= Joshua 5
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== Joshua 5
1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were 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 unto 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 out of 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, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto 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 unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.
10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame 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 did eat 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 unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?
15 And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
== Notes
[14] The Tyndale-family's translation of 'worship' here is inconsistent with the rest of the bible. The word is 7812.way·yiš·ta·ḥū and appears in the bible more than 170 times, 40 times in this form alone. In every other place the word appears in this exact form the KJV and others translate it simply as 'bowed' and not 'worshipped'. Most significantly this is the same 'bowed' in Genesis 18:2 which has been previously shown not to represent worship in the sense of worshipping a divine being (cf. Genesis 17) but rather a greeting. We see this clearly not only from an comparison against Genesis 17 but also by looking at passages such as Genesis 23:7, 33:3, 47:31, Exodus 18:7, Numbers 22:31, Judges 7:15, 1 Samuel 20:41, 1 Samuel 24:8, 1 Kings 2:19, 1 Chronicles 21:21, (10 sources, but not exhaustive). Now, there are some places where the word is used in the sense of worship but in every case it refers to idolatry; such that people are bowing down or prostrating before statues. In the very few cases it may be taken as worship of the Lord, the Lord is not present at that time. For example if we take it on faith that Judges 7:15 as in Genesis 24:26 //might// refer to worship of the Lord, the Lord is not present at that time. Secondly even within these passages context exists to show it is not a form of worship, ex. Genesis 24:52 vs. 24:26, we note that while what Gideon did is called worship, the actual action that he took would be similar to falling on the floor or prostrating oneself -- and not in the presence of God or an Angel, so it is not necessarily a form of worship one would do towards an idol, an Angel, or to God.
Thus in a larger context, the action of falling on one's face is not necessarily an act of worship.
Summary;
* Genesis 17:3
** "way-yip-pōl ’aḇ-rām ‘al- pā-nāw;"
** Abraham fell on his face (before the Lord)
* Joshua 5:14
** "yə-hō-wō-šu-a‘ ’el- pā-nāw way-yiš-tā-ḥū,"
** Joshua fell on his face and prostrated (before the Angel)
Thus we see way-yiš-tā-ḥū, is not necessary for worship in that sense, and the following contradicts the reading of "worship" anwyays
* Genesis 23:7
** "’aḇ-rā-hām way-yiš-ta-ḥū lə-‘am- hā-’ā-reṣ liḇ-nê- ḥêṯ."
** (Abraham bowed to the people of that land, the sons of Heth)
* 1 Samuel 24:8
** dā-wiḏ ’ap-pa-yim ’ar-ṣāh way-yiš-tā-ḥū.
** (David's greeting of King Saul; on his face bowed before King Saul)
* 2 Kings 2:19
** way-yā-qām ham-me-leḵ liq-rā-ṯāh way-yiš-ta-ḥū lāh,
** The King (King Solomon) rose up to meet her (Bathsheeba) and bowed to her.
* 1 Chronicles 21:21
** ’ā-rə-nān ... way-yiš-ta-ḥū lə-ḏā-wîḏ ’ap-pa-yim ’ā-rə-ṣāh.
** Ornan bowed before David in greeting, with his face to the ground.
In conclusion, the idea that Joshua was worshipping an Angel, or that the Angel was really God (or some incarnation of God) is an eisegesic reading. It not only goes against the verse itself which describes the Angel as a Captain of God's Army, cf. Daniel 10 and Daniel 12, but also goes against how the word is translated in every other instance in the bible, as shown above.
[15] Some may argue, based on looking in an interlinear bible, that Michael is a sar-kim and not a sar, and therefore the translation 'officer' by Rashi is not justified. This shows a lack of knowledge of Hebrew -- the person must admit they had to look it up in an interlinear bible. Therefore, cf. with Daniel 10:13 and 12:1 in which Michael is called sar -- note that Rashi was only bringing the first occurrence of the place where Michael was called sar. What then of the "Prince of Persia"? Was this not then a military officer? The prince himself didn't do anything, that is not the function of a prince; it was the commander or offcier of an army (spiritual or not). In fact the word sar itself (in that form alone!) appears 85 times in the bible and in every //other// case than in Daniel it is translated as chief, officer, or commander. It is therefore shown that the KJV's use of 'prince' is inconsistent with the transnational platform used for the rest of the KJV and is likely eisegesic in nature.
== Cross Reference
== Commentary
== Rashi
==== Verse 1
Who were on the western side of the Jordan. On the side to which Bnei Yisroel crossed, which is the western side, since they had been on the eastern side.
==== Verse 2
Sharp knives. As translated by Targum, sharp knives. Similarly, ‘You also turned back the sharp edge of his sword.’1 When the sharp edge is turned sideways it does not cut well. ‘Similarly, ‘Every weapon that is sharpened against you?’2
The second time. For there had already been a circumcision— on the night of their departure from Egypt a large assembly were collectively circumcised, and this was the second time; because during the entire forty years that they were in the wilderness the north wind did not blow for them, and they did not have a suitable day to circumcise themselves, as we learned in Maseches Yevamos.3 Our Sages said, “The second time refers to exposing the corona at circumcision. [This particular aspect of circumcision] was not commanded to our Patriarch, Avrohom.
==== Verse 3
Gival Ha-orlos. [Lit. Hill of the foreskins] It was so called, because of the event, [i.e., the mass of foreskins that were circumcised] which were made into a hill.
==== Verse 4
And this is the reason. [Lit. and this is the thing] After this speech he circumcised them. He said to them. “Do you think you will inherit this land while you are yet uncircumcised? Was it not said to Avrohom, ‘And you will preserve My covenant etc.’ ‘and I will give you and your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings.’”4
All the people that went out. Not one of them was here for they had all died, and they had all been circumcised, as it is said, ‘for they were circumcised.’5
==== Verse 5
Were not circumcised. As I have previously explained, the north wind had not blown.6 It was these who were now to be circumcised.
==== Verse 7
And their children whom He brought up in place of them. And their children whom He brought up in place of them, they were born in the wilderness it was them whom Yehoshua circumcised.
==== Verse 8
They remained in their places. They remained in their places and they did not besiege the city.
Until they were healed from their wounds.
==== Verse 9
I have removed. (Lit. I have rolled) I have removed the ridicule of the Egyptians who had said [when they were leaving], “See that ‘Raah’ is before you.7 There is a star named Raah, which is a symbol of blood. We see it overpowering you in the wilderness.”8 This is what Moshe referred to in the wilderness [when he said,] “Why should the Egptians speak, saying, ‘With Raah, He took them out.’” But they did not know that [the blood they saw] was the blood of circumcision. And now when they were circumcised in the days of Yehoshua, and the blood of circumcision appeared, that ridicule was removed; for the mixed multitude that went up with them [from Egypt] were still taunting them. This is the way R’ Moshe, Ha Darshan explained [this passage.]
I have removed. [Lit. I have rolled] This is similar to: ‘Remove from me humiliation and contempt;’9 ‘and he rolled off the stone.’10
==== Verse 11
From the day after the Pesach. This was the day of waving the Omer, for they sacrificed the Omer first.11 From the seventh day of Adar, the day when Moshe died, when the manna stopped falling, they were sufficiently supplied with the manna which was in their vessels which they gathered on the seventh of Adar, as it is said, ‘They ate the manna for forty years.’12 But these forty years lacked thirty days— for the manna began to fall on the fifteenth day of Iyar.13 We must say therefore that in the [matzo] cakes the Bnei Yisroel took with them from Egypt, they tasted the taste of manna.
==== Verse 12
No longer did the Bnei Yisroel have manna. Therefore they ate of the grain of the land. If they would have had manna they would not have eaten of the grain, for the manna was agreeable to them. There is a parable for this: One says to a child, “Why are you eating barley bread?” “Because I have no wheat bread.” That is why it is said, ‘no longer did etc.’
==== Verse 13
When Yehoshua was in Yericho. From here we can learn that the outskirts of a city are considered part of the city itself, for it impossible to say that Yoshua was actually inside Yericho.14
Are you with us? Have you come to support us?
====Verse 14
I have now come.—“to help you, for it is impossible for man to battle against it [Yericho] and capture it, to knock down the wall. However in the days of your master, Moshe, I came, but he did not want my presence, as it is said, ‘If your Presence [Adonoy] does not go, etc.’”15
==== Verse 15
The officer of Adonoy’s host. This refers to Bnei Yisroel, who are Adonoy’s host. The officer mentioned here is the Angel, Michoeil, as it is said, ‘Michoeil, your officer.’16