Joshua 5:10-12--First Passover in Canaan

Joshua 5:10-12
English Standard Version
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First Passover in Canaan
10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

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We said last time that the people had to consecrated themselves and that the men of the nation had to be circumcised so that they could partake in the Passover mean.  So it was that they kept the Passover mean on the 14th day of the first month as they were commanded in Exodus 12.  In the midst of conquest, they are stopping to obey the commands of the Law and to be careful to do all that is commanded in it, just like the LORD told Joshua to do in Chapter 1.  First, they made sure to consecrate themselves, then they obeyed His commands exactly when it came to crossing the Jordan River, then they built an altar of stone as they were commanded where none of the stones had been touched by an iron tool (for they took the twelves stones from the middle of the river where the water had smoothed them out), and they had obeyed the commandment of the LORD to begin the preparation for the Passover on the 10th day of the first month by making sure that all the males were circumcised and eligible to participate (this would also be a time to get rid of all leaven, representing sin, from their camp), and now they are parking in one of the most important feasts--the feast the points forward to the redemption that was coming by way of the sacrificial Passover Lamb that is Jesus of Nazareth and points forward to that one day where we will all be gathered around the Lord's Table together in heaven.

This passage is both the beginning of something and the end of something for this is the official beginning of the people in the Promised Land, but the day after this Passover, they were able to eat of the spoils of the land--they could take from the grain that was growing there and make unleavened bread for the feast, and as soon as this happened, the manna from heaven ceased for it was no longer necessary, for the LORD had provided another source of daily provision for them.  This was a fulfillment of the promise to them that they were going to enter the land and reap where they did not sow.  The LORD is good and provided not just enough for food, but also exactly the right resources for them to be able to keep the Passover feast as they were commanded to do.  For that whole year, they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan.  This is just as much the LORD's miraculous provision as was the manna from heaven for the forty years they were wandering in the wilderness.  Right now the job of the Israelites is to claim and conquer the Land, but it will not be long before they will need to work the land as farmers and they will need to till and plow and cultivate and sow and eventually harvest, yet the LORD has promised them that if they are faithful to do all that is commanded in the Law that the Land will produce more than what they need and He will continue to provide above and beyond for them--they simply need to obey Him first and foremost and He would make sure that the Land took care of them.