Marching Up From Gilgal

So Joshua and his whole army, including the bravest warriors, marched up from Gilgal. – Joshua 10:7 (NET)

Gilgal was the place to which the Israelite nation first came after crossing the Jordan River, under the leadership of Joshua, into their land of promise. It was there that the men of Israel were circumcised, in accordance with the terms of the Abrahamic covenant, that was confirmed through Moses at Mount Sinai. With the circumcision, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you’.” (5:9a) The follow-up to that statement is that “the place is called Gilgal even to this day” (5:9b). The root of the word is “galal,” which expresses the idea of something round, or circular, or rolling. Because of this, “taken away” is sometimes presented as “rolled away.” We find the same root in the word “Galilee,” because the cities of the Galilee were set around the lake, in something of a circuit. Another word that is closely related to Gilgal is “Golgotha.” This is because of a shared root word. Golgotha, of course, was the place where Jesus was crucified. In Aramaic, the word is “Gulgoltha,” which becomes “Golgotha” in Greek. The sharing of the root word “galal” occurs because of the occurrence of galal in the Hebrew word for “skull,” which is “gulgoluth.” The “galal” in “gulgoluth,” presumably, is connected to the roundness of the human skull.

Because of the close connection between Gilgal and Golgotha, together with the fact that “Joshua,” or “Yeshua,” is the Hebrew form of the name “Jesus,” we can draw close parallels between the events that occur in connection with Gilgal and the events that occurred in connection with Golgotha. The natural and immediate connection to make is that, just as God rolled took away from Israel the disgrace of Egypt at Gilgal, so too did He remove the disgrace of sin from off of us at the cross. While we rejoice in this, that is not going to be our focus. Rather, we look to the tenth chapter of Joshua, where we find “Joshua and his whole army, including the bravest warriors” (10:7a), marching up from Gilgal to do battle with the five Amorite kings.

“The Lord told Joshua, ‘Don’t be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you. Not one of them can resist you’.” (10:8) Just as Joshua marched up from Gilgal, with brave warriors in tow, so too does Jesus march up from Golgotha, with His saints, to do battle with the forces of evil. Yes, we go forth in the power of the Resurrection, but do so on the basis of what took place at the cross. This marching up of Jesus and His brave warriors, from the place where death was given its own fatal blow, gives us fresh attunement to the words of the sixth chapter of Ephesians, and the Apostle Paul’s insistence upon taking up the armor of God, so as to do battle with rulers, power, and forces of evil that attempt their continued (and ultimately futile) stand within Jesus’ kingdom of heaven that was inaugurated with His Resurrection. As the Lord commanded Joshua to be unafraid, in much the same way, Jesus commanded His first group of brave warriors to be unafraid of going out to preach the Gospel message of His kingdom, so as to unleash the very power of the spoken message itself against the forces of death, informing them that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18b), and reminding them that “I am with you always” (28:20b). Because of that authority, and the power that stands behind it, no enemy will be able to stand.

We read that “Joshua attacked them by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal” (10:9), and that through this, “The Lord routed them before Israel” (10:10a). Do we not see the same thing with Jesus? Figuratively, Jesus marched from Golgotha to the grave, and with His Resurrection, attacked His surprised enemy, death, that had exerted its power and authority through the kings and rulers of this world, swallowing it up in victory and relieving it of its sting (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). In this story in Joshua, we read that “The sun stood still and the moon stood motionless while the nation took vengeance on its enemies” (10:13a). During the three days and three nights of Jesus’ entombment, and at the very moment when a new and transformative power for life animated His body, and in the few moments following the Resurrection when the groaning creation itself began to take in what had been accomplished within it, and in those first declarations of a risen Lord that sprung from a once-defeated band of disciples, and as in these things the kingdom of God took vengeance on its enemies, can we not imagine heaven’s response? Exalted language, such as the standing still of the sun and moon, would be necessary to adequately convey the significance of such things. It was said in Joshua that “there has not been a day like it before or since. The Lord obeyed a man, for the Lord fought for Israel!” (10:14) As we consider the crucifixion and the Resurrection, we rightly reiterate that statement, as we are thankful for what was accomplished once and for all time at the cross, and for the new life that was promised because God brought the man Jesus forth from the grave. We reverse what was said of Joshua, and declare that because of one Man’s obedience, the Lord did indeed fight for Israel---for His covenant people.