Once Wasn’t Enough? (2)

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.”  Joshua 5:2  NASB

Second time – Paradigms are limiting factors in explanation.  That’s why a group of physicists who held tightly to the Bohr model of the atom (the nucleus being the smallest building block of all matter) denied the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  They claimed it was completely staged.  Why?  Because their paradigm told them that the nucleus of an atom could not be split.  It was, after all, the smallest thing in the universe.  Paradigm blindness.

The same thing happens in other fields of study.  It often takes an outsider to suggest alternative interpretations or theories.  Without people like this there would be no DNA double helix, no atomic bomb, no Big Bang—and no alternative to the Talmudic machinations surrounding Joshua 5:2-10.  I’m an outsider.  I’m an ex-Baptist-Presbyterian-Assemblies-kind of Catholic-philosopher-theologian-Jewish wanna’ be-outsider-Messianic renegade.  I don’t fit the boxes.  I look at things differently.  I’m not always right, but at least I raise interesting questions. 🙂  Sometimes I see something that insiders can’t see.  Today is one of those days, I think.

The problem with all these efforts to explain the unusual verses of Joshua 5:2-10 is the introduction of the words mol et-b`nei-Israel she•nit (“circumcise the sons of Israel a second time”).  If the text said, “Now go circumcise all those not already circumcised,” we’d have no problems at all.  That makes perfect sense.  What doesn’t make sense is the “second time.”  That word is šēnît, an ordinal numeral (2^nd).  The root is šānâ, “to repeat, do again.”  I suggest that instead of asking, “What does it mean to circumcise a 2^nd time?” we should be asking, “When was the 1^st time?”  In other words, this statement is not about a duplication of the action of cutting the penis.  It is a statement about the initiation of the covenant.  When was the first time?  Genesis 17:26-27:  “On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.  And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.”  The first time was the initiation of the covenant between the Jews (Abraham’s descendants) and God.  That circumcision marked the beginning of God’s plan and purpose for what later became Israel.  Every male was involved.  Centuries later, after significant interruptions to God’s plan and purpose, the initiation ritual is re-enacted.  It’s like renewing your marriage vows.  The plan and purpose for Israel is renewed in this second act of circumcision.  Now Israel has entered the Land promised to Abraham centuries before.  Now Israel has gone through the purification process in Egypt.  Now the vows need to be renewed so that the original plan and purpose is finally fulfilled.

This interpretation of the term šēnît also explains God’s remark in verse 9: “Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the shame of Egypt from you.’” The Hebrew is ḥerpâ.  “The word means ‘to reproach,’ with the specific connotation of casting blame or scorn on someone.”^[1]  The translation “shame” isn’t quite right.  Shame implies disgrace and humiliation, an inner embarrassment or scandal.  It does not necessarily involve blame.  Reproach, on the other hand, means rebuke, reprimand, and censure.  It does involve blame.  God’s statement does not mean Israel was humiliated and embarrassed while in Egypt.  Far from it.  God protected and prospered Israel in Egypt.  But what did happen in Egypt was Israel’s absorption of Egyptian thinking, as evidenced by the Golden Calf incident and other circumstances in the wilderness.  God now removes all of that blameworthy behavior.  The vows have been renewed.  The generation entering the Land no longer carries Egypt with it.  That time is finished, and the second circumcision demonstrates that this is the case.

Maybe this is why the entire event is emphasized with repetition and clarification.  It’s not just some genital ritual.  It’s the transition and return to God’s initial vision.  Makes sense to me.

Topical Index: šēnît, 2^nd, ḥerpâ, reproach, circumcision, Genesis 17:26-27, Joshua 5:2,  Joshua 5:9

^[1] Mccomiskey, T. E. (1999). 749 חָרַף. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 325). Chicago: Moody Press.