What does the Bible say about flint knives, or flintknapping? I’m kidding, right? No, actually, there are a number of references to stone knives and flintknapping in the Bible. But for now, let’s take a look at one mention of flint knives in the Old Testament’s book of Joshua. At the beginning of the 5th chapter, it says, “On this occasion the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite nation for the second time.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites ….”
Now, just to put things in context, circumcision was the mark of God’s covenant with the Israelite nation when they left the captivity of Egypt under Moses’ leadership. Then the covenant sort of got broke by the Israelites. Moses had recently died. Now that Joshua was leading the nation, after Israel had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, all of the men who had originally been circumcised were dead. No worries. It was time to simply renew the covenant before entering God’s Promised Land. It probably sounded great to everybody but the young men of Israel. At that point they may have thought that wandering in the wilderness wasn’t that bad.
In any case, the situation provokes some compelling questions. Why would God tell Joshua and the Israelites, who were living in the Bronze age, to specifically use flint knives for a very delicate surgical procedure? These people lived in Egypt for hundreds of years. They posessed metal tools and weapons and the technology to produce them. After all, just after they started their walk-about in the desert, they designed and crafted a pretty slick golden calf out there in the wilderness. Moses broke it, in case you’re interested.
It’s fascinating that God’s command to make flint knives, presumes that Joshua was familiar with this “old neolithic technology”. It’s precisely this Old World flintknapping technology that makes it so interesting. Flintworking at that time revolved primarily around a method called Blade-Core technology. It involves procuring a chunk of flint which is then shaped in a way that allows production of predictable, parallel sided blades. This type of flint blade is sharp. How sharp? Sharp enough to serve as a surgical instrument, and much sharper than a bronze knife is capable of being, due to the relative softness of the metal.
So here we have Stone-Age technology, which apparently enjoyed some degree of familiarity even in the Bronze Age. But in this situational context, God’s motive seems focused on the reality that flint blades will cut cleaner, thus resulting in less pain and more rapid healing for the patients. It’s almost startling that to think that God would point to old technology as being superior in this circumstance. How did He know that? Well, He’s God.
But wait. There is perhaps an even more compelling reason why God directed flint knives to be used. If you study bronze blades and flint blades under high magnification, you see a stark difference. The surface of a flint blade is quite smooth and homogeneous. A bronze blade is full of pits and grooves, great homes in which all kinds of harmful bacteria can thrive. A blade that is struck from, what would have been the interior of a chunk of flint, is comparatively sterile.
Now it’s doubtful that the Israelites had knowledge of bacteria and it’s ability to cause dangerous infections, but once again, God certainly did. So, is it probable that God commanded Joshua to use old technology because of its superiority in this case? Is it likely that His directive came out of His concern to mitigate pain, discomfort and risk of infection that resulted from doing delicate, non-anasthetical surgery, in a tent. It would seem so. Having said that, one might still assume that a collective “OOOOOOOOW”! rose from the Israelite camp one day in the Bronze Age.