4 And this is the cause why Joshua circumcised [them]: all the people that had come out of Egypt, the males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they came out of Egypt. 5 For all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness on the way, after they came out of Egypt, [them] had they not circumcised. 6 For the children of Israel had walked forty years in the wilderness, till the whole nation of men of war had perished who had come out of Egypt, who had not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah; to whom Jehovah had sworn that he would not show them the land which Jehovah had sworn unto their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 And their sons [whom] he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joshua 5:4-7
Commentary on Joshua 5:1-9
(Read Joshua 5:1-9)
How dreadful is their case, who see the wrath of God advancing towards them, without being able to turn it aside, or escape it! Such will be the horrible situation of the wicked; nor can words express the anguish of their feelings, or the greatness of their terror. Oh that they would now take warning, and before it be too late, flee for refuge to lay hold upon that hope set before them in the gospel! God impressed these fears on the Canaanites, and dispirited them. This gave a short rest to the Israelites, and circumcision rolled away the reproach of Egypt. They were hereby owned to be the free-born children of God, having the seal of the covenant. When God glorifies himself in perfecting the salvation of his people, he not only silences all enemies, but rolls back their reproaches upon themselves.