‘ And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho.'
This time note is reminiscent of time notes in the account of the flood (Genesis 8:14), the account of the Exodus (Exodus 16:1) and of similar time notes in the Babylonian flood story. They were clearly ancient practise in such narratives. The tenth day of the first month was the day when Passover lambs had to be set aside (see Joshua 5:10; Exodus 12:3). It was indicating that YHWH had again protected His people. Israel had two dates which were seen as inaugurating a new year, one which began in September/October (Exodus 23:16), the agricultural year, and one which began in March/April. The latter was instituted at the Exodus (Exodus 12:2), a memorial of the great deliverance from Egypt, while the former went back into time immemorial.
The fact that the latter did not fully take over from the former demonstrates the strength of custom. They would always through the centuries think of the agricultural year as beginning in September/October and the redemptive year as beginning in March/April. Until their lives became more regulated by the establishing of a sophisticated royal court it mattered little. As a whole they thought more in terms of seasons than of months. The Canaanites at Ugarit used totally different names for the months of the year, although we only know four names of months in early Hebrew, Abib (Exodus 13:4), Ziv (1 Kings 6:1; 1 Kings 6:37), Ethanim (1 Kings 8:2), and Bul (1 Kings 6:38), three of those coming from the time of Solomon. Usually months were identified by numbers (Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:4-5; Exodus 12:2; Exodus 19:1; Numbers 33:8; Deuteronomy 1:3).
“They encamped in Gilgal.” Gilgal means ‘a rolling', therefore ‘that with which one rolls, a cartwheel'. The Israelites were a practical people and thought of wheels as ‘rollers' rather than as ‘round'. However, from its use scholars have suggested ‘a circle' and relate it to the stones set up by Joshua, but there is no reason for thinking that Gilgal referred to a circle of stones other than speculation. The stones were in fact probably put in a heap. The description ‘Gilgal', if it was Canaanite, probably relates to some local phenomenon such as a place where stones were rolled for the purpose of offering sacrifices. It was on the eastern side of Jericho. The watchmen in Jericho must have been terrified as they saw this great army camping there. (There were other Gilgals elsewhere in Canaan (Joshua 12:23; Joshua 15:7) which supports a Canaanite origin for the name).
The site of Gilgal is considered by many to be Khirbet el-Mefjir where evidence of early iron-age occupation has been discovered, and it fits in with the topographical data, as indeed does the whole account. It became a permanent camp for Joshua during his activities in Canaan (Joshua 5:10; Joshua 9:6; Joshua 10:6; Joshua 10:15; Joshua 10:43; Joshua 14:6). No doubt he found great strength from returning to the site of YHWH's great work, and it was relatively secure form attack, with the east bank possessed by Israel.