First Day of Passover

Joshua 3:5-7; 5:2:15; 6:1; 6:27

The haftorah for today mentions the Paschal sacrifice, echoing the Torah portion which describes the preparations and the sacrifice done in Egypt under Moses' leadership.

After thirty days of mourning Moses' passing, Joshua tells the people to prepare themselves for the crossing of the river Jordan, he tells the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant in front of the people. G‑d tells Joshua that He will show his greatness to the people of Israel "that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I be with you".

G‑d tells Joshua to circumcise the Jewish men who had not yet been circumcised due to the desert weather, he does so, reminding them of the previous generation of men, who had gone out of Egypt, who had all been circumcised before partaking of the Passover offering. Joshua reminds the people of past events, how they had to wait for that generation to die in the desert as they would not be able to enter the land of Israel. Once everyone was circumcised they waited for all the men to recover.

G‑d tells Joshua "this day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you", referring to a vision of the star of blood which the Egyptians had said was over the Jewish people at the time of the Exodus, not knowing that it was the blood of the circumcision. Joshua calls the place Gilgal. There the people of Israel make camp and offer the Passover sacrifice, two days later G‑d stop sending the manna and the people eat the produce of the land.

Joshua sees a sword-holding man on the outskirts of Jericho and asks him on whose side he is on. "And he said, No, but I am the the captain of the host of the L-rd; I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and prostrated himself, and said to him, What does my lord say to his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, Remove your shoe from your foot; for the place upon which you stand is holy. And Joshua did so."

The haftorah ends with a message that the city of Jericho was under siege and that G‑d was with Joshua.