John Gill Commentary Joshua 5:9

"And Jehovah said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, unto this day." — Joshua 5:9 (ASV)

And the Lord said to Joshua
Out of the tabernacle:

this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you; either the reproach of being reckoned of the same religion with the Egyptians, they now having observed the command of the Lord, and thereby declared themselves to be his servants and worshippers, which sense Ben Gersom mentions; or else the reproach with which the Egyptians reproached them, that they were brought out from them into the wilderness for evil, to be destroyed there, they now being safely arrived in the land of Canaan; which sense he seems to approve of, and so Abarbinel.

Or rather by it is meant the reproach of being bondmen, and slaves, as they were in Egypt, having now entered upon their inheritance, they as free men, the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were heirs to; and perhaps it was this sense of the phrase led Josephus ^F3 to give a wrong interpretation of the word "Gilgal", which he says signifies "liberty": and adds, ``for, having passed the river, they knew they were free from the Egyptians, and from troubles in the wilderness;''

Though the more commonly received sense is, that this reproach is to be understood of uncircumcision, which was the reproach of the Egyptians, they at this time not using circumcision, though they afterwards did, when some of the nearby nations used it, who descended from Abraham, as the Midianites, Ishmaelites, Arabites, and Edomites:

wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day;
which signifies "rolling" ^F4 ; so that when it is met with before, it is so called by anticipation.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 11.
• F4: A (llg) "volvit, devolvit", Buxtorf.