Although you will find nothing on the map or in geography books about this place, it was the most important site in the first years of the Nation of Israel in Eretz Yisrael. Here is where the Israelites under Yehoshua camped after their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River, and here is where they placed the twelve large stones which they had removed from the riverbed to serve as a remembrance for generations of that miracle (Yehoshua 4:20-24).

The name Gilgal comes from the Hebrew word for “removing.” Gilgal became the name for this site because here is where Yehoshua carried out a mass circumcision for all those who had been born during the forty years in the wilderness, whose climate made such an operation too dangerous. “Today I have removed from you the shame of Egypt,” said God, “and the place shall be called Gilgal” (Yehoshua 5:9).

This removal of the foreskin which distinguished them from their former masters made the entire nation eligible to offer a korban Pesach, the first one in forty years.

The Mishkan (Sanctuary) which the Israelites had carried with them throughout their wandering in the wilderness stood in Gilgal for fourteen years, until the Land was conquered and divided amongst the tribes, after which it was transferred to Shiloh.