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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
5:5 born in the wilderness. Evidently the young men under twenty years of age had been circumcised in Egypt. It was only those males actually born during the wilderness sojourn that had to be circumcised at this time.
5:9 called Gilgal. Apparently Gilgal means “rolling away.” The location was near Jericho on the east.
5:10 the fourteenth day. God had providentially ordered events so that the children of Israel crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month (the anniversary of the selection of the Passover lamb), then keeping the Passover itself on its proper date (Exodus 12:3,6).
5:12 the manna ceased. The “bread from heaven” (John 6:31, 32) ceased as suddenly and miraculously as it had begun (Exodus 16:4,15). God does not dispense miracles capriciously, but always only with a redemptive purpose. The manna was essential for survival of His people during their sojourn in the wilderness, but not afterwards. God’s laws by which natural processes are ordered are good laws, so miraculous intervention therein is only rarely necessary.
5:15 the LORD’s host. Unseen by the Israelites, there was a host of angels accompanying them as they prepared to fight the Canaanites (Note similar references to God’s hosts in Genesis 32:1-2; II Kings 6:16-17; 7:6; etc.).