circumcised. But to the people of Israel, circumcision had immense
importance to God and to themselves. Circumcision is very painful. After
circumcision, they cannot go to the washroom freely, not to mention
fighting against enemy soldiers. For a week's time they have to suffer
from the pain of circumcision. Circumcision meant to consecrate oneself
before God. Without having a right heart in the sight of God, no one
can be victorious in his life. Furthermore, the Israelites had been in
captivity in Egypt for 430 years, so it might be that they had lingering
habits of slave mentality. Therefore, circumcision was necessary for
them. But the timing seems to be wrong, because they were near the Jericho
Fortress. It was the first fortress to the entrance of the Promised Land.

     They had to be circumcised because all those who came out of
Egypt–all the men of military age–died in the desert after leaving Egypt.
All the people that came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but all the
people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. So,
there were some who had been circumcised and there were some who had
not been circumcised.  The Israelites who came out of Egypt, out of
slavery did not obey God's daily bread training in the desert for forty
long years. So all of them who came out of Egypt died in the desert,
not seeing the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey. The
people of Israel who crossed the Jordan were their children. These
children were mostly not circumcised. We have to think about why they had
to be circumcised when they had to engage in a fierce battle to destroy
the fortress of Jericho which was well-fortified. The people of Israel
had never had battle or war experience. They were not really ready to
fight and destroy the fortress of Jericho and next, to conquer the whole
land of Canaan. This is the reason God circumcised them: to have a right
attitude in the sight of God. After this event, the Israelites circumcised
their children historically and traditionally. But it turned out to
be habitual. So Paul said to the traditional Jews, "... Circumcision
is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code"
(Ro 2:29). Circumcision of the heart is indeed necessary for each person
to be victorious and fruitful as well as for every nation.

     There was one shepherd in UBF at the beginning time of UBF. The
shepherd was a man of thought and at the same time he was a man of a
broken shepherd heart for his people. He started student ministry to fix
up his country from a nation of beggar mentality to a nation of world
conquest. But one problem happened to him in his heart. At that time he
and many of his sheep were almost the same in age. So many girls called
him, not "shepherd" but "brother." The problem was not the girls, but
the shepherd himself. He felt his sheep were emotionally like brothers
and sisters. The shepherd saw women as women. That was the big problem.
So he came to God and asked for his help. Then God gave him John 10:11,
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep." He meditated on this quite a long time. "What is the meaning
of being a shepherd?" Finally, God inspired him, "A shepherd  cannot
be a brother or sister to his sheep. He must be a spiritual father
to them." As soon as this thought came to his heart, God circumcised
his heart. God also changed his feeling toward women. The shepherd did
not see women as women, but as spiritual daughters. Because of this, he
earned great respect from all the women around him. These women began to
work hard. Thus, UBF grew and grew. But several who saw the sisters as
women failed to feed them with the word of God. Finally, they committed
a great sin against God and it was a great disaster to UBF ministry.
It is not easy to circumcise one's heart. It is very painful not to
think of women as women. But if one has to be a shepherd he has to be
a shepherd instead of being a sweet brother. May God circumcise our
hearts as he circumcised the Israelites. In this way, God prepared the
Israelites as soldiers of God at the critical time by circumcision.

Second, the Israelites celebrated the Passover at Gilgal (6-12)
. One evening on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the
Passover. The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the
produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped
the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any
manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.
Why did they celebrate the Passover? It was to commemorate God's grace
that he liberated them from the hand of Pharaoh. They were doomed to live
in Egypt as slaves, but God had a great mercy on them and delivered them
from the hand of Pharaoh through Moses. The Passover time is commonly the
time of festivity. They had many kind of activities and they ate richly
and abundantly after each festival. But eating was not the main point.
They kept the Passover to thank God for his deliverance. They  rejoiced
in their hearts, remembering the great act of God out of his great mercy.

     It is important to remember God's grace and thank God and rejoice in
what he has done for me and for the people of Israel as well as for the
nation of America. But these days the Passover celebration is forgotten.
Orthodox Jews keep the Passover. But there is a rumor that during Passover
week they sleep late every day, eat brunch and omit lunch. As soon as
the sun has set they begin to celebrate their Passover by eating $400
dinners. These days the Passover has lost its meaning to the Jews as
well as most Christians. These days they keep the Sabbath just like this.
They get up late, eat brunch and fast during the daytime in order to fill
up their stomachs with $400 dinners. This cannot be a true activity before
the Holy God. This cannot be an expression of God's mercy of deliverance
from slavery. This cannot be an expression of thanksgiving to God.

     In our Christian life we must remember God's saving grace by the
precious blood of Jesus. Without remembering God's saving grace we cannot
be thankful in our daily lives.

     In our Christian life we must remember the day we were converted to
be God's child through Bible study or some particular event. To remember
God's saving grace through his Son's blood or to remember God's grace
of conversion is very important and we must be thankful for that. Then
God will always give us joy and peace, and prayer for ourselves and
for others. Among us there are many inherited Christians. Because their
parents are Christians, they also pretend to be Christians.  They don't
know God's saving grace through his Son's precious blood.  They don't
know God's saving grace from the hand of King Pharaoh by Moses. They
are very active, but they are not thankful.

     The world is full of selfish people, but there are many who can
be a blessing to others. There is one couple. The husband originally
majored in music. His wife studied biochemistry and obtained a Ph.D.
She published many research articles in a science magazine. She could
have gotten a nationally famous university professorship. But in order
to remain and support her husband as the Chicago UBF conductor, she did
not move away from Chicago. Finally, she resigned her research position
and moved near the Center. She wants to closely dedicate herself to
the work of God. In this selfish generation, there are people like Jim
Rarick's family. It is very common in America to be selfish. If we don't
remember God's mercy of deliverance and if we don't remember the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ we cannot but become selfish and inhuman. We
cannot be a blessing to others.

     America has enjoyed rugged individualism, but rugged individualism
has turned out to be selfishness and deception and immorality.
Where there is no God's mercy and no Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts,
we cannot be happy even if we have money or fame. We must remember
the Passover. We must remember by the grace of God that we passed over
from death to life. We must remember that we passed over from being a
selfish person to be a blessing. A selfish person and a man called to
be a blessing are quite different in their personal lives.

Third, the Holy Ground (13-15). So many people from so many countries
want to immigrate to the United States. So the US immigration officers
in many places all over the country are the most suffering people among
American government officials. Many people from poor countries think
that America is a paradise. They come to America and live in their ethnic
groups. Most of them are happy even if they are cleaners or laundry men in
their fantasy that they are living in America. They don't care how their
children grow and become perverts and adulterers. There is no paradise in
the world. Even if America is the only super power nation and exercises
its power to small and poor nations, people don't care about what a super
power nation ought to be. The Nobel Prize committee nominated President
Bill Clinton as one of the candidates for the Peace Prize. Generally,
contemporary people are pragmatical, but we cannot deny that they are
thoughtless. When we think about high school kids and elementary and
seventh and eighth grade students' immoral activities we feel that we
are in the wrong place for world mission.

     But from God's point of view, America is Holy Ground. There God is
present and God is ruling this country to make it a kingdom of priests and
a holy nation. When General Joshua crossed the Jordan River and thought
about fighting against the Canaanite nations, he might have thought
he was in deep trouble to conquer the promised land and the Canaanite
nations were cursed. But God sent the Commander of the Lord's army and
told General Joshua, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you
are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

     Here we learn that whatever our situation is, no matter where we
live, we must think that it is holy ground. When God wanted to send
Moses to deliver his people from the hand of Pharaoh, Moses was in
deep despair and he thought he was a nobody. He thought the land where
he lived was cursed land. But God called him and said, "Take off your
sandals. The place where you stand is holy ground." Whatever we do and
whatever situation we might be in, we must think, "This is God's Holy
Ground." Then God will richly bless you and make you a blessing.


STUDY QUESTIONS

1.  Read verse 1. Why did the hearts of the Amorite kings and the
    Canaanite kings melt and their courage evaporate?

2.  Read verses 2-9. What command did the Lord give Joshua? Why did
    the Israelites need to be circumcised again? Why did the Israelites
    wander in the desert for 40 years? Who among the Israelites had not
    been circumcised?

3.  When did circumcision begin? What was its meaning to the
    Israelites? Why was this place called Gilgal? What does it mean that
    the Lord rolled away the reproach of Egypt? What is the spiritual
    meaning of circumcision? (Ro 2:29)

4.  Why was it foolish from a military point of view for the men to be
    circumcised at this time? Why was it necessary?

5.  Read verses 10-12. What did the Passover symbolize? Why did they
    celebrate it at this time? Why did the manna stop right after
    this? What did this mean?

6.  Read verses 13-15. When Joshua neared Jericho who did he meet? Why
    did he say that he was on neither side? What did Joshua do? Why
    was this holy ground? How do these events prepare the Israelites to
    conquer Jericho?