At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Ver. 2. Make thee sharp knives.] Heb., Knives of edges, or knives of flints, cultros lapideos (so one rendereth it) id est, cote acutos.
And circumcise again the children of Israel the second time,] viz., Those that yet are uncircumcised: for they could not be twice circumcised, unless by drawing up the foreskin with a surgeon's instrument, any of them had made themselves again uncircumcised, as the Rabbis say Esau had; and as some Jews had done for fear of Antiochus. /APC 1Ma 1:15 But here it is rather to be understood of such as, during their abode in the wilderness, had intermitted this ordinance; and God had dispensed with them because of their frequent and sudden removes. Vatablus's note here is very good, Transierunt filii Israel Iordanem incircumcisi ne hoc suae circumcision et meritis tribuerent: The Israelites passed over Jordan uncircumcised, that they might not attribute it to their circumcision and merits. Another well notes, that by this seal of the covenant with Abraham, God did now notably confirm their faith in the promise of both the earthly and heavenly Canaan.