Joshua 5:9 a.
‘And YHWH said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.” '
The general idea was that circumcision had now finally made them a circumcised nation, as a free people within the covenant, in their own land. They were now YHWH's people in YHWH's land.
“The reproach of Egypt” may signify:
· That attitude of disobedient Israel which clung to Egypt (Exodus 16:3; Exodus 17:3; Numbers 11:5; Numbers 20:5; Numbers 21:5; Deuteronomy 1:27). Thus they were now seen as a new nation with any desires for Egypt removed from them.
· That they were now at last really a free and sanctified people in a free and sanctified (because YHWH's gift to His people) land, within the covenant of YHWH which had now been renewed, with their slave past and Egyptian ‘unclean' connections and religious influence behind them (compare Hosea 9:3).
· It may refer to that reproachful charge that was seen as originating with the Egyptians, and could now be seen as totally refuted, that YHWH had led the Israelites out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness (compare Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:13-16; Deuteronomy 9:28).
· Or it may refer to a tendency on the part of some Israelites not to have circumcised their infants because of Egyptian influence (who circumcised at puberty) and to the fact that many of the youngsters of the mixed multitude who came from Egypt had never been circumcised.
Joshua 5:9 b.
‘For this reason the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.'
The name Gilgal means ‘a rolling'. Thus it is here seen as referring to the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt. This is almost certainly the taking of an old name and giving it a new meaning, for there were already a number of Gilgals in Canaan, or it may less probably mean that this was a new name given for this reason, used earlier because it had become the name of the place at the time of writing.