to Jericho, but because of the careful search made by the spies. *For*, it says, *those who were searching pursued them along all the roads, and did not find them.* A
*Forty thousand men ready for war.* It is to be noted that the number four, whether of units, or of hundreds, or of any greater number, is used in relation to affliction.
*Make for yourself knives of stone from a sharp rock.* B It should be asked why those who were born in the wilderness were circumcised, or why Moses, who had told those who gathered wood on the Sabbath to be stoned by God’s command, should leave this great multitude that had remained in the desert uncircumcised, even though God had already threatened to destroy any soul that was not circumcised on the eighth day, and had already punished those who transgressed the Sabbath. It is clear from this, too, that circumcision and the Sabbath were not good in themselves, but were useful for a time. It must be understood that he wanted them to be recognized by the sign of circumcision, and not merely to appear as believers; just as irrational animals bear the mark of the iron, and even if they stray, their recovery is easy; so he wanted those Jews intermingled with the nations to be made manifest by circumcision. A proof of this is that they were circumcised in Egypt, but in the desert, because they were alone and separated from the Egyptians and the other nations in Palestine, they remained uncircumcised. But when they were about to cross the Jordan to live in the midst of nations, they were again ordered to be circumcised. Hence, he says in the second passage, not that only those eight days old were to be circumcised, C but that those who were already grown and reaching old age were to be circumcised. And the stone knife signifies to us the Lord, who gives us the circumcision of the mind and heart. Therefore, the Apostle also speaks to us of the circumcision of Christ, *not in the putting off of our flesh.*
*I am the commander of the army of the Lord; now I have come.* One must remember that when they made the calf, God said to Moses: *Go up, lead this people, for I will not go up with you because you are a stiff-necked people. And I will send my angel before your face. Pay attention to yourself, and do not disobey.* Moses says to him: *If you do not go with us, do not lead us from here.* Having said this, he persuaded him, and he was with the people until the death of Moses. After this departure, it appears that he is speaking to Joshua, the son of Nun. D Now after the authority over the people was passed on to the disciple of Moses, God commissions him to the commander of the army, Michael. This was the prince of the people, as he appears to be another angel in Daniel.
*Walking and sounding the trumpets.* These trumpets are a symbol of those which will occur on the last day. For *the Lord himself*, he says, *with a command, in the voice of an archangel, and in the trumpet of God will descend from heaven.*
A Now, the fact that the priests go around the city for six days may be a sign of all the saints blowing the trumpet and preaching the remission of sins to those who wish to repent throughout the six days of the present age. And Jesus said to the sons of Israel, "Cry out." It is likely, however, that the cry of the words was a doxology and a voice of praise to God, fighting against the error of the people of Jericho, and gaining the miraculous and wonder-filled victory. Thus did Ozan perform it. From this it is demonstrated that it was not Jesus the son of Nave, but B some other person after many generations who wrote these things. And this, when understood truly, is not contrary to what we have said before. For Jesus wrote the things that happened in his own time, or that were revealed to him, just as Moses also wrote the things pertaining to the times in which he lived.