See note Num. 21:1^1a.

Some MSS read, we.

The purpose of circumcision was to make God’s chosen people a new people for the inheriting of God’s promised land (cf. Gen. 17:7-12). The circumcising of the new Israel typifies the circumcision of Christ, by His death, applied to the believers in the putting off of the body of the flesh that they may inherit Christ in resurrection as the portion allotted to them by God (Col. 2:11-12; 1:12).

Spiritual circumcision is a continuation of the burial in the death of Christ. Through the crossing of the river Jordan, the old Israel was buried and a new Israel came forth. This was an objective work done by God. Israel still needed to apply this work to their flesh. Their being circumcised was their practical application of what God had done in the crossing of the river Jordan. In the New Testament spiritual circumcision is the constant application of Christ’s death to our flesh (Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11 and notes). Although in fact we have been baptized into the death of Christ and have been buried and raised with Him (Rom. 6:3-4), in practicality we still must apply the circumcision of the cross to our flesh by the Spirit day by day (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:24). This is the reality and practicality of remaining in the death and burial of Christ. See note Gal. 5:24² and note Rom. 8:13^2a.

Lit., they.

Meaning a rolling.

The Feast of the Passover was held to remember Jehovah’s redeeming of Israel from the death-judgment on their firstborn sons (Exo. 12:3-7, 11-14) and also Jehovah’s saving of Israel from Egypt and from the tyranny of Pharaoh (Exo. 14:13-30). The keeping of the Passover indicated that just as Jehovah had saved Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt, so He would destroy the tribes of Canaan and deliver Israel from them. Israel’s keeping of the Passover typifies the believers’ keeping of the Lord’s table to remember the Lord as their Redeemer and their Savior (Matt. 26:26-28).

This vision was an unveiling to Joshua of Christ as the Captain of Jehovah’s army (v. 14). Whereas Joshua was the visible captain of Jehovah’s army, Christ was the invisible Captain. Christ was such a captain to fight against the seven tribes of Canaan for Israel. Because of this, Joshua needed to stand on the position of sanctification (holiness) all the time (v. 15). See note Rom. 1:2³.

The ceasing of the manna when the people began to eat the produce of the land indicates that the produce of the land was the continuation of the manna. The manna eaten by Israel in their wandering in the wilderness (Exo. 16) typifies Christ as the heavenly food given directly by God to His chosen people, which requires no labor on the part of the eaters. The rich produce of the promised land given by God to Israel in their fighting in Canaan (Deut. 8:7-10) typifies Christ as the consummated life supply (the life-giving Spirit — Gal. 3:14) given to the believers, which requires them to labor on Him. As portrayed in the typology here, after possessing Christ as the land, we need to labor on Him to produce something of Him that will become our food, our supply. As we eat Christ and enjoy Him as the produce of the good land, we are constituted with Him, being made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression (Phil. 1:19-21a). Ultimately, our enjoying of Christ as our inheritance, our possession, will constitute us to be God’s inheritance, God’s treasure and possession (Eph. 1:11-14, 18b; cf. Exo. 19:5).

In Egypt, by their eating Egyptian food (signifying worldly things), the children of Israel were constituted to be a worldly people. In their experience of God’s salvation Israel passed through three stages in their eating. In the first stage they ate the passover lamb in Egypt (Exo. 12), which strengthened them to walk out of Egypt and to be separated from the Egyptian world. In the second stage they ate the manna in the wilderness (Exo. 16), which reconstituted them with a heavenly element to be a heavenly people. In the third stage they ate the rich produce in the good land, which constituted them further to be an overcoming people. By enjoying the riches of the good land, Israel conquered the tribes in the land, established the kingdom of God, and built up the temple as God’s dwelling place on earth. The three stages in Israel’s eating typify the three stages of the believers’ enjoyment of Christ by eating Him (John 6:51-57; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 10:3-4; Phil. 1:19). By their eating in the first two stages the believers are energized to leave the world and are constituted with Christ as the heavenly element. To reach the goal of God’s economy, all Christ’s believers need to progress until they enter into the highest stage of eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land, the all-inclusive Spirit, that they may overcome the spiritual enemies, be built up to be God’s dwelling place, and establish God’s kingdom on earth.