Joshua 5:11

The old corn. The produce of the land; literally, that which passes from off it, from עָבַר to pass over. Whether new or old we have no means of telling. The barley would be ripe (see note on Joshua 2:6 ), but the wheat harvest had not yet taken place. The morrow after the sabbath. The 15th Nisan (see Numbers 33:3 ). The law of the wave sheaf (Le Joshua 23:10 , Joshua 23:11 ) was intended to apply to corn raised by the Israelites on their own land, after Canaan had been divided to them for an inheritance (see Exodus 23:16 ). And parched corn; i.e; ears roasted at the fire, and the grain afterwards rubbed out, a custom still in use among the Arabs (see Le Joshua 2:14 ; 1 Samuel 17:17 ; 2 Samuel 17:28 , etc. See also for the precept here followed, Leviticus 23:14 ). This verse therefore adds some confirmation to the view that until their arrival in Palestine a full observance of the precepts of the law was impossible (see above, Joshua 5:6 ).