The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
The “disgrace” mentioned by God in Hebrew is “galoti,” an etymological pun on the place name “Gilgal.” It can be translated literally, “circle,” and in this context may provide a double meaning. First is the shame of slavery Israel endured at the hands of the Egyptians. The all encompassing disgrace and elision of identity that comes with slavery will now be replaced with a decisive action of self-discovery and communal purpose - invading a land and establishing their national identity within it. Second, the “circle of shame” refers to the flesh cut away through circumcision, a ritualistic precondition for maintaining a relationship with God. This is the event that immediately precedes this week’s reading. Israel, while in the desert, had not circumcised a generation. Now that they are at the edge of their wilderness, both literally and metaphorically, they cut away superfluidity and step into their new selves, ready for the challenge.
In their final act as new people, Israel participates in the Passover ritual. The Passover can only be taken by the circumcised, those marked for God; it is both an acknowledgement of their past and an act of hope for the future. The slaughter of the lamb a reminder of their own slaughter and subjugation and their salvation from it; the meager meal with unleavened bread a reminder of their sojourn in the desert, where they learned dependence on each other, Moses and God. The pairings of these two rituals, circumcision and Passover, serve as moments of Israel’s observance of Lent. This is their evaluation of themselves, their purification, so they can step out of their wilderness and into a new identity.