Why did Israel stop to circumcise right before attacking Jericho?
Israel stopped to circumcise because God placed covenant obedience first. Circumcision, required since Abraham, was necessary to consummate Israel's relationship with Jehovah and to prepare the nation spiritually for the physical battles ahead. Even at Jericho's doorstep, God prioritized this covenant rite over military readiness.
Les explains that, so far as God was concerned, it was more important that Israel fulfill her covenant relationship with Jehovah, which had been demanded from day one to Abraham: circumcision. First things first. Even at the doorstep of Jericho, a mortal enemy, God literally laid Israel in a useless position and incapacitated the whole nation before the enemy. They went through the whole rite of circumcision to prepare them spiritually for the physical battles that were coming, because the covenant relationship had to be consummated. After circumcising all the people, they stayed in their places until they were whole or healed. Then the Lord said He had rolled away the reproach of Egypt, and the place was called Gilgal. Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the Passover in the plains of Jericho, forty years to the day from the Passover in Egypt.