The Canaanites are afraid, 1. Joshua renews circumcision, 2-9. The passover is kept at Gilgal, 10, 11. Manna ceases, 12. An Angel appears to Joshua, 13-15.
1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the side of the Jordan westward and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until they had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the children of Israel.
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make yourself sharp knives and circumcise the children of Israel again the second time." 3 And Joshua made himself sharp knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins. 4 And this is the cause why Joshua circumcised [them]: All the people who came out of Egypt, who 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 who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth from Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey 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 flows with milk and honey. 7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them along the way.
8 And it came to pass when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were whole. 9 And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you." Therefore, 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 unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the passover—on that very day. 12 And the manna ceased on the next day after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel did not have manna anymore, 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, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" 14 And he said, "No, but as captain of the host of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" 15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Take your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Joshua, Chapter 5[➚]
[v.2] - "circumcise" - Refer to the covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17:9-14.
[v.4] - Text in square brackets added for implied meaning. The implied text was added based on the context of the verse to assign an object to the verb in the clause.
[v.8] - "until they were whole" - In other words, "until they healed" from the circumcision procedure.
[v.10] - "kept the passover" - Refer to Exodus 12:1-20 for the passover.
[v.15] - "Take your shoes off your feet" - Similarly, Moses was commanded to take off his shoes before the angel of the Lord spoke to him out of the burning bush. See, Exodus 3:5.