Joshua 5:11
in Joshua 5The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they did eat of the produce of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the selfsame day.
KJV
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
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This verse in Joshua 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Old corn of the land - Rather “produce of the land,” the new grain just coming in at the time of the Passover. (So in Jos 5:12.) On the morrow after the passover - These words denote in Num 33:3 the 15th Nisan, but must here apparently mean the 16th.
This site's exposition
they kept the Passover
on Joshua 5:10-11
This is the third Passover Scripture records after the first, following Numbers 9:5 at Sinai, and the first kept inside the land. The date is the evening of the fourteenth, as Exodus 12:6 set it, and the circumcision before it made it lawful, since Exodus 12:48 bars the uncircumcised. They eat “unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land”, so the meal comes from the land itself.
This site's exposition
unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land
Barnes takes the day after the Passover here as the sixteenth, though Numbers 33:3 uses the phrase of the fifteenth. Clarke notes that Leviticus 23:9-14 barred eating from the new harvest until the first sheaf was waved, and supposes Israel waved a sheaf of barley before this meal. Barley was the only grain then ripe.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.233-35 · Written before 253.
proposed
After they observed the Passover in Egypt, they began the exodus. In the book of Joshua, however, after the crossing of the Jordan, on the tenth day of the first month they encamped in Gilgal.…Then the sons of Israel observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month much more cheerfully than the one in Egypt, seeing that they also "ate unleavened bread and fresh from the grain of the holy land," a food better than the manna.
Now if the law is to be understood only according to the letter, without doubt the sons of Israel will be found to have received poorer things from the promise since they had been partaking of better things—for they were receiving manna from heaven. When they had forsaken the prior food of Egypt, a better food by all means had followed, the manna from heaven.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Parched corn - Of that year's corn. which was most proper for that use. Self-same day - Having an eager desire to enjoy the fruits of the land. And this corn came very seasonably; for after the passover, they were to keep the feast of unleavened bread, which they could not do, when they had nothing but manna to live upon.
And they did eat the old corn of the land,....
Manna was a wonderful mercy to them when they needed it. But it was the mark of a wilderness state; it was the food of children; and therefore, though it was angel's food, and not to be complained of a light bread, yet it would be more acceptable to them to eat of the corn of the land, and this they are now furnished with.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They did eat of the old corn of the land - The Hebrew word עבור abur, which we translate old corn, occurs only in this place in such a sense, if that sense be legitimate. The noun, though of doubtful signification, is evidently derived from עבר abar, to pass over, to go beyond; and here it may be translated simply the produce, that which passes from the land into the hands of the cultivator; or according to Cocceius, what passes from person to person in the way of traffic; hence bought corn, what they purchased from the inhabitants of the land. On the morrow after the passover - That is, on the fifteenth day; for then the feast of unleavened bread began. But they could neither eat bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, till the first-fruits of the harvest had been waved at the tabernacle; (see Lev 23:9, etc.); and therefore in this case we may suppose that the Israelites had offered a sheaf of the barley-harvest, the only grain that was then ripe, before they ate of the unleavened cakes and parched corn.
How the passage was read
On Joshua 5:10-12On Joshua 5:10-12
The first Passover in the land
Forty years after Egypt, the first thing Israel does on the west side of the Jordan is keep Passover: the feast commanded for “when you come into the land” (Exodus 12:25). The next morning they eat the land's own grain, and the manna stops the same day. The feast marks the seam between the wilderness and the inheritance: the bread from heaven gives way to bread from the promised soil.
What the Jewish commentators add
From the day after the Pesach. This was the day of waving the Omer, for they sacrificed the Omer first. 11 They could not have eaten from the new grain of Eretz Yisroel until after they brought the Omer sacrifice. See Vayikroh:14.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
No longer did the Bnei Yisroel have manna. Therefore they ate of the grain of the land. If they would have had manna they would not have eaten of the grain, for the manna was agreeable to them.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Exodus 12:25 (the command for the land) · Manna (this site's study)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אכְל֜וּ | vaiyokhelu | and they ate | H398 → | 810 times |
| מֵעֲב֥וּר | meavur | some of [the] produce of | H5669 → | |
| הָאָ֛רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִמָּֽחֳרַ֥ת | mimochorat | from [the] next day of | H4283 → | |
| הַפֶּ֖סַח | hapesach | the passover | H6453 → | |
| מַצּ֣וֹת | matzot | unleavened bread<s> | H4682 → | |
| וְקָל֑וּי | vekalui | and roasted [grain] | H7033 → | |
| בְּעֶ֖צֶם | beetzem | on [the] substance of | H6106 → | 126 times |
| הַיּ֥וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּֽה׃ | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
וַיֹּ֨אכְל֜וּand they ate
vaiyokheluH398 →810 times
מֵעֲב֥וּרsome of [the] produce of
meavurH5669 →
הָאָ֛רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
מִמָּֽחֳרַ֥תfrom [the] next day of
mimochoratH4283 →
הַפֶּ֖סַחthe passover
hapesachH6453 →
מַצּ֣וֹתunleavened bread<s>
matzotH4682 →
וְקָל֑וּיand roasted [grain]
vekaluiH7033 →
בְּעֶ֖צֶםon [the] substance of
beetzemH6106 →126 times
הַיּ֥וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּֽה׃<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 23:14You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to…
it leads to
- Exodus 34:26
Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
- Genesis 4:4–5
while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
- Nehemiah 9:14
You revealed to them Your holy Sabbath and gave them commandments and statutes and laws through Your servant Moses.
- Leviticus 25:2–3
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
- Joshua 5:11–12
The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.
- Exodus 34:26
Through
Leviticus 23:6On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
it leads to
- Exodus 34:18
You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the…
- Deuteronomy 16:8
For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.
- Exodus 12:15–16
For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be…
- Exodus 34:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
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About Joshua
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.233-35 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.1.