In Joshua 5:9, with the Israelites about to enter the long-promised land of Canaan, God says to Joshua, "'Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.' So the place has been called Gilgal to this day." According to the NIV footnote, "Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for roll."
What is the "reproach of Egypt"? Remember the times where God was so upset with Israel that he threatened to Moses to wipe them out and instead make Moses into a people? Moses pleaded with God to have mercy on them. Moses argued that Egypt would scoff that their God had rescued his people from Egypt only to let them die in the desert. Today, with Israel about to receive their inheritance, God had taken away this "reproach of Egypt."
The People's Bible says, "Now slander can never be mouthed by any Egyptian because the Lord himself rolled it away. He has seen to it that his people enter the land of milk and honey and renew their covenant with their Lord, who obviously loves them."
And the People's Bible author adds this fascinating note: "It is striking that the words Gilgal and Golgotha are related. If the Lord rolled away reproach at Gilgal, think of the slander that Jesus rolled away by his sacrifice for our sins at Golgotha! Ever since the crucifixion, no one can sneer that God does not love us, that we are not his dear redeemed people, and that we will not live in the eternal promised land. Not even the devil, 'the slanderer,' can make reproach stick to God's people. Knowing that, the apostle Paul asks boldly, 'Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?' (Romans 8:33)."
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