Hitting the Pause Button...

Yesterday, we looked at a story in the Bible where God commanded a man named Joshua, who was the leader of the Jewish People, to circumcise the males of the Jewish nation instead of taking advantage of their unexpectedly easy entrance into the Promised Land. Instead of taking advantage of the fact that the enemies will to fight had dissolved away, God commands Joshua to remain where they were.

The reason that Joshua needed to circumcise every male under the age of 40 was because no one was circumcised during all the years that the nation wandered in the wilderness as a result of the rebellion and disobedience of the previous generation. Now maybe you are wondering “why was it such a big for the Jewish people to get circumcised? And could it not have waited until a later date? I mean, why circumcise now? Why not wait?”

To understand why God commanded Joshua to perform these circumcisions, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people. Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone. And right about now every male is wincing at the thought. Ladies, for you it is giving birth; for guys it is circumcision.

The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God. We see God implement the command of circumcision in the first book of the Bible, called the Book of Genesis, when God commanded Abraham to circumcise his family as a sign of their covenant relationship in Genesis 17:9-14.

The generation of Jewish men and women that had been circumcised upon leaving Egypt, however, broke their covenant relationship with God through their selfish rebellion and refusal to trust God and His promise. This lack of faith and selfish rebellion, which we looked at in the beginning of this series, resulted in an entire generation wandering in the desert until all of those who had broken the covenant died. During those forty years of wandering, however, not a single male born during that time was circumcised.

Once all the men who had been circumcised but had rebelled against God had died in the wilderness, this new generation who was restarting their lives would be able to make the covenant commitment to identify with God as His people through the outward act of circumcision. What is important to understand is that the act of circumcision was an act of worship and a public display of identifying with God, similar to what baptism is today.

Now, here is something to think about men. Place yourself in this story. You are a Jewish man in your early 20s. Here comes your leader Joshua. So you ask Joshua “Are we going to go to battle today?” And then you hear Joshua say the following: “No, we are not going to battle today. Instead God has commanded that all of you men be circumcised in order to identify yourself as being committed to God. So let’s make a single file line, starting here”.

So here’s the question: Men, are you getting in that line? Are you excited about getting in that line? Or are you asking, can’t I just wear a wristband?” We may laugh about it, but seriously, how would you be feeling if you were in this story? And ladies, don’t think that this command to have the men circumcised would not have affected you. It would have had incredible impact and affect on you because of what we read next in Joshua 5:8-9:

Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 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.

Now men and women, place yourself in this story. Don’t miss what is said in verse 8: “Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed”. You see, ladies, all of the men, who are the soldiers, your protectors were incapacitated. Guys, you’re thinking “of course we are incapacitated, we were just circumcised”.

We really don’t think much about the physical healing when it comes to circumcision because almost all circumcisions are done as babies. Guys, we don’t, and are probably glad we don’t, remember what that felt like. As you might imagine, circumcision of an adult would be extremely painful and normally requires at least a week for an adult male to heal and around 45 days before a man could resume a normal sexual relationships with their spouse.

In another story in our Bibles, found in Genesis 34, two of the twelve sons of Jacob, named Simeon and Levi, took advantage of the incapacitation that occurred as a result of circumcision to wipe out the entire male population of a village. And the Jewish people would be familiar with this story.

So instead of pressing the advantage that the Jewish people had over their enemies; instead of being focused on what they needed to do in order to restart their lives; the entire Jewish nation was vulnerable and incapacitated. Instead of hitting the fast forward button to restart their lives, the Jewish nation seemed to hit pause in order to worship God through this outward act that identified their covenant relationship with Him.

And as the men recovered from the circumcision they had received, we see the Jewish people follow a second command from God as the story continues. We will look at that command and the Jewish nation's response tomorrow.

In the meantime, how easy is it to hit the pause button to not do something instead of moving forward, in your life? Isn't it tempting to want to hit the fast forward button in order to move forward in our lives?