Today I have
rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you (Joshua 5:9).
Upon crossing the Jordan and before engaging the city of
Jericho in battle, the Israelites renewed their covenant with Yahweh. In taking
inventory, they realized the men who marched out of Egypt forty years previous had been circumcised at Sinai,
but those born in the desert since remained uncircumcised. At Gilgal, the
people circumcised the sons of those who had perished in the wilderness.
In Genesis, to avenge their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons
tricked the men of Shechem into circumcising themselves. While they were unable
to defend themselves, the brothers swooped into town and killed everyone. Joshua’s obedience in having his
men circumcised is even more striking when we consider his army’s back was
against the river, and they were helpless in enemy territory.
The writer records these words as spoken to them by God: Today I have rolled away the reproach of
Egypt from you. Gilgal means “rolled away.”
Isn’t it good to know that God wants to roll away our
reproach? Whatever baggage we have been carrying from our past, whatever dirt
we’ve picked up walking through life, God doesn’t want those things to stick to
us. He wants to free us
of those things that might trip us up, tie us to the past, or hold us back from
moving forward into our future and his purpose for our lives.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Ask God to show you if you’re
holding on to baggage he has determined to roll away.
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