Bereansearching Bible Studies

Introduction

This post is an excerpt from a longer Exposition of 2 Kings 4:38-41. While there is some debate as to whether the 41 times in 39 verses in the Old Testament, which specifically mention “Gilgal”, are all addressing the same location or not; God’s use of the place name “Gilgal” nonetheless consistently carries great spiritual significance.

Gilgal

“Gilgal” (גִּלְגָּל (gilgāl))^H1537 (meaning “a wheel, rolling”) is the name that God Himself gave to that specific place where we learn of the following:

1. Joshua 4:19 tells us that It is the first encampment of the people of Israel after crossing, and “coming up out” of, the River Jordan into the Promised Land (pointing to the Salvation of the saints of God coming through untouched by the Flood (representing Hell) and up into Heaven, because the Ark of the Covenant, representing the Body of Jesus Christ, was there the whole time).
2. It occurred on the tenth day of the first month! The children of Israel came up out of the River Jordan on the very day that the Passover Lamb was to be selected for the Passover according to Exodus 12:1-3, (and the same day that Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday about 1500 years later). See also Ezra 10:16.
3. It is, in Joshua 4:20, where Joshua erected a monument of twelve stones (representing the twelve tribes of Israel) as a memorial to Israel’s deliverance and salvation (which points to the Eternal Israel’s Salvation).
4. It is, in Joshua 5:8 where all of the male children of Israel who made it through the wilderness were circumcised (which points to the Eternal Israel’s Salvation by the shedding of blood, Jesus Christ’s blood).
5. It is where, immediately after that great circumcision took place, in Joshua 5:9, that God announced that He had “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off” national Israel (which points to the eternal salvation of the eternal Israel in Christ Jesus Who Is Symbolized in that covenant involving the shedding of blood and the cutting/rolling away of the reproach symbolized by mankind’s bondage to the devil in Hell (Typified by Egypt under pharaoh).
6. It is, in Joshua 5:10. where national Israel waited three days to heal and then the next day observed the first Passover Feast on the 14th Day of the first month in the Promised Land (again pointing to the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ).
7. It is, Joshua 5:12 where the manna ceased, marking the end of the wilderness sojourn period (pointing to the fact that in Heaven we only need Jesus, the Bread of Life, of Whom the manna was just an earthly “Type”, but not the substance).
8. It is from the Camp in Gilgal that the nation of Israel under the leadership of Joshua destroyed Jericho. (which is an “Historical Parable” because Jericho is a “Type” for the world that will be destroyed on Judgment Day by Jesus (“Typified” by His Namesake, Joshua) coming from Heaven accompanied by Jesus’s saints (the Eternal Israel, “Typified” by the irreproachable National Israel). And Israel compassed Jericho 13 times spanning 7 days). Only Rahab the harlot and her family were saved because her window had the scarlet thread. Rahab and her family “Typified” those who are the believers, who will still alive on earth on Judgment Day, who are covered by the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, and His Blood is “Typified” by the scarlet thread.
9. It is, in 1 Samuel 7:16, listed as one of three cities visited by the prophet Samuel as a circuit Judge (Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh). Bethel (בֵּית־אֵל (bêṯ-‘ēl))^H1008  means “house of God” and Mizpeh (מִצְפָּה (miṣpâ))^H4709 means “watchtower”.
10. It is, in 1 Samuel 11:14&15, where the Benjamite, Saul, was made the first king of Israel by the prophet Samuel. 
11. It is, in 1 Samuel 13:7-13, that King Saul had been instructed to stay and wait for Samuel before offering sacrifices to the Lord there. Rather than obey, Saul took the matter in his own hands and sacrificed to the Lord at Gilgal. When Samuel arrived, he announced judgment on Saul for his disobedience, stating that Saul’s kingdom and position would not continue and would be given over to another (David of the tribe of Judah ). “the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him [to be] captain over his people,“.
12. It is, in 1 Samuel 15:33, where the Prophet Samuel slew to pieces with a sword, Agag, the king of the Amalekites.

Gilgal Is Intimately Linked With the Salvation of God’s People by the Atoning Sacrifice of The Lord Jesus Christ! 

The very first place in the Bible where we find the name Gilgal is in Joshua 4:19, where we read,

“¶ And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come,saying, What [mean] these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over. That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it [is] mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.“

More information is provided by God later in Joshua 5:8-12, where God specifically declares that Gilgal is where God “rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off” national Israel. We read : ¶And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. ¶And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat off the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.“

Gilgal, which literally means “wheel”, or “wheel that rolls”, and as noted above, Gilgal is spiritually identified by God with the rolling away of the “reproach of Egypt” from off of His people. And of course, the phrase, “the reproach of Egypt“, is a typological/allegorical representation of fallen mankind’s spiritual enslavement to sin and Satan. Egypt (the land of Israel’s captivity for 400 years) is notably identified in the Bible as the “iron furnace” in Deuteronomy 4:20, 1Kings 8:51, and Jeremiah 11:4 and is therefore a typological/allegorical spiritual reference for Hell.

“Rolled Away“

Do not the words “rolled away” also bring to mind something else that the Bible tells us was also rolled away? Yes, it was the stone that sealed the tomb where Jesus’ Body lay, as we read in both Mark 16:4, “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.” and Luke 24:2 “And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.” 

Yes, the reproach of Egypt (Hell) was eternally removed from off the Eternal Israel, as was exemplified by the rolling away of the stone that sealed the tomb of Jesus’, showing that Jesus had been resurrected and that Jesus was the “first begotten of the dead.” 

Revelation 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” and 

1 Peter 1:3, “¶Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,“

The Spiritual Symbolism of Gilgal

Gilgal thus symbolizes the Atoning Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which God provides salvation for His people, and thus spiritually represents the place where God removes the reproach for their sin together with the death penalty in Hell that the payment for that sin requires. 

The Circumcision in Gilgal

And just as national Israel received the physical circumcision at Gilgal, so to does it symbolize the spiritual “circumcision of the hearts” by God for (Deuteronomy 10:16) of all His children of the eternal Israel. The shedding of blood and the cutting off of the foreskins pointed to the fact that a transition had taken place and those who were circumcised had come under the Abrahamic covenant by the shedding of blood related to the “seed” and ultimately Blood of Christ, because Jesus had to be cut-off and was the Seed of Abraham and David. Jesus is also typified by the Passover lamb sacrifice, which also was partaken of in Gilgal. But what are the other spiritual implications of circumcision? The physical circumcision of the flesh avails nothing, because God talks of the spiritual circumcision of the heart. 

In Deuteronomy 30:6, we read, “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” God provides the exposition of this in describing how the saints are made complete in Christ, “Colossians 2:11-13, “¶ In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;” So the “rolling away of the reproach of Egypt” is intimately linked to circumcision at Gilgal.

This is also why Joshua, during much of his campaign to conquer the promised land, set up his camp in Gilgal. It was from Gilgal that Joshua was used by God to save Israel from its enemies, and from which Joshua “ascended” (compare with Ephesians 4:7-16) as we find in the following verses: 

Joshua 9:6, “And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us“.

Joshua 10:6 &7, “¶”And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. ¶ So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.” 

Joshua 10:9, “Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, [and] went up from Gilgal all night.”

Joshua 10:15, “¶And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.“

Joshua 10:43, “And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.”

Joshua 14:6. “Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal:and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.”

Joshua, of course, is a clear “Type” of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Savior. 

Please note that Jesus (Ἰησοῦς (iēsous))^G2424 is Greek for the Hebrew, Joshua (יְהוֹשׁוּעַ (yᵊhôšûaʿ)) ^H3091, which means “Jehovah is Salvation” (or “Savior”) and therefore effectively is the same as Elisha, which means “God Is Salvation”.

Conclusion

In this study we have seen yet another case where God has masterfully crafted history, and the recording of it, and in this case particularly the use of geography, to prefigure the return of the Lord Jesus Christ on Judgment Day.  Judgment Day will be the last event in history when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back in the clouds of Glory from Heaven (as “Typified” by Gilgal where Joshua first camped with his people after crossing up out of the River Jordan) to destroy all wickedness, and send all of the unsaved to an eternity in Hell, and put an end to this entire creation (Typified by Jericho), which is under the curse of sin and death.  It will mark the end of time and the beginning of eternity wherein righteousness will dwell in new heavens and a new earth forever.

In 2 Peter 3:10 we read, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” But thankfully in 2 Peter 3:13 we read, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.“

Today’s Application: Are You Ready?

Jesus is the only Way of escape from the just penalty for our sins. All other ways that man can devise will lead only to Hell come Judgment Day. You are either with God or against God.  Have you made peace with God through Jesus Christ?  Please pray to God for mercy through Jesus Christ and He will show you mercy. Judgment Day is for any individual only a heart beat away, but for the world it is coming very soon, given all of the signs of the times that we are currently all living in.

This entry was posted on June 14, 2023 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.