Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.The other day I had my engineering brain going. Today, it's tactical brain.
As was previously mentioned in Genesis, circumcision as an adult basically takes you out of it for a few days. In those days, you're not good for much of anything, far less fighting. If the Canaanites had realized what was happening and launched an attack in those couple days, they could have obliterated the Israelites without much difficulty. From a tactical viewpoint, it would have been much safer for them to have been circumcised before crossing the Jordan.
However, God saw to it that they were safe. The word of their crossing had gotten out, and the inhabitants were terrified. Rather than band together and attack immediately, they pulled in their horns and forted up in their cities. God used their fear to give the Isrealites the time they needed. He used this as the staging ground to consecrate the people to Him more directly, while showing that He would protect them in danger.
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