Circumcision overlooked?

Once again, my Bible reading caused something to jump out at me again. As I was reading in Joshua 5 the other day, I noticed in verse 7 that the children who were born during the wilderness wandering were not circumcised, so this was required before they proceeded with their promised land conquest. This struck me as odd during this reading, where I've probably just glazed over this before.

Back in Genesis 17, circumcision was established as the covenant sign of God's people with Abraham, and God even goes so far as to say that if anyone fails to have the sign (circumcision) they are to be cut off (or banished) from his people (verse 14). This is to occur on the eight day for newborn males.

Later, in Leviticus 12, God tells Moses the same thing, namely that all male children are to be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives, and this teaching occurred between the receipt of the 10 commandments and the end of Moses life which was prior to the ascension of Joshua into a position of leadership.

In Exodus 12 we learn that in order for someone to partake of the Passover, they must be circumcised as well. Later in Leviticus 23 we see the institution of the Passover, which is to be a yearly event. In fact, they started this yearly celebration of the Passover as early as the first month of their second year after the exodus from Egypt (Numbers 9). Later in that same chapter it states that if someone fails to observe the Passover they are to be cut off (or banished) from God's people (verse 13).

This tends to shed a different light on the wandering years in the wilderness than I had imagined previously. During this time, apparently a rather significant number of the male children born were not circumcised according to the law, yet were not banished from their people. In addition, these young men either did not participate in the Passover, or participated in violation of the law. In either case, they were not banished for this either.

I already knew that God wasn't pleased with the children of Israel since they were wandering for 40 years, but this sheds some new light (at least for me) on another facet of their disobedience during their wilderness walk.

For some reason, I had always entertained a somewhat sanitized view that for the most part they followed the law during their wilderness wanderings, but such is apparently not the case.

Yet our loving God looks at the failings of His chosen people now as He did then, failings both unintentional and otherwise, and is willing to renew relationships again if his people will humble themselves, repent, and turn to their rock, their shield, their mighty fortress....their God.