The Book of Joshua
Joshua 23
Chapter XXIII · Vol. I, pp. 575–576
1 Joshua's exhortation before his death, 3 by former benefits, 5 by promises, 12 and by threatenings in case of disobedience.
1 And it came to pass, a long time1 after that the LORD ahad given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old, and stricken in age.2
A.M. 2577. B.C. 1427.
1 About ten, or perhaps twenty years.
a ch.11.23; 21.4. Ps.46.9.
2 Heb. come into days.
2 And bJoshua called for all Israel,3 and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
b Ac.20.17. De 31.28. Ex.18.21,25. ch.24.1.
3 It is most probable this charge was confined to the several orders of rulers, and that after 'all Israel' we should read, not 'and,' but 'even,' &c. 'Elders,' the Sanhedrim or senate, the parliament; 'heads,' chiefs of families; 'judges,' from the local courts of tribes and cities; 'officers,' the executive of the judges—in modern language the sheriffs.—C.
3 And ye have cseen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.4
c Mal.1.5. Ps.44.2. Ex.14.14. ch.vi.-xi.
4 What man does, he can do only by the wisdom or strength that God bestows; and so God is said himself to do what is done by man's instrumentality. But in addition to this legitimate sense of the phrase, there were many things under Joshua's government literally done by God's immediate interference—as the falling of the walls of Jericho and the standing still of the sun.—C.
4 Behold, dI have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the egreat sea westward.5
d ch.18.10; 13.7; xv.-xxi.
e ch.15.12; 9.11.
5 Heb. at the sunset.
5 And the LORD your God, he fshall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.
f Nu.33.52. Ex.23.29-31. De.7.1,2,16,20-24; 9.1-3; 11.23. ver.12,13.
6 Beg ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
g ch.1.6,7,9. 1 Co.16.13. Eze.6.10. 2 Ti.2.1. De.5.32; 28.14.
7 That hye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods,6 nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
h Ex.23.13,24,32,33; 34.11-16. Le.18.24-30; 20.22,23; 26.1. Nu.33.52,53,55. De.7.1-5,25; 12.2,3,29-31; 20.16-18. Ps.106.34-40; 16.4. ver.12. Ep.5.11. 2 Co.6.14. Ho.2.17. Zep.1.5.
6 He that would avoid a sin requires to avoid its very name; that is, when it is matter of idle conversation, mere inquisitive curiosity: it is only when it is named to be condemned that we may safely repeat it.—C.
9 Forl the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
l Or, Then the LORD will drive, ver.3; ch.21.43,44; 1.5,8,9; 15.14.
10 Onem man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
12 Else, if oye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages8 with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
o Pr.14.14; 1.31; 13.21. He.10.38. 2 Pe.2.20,21. Ex.34.12-16. Nu.33.55. Ju.2.2,3.
8 The mixed marriages of the professors of a true and a false religion either end in quarrelling, oppression, or indifferency, and generally raise up families of no religion, prepared for superstition, idolatry, or infidelity, according to the fashion of the time.—C.
13 Know for a certainty, pthat the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
14 And, behold, this day I am qgoing the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that rnot one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so sshall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
16 Whent ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD9 be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
t De.4.25-28; 8.19,20; 29.15-28; 30.17,18; 31.16-18,29; 32.15-26. ch.24.20. Ju.2.10-19; iii. iv. vi. xi. 2 Ki.17.7-23; i.-xxv. 1 Sa.iv. xiii. xxxi. 1 Ki.xi.-xxii. Am.ii.-ix. Ho.iv.-xiii. Mi.i.-iii. vi. Is.i. iii. v. ix. x. xxii. xxv. xxix. xxx. lix. Je.i.-xxiii. Eze.ii.-xxiv. Zep.i. ii. Lu.21.20-26; 19.42-44.
9 The mention of anger in God has often been subject of infidel or (so-called) philosophical reprehension. For this, however, there is no ground. The Scriptures attribute not to God the unreasonable anger of men, but a holy displeasure at sin and sinners; of which, if there be a philosophy that would deprive God, there is then a philosophy that deprives him of glory. A God that does not abhor sin cannot love holiness; and the moral agent that loves not holiness is himself wicked, and cannot be God.—C.
Notes
[Ver. 7. Neither make mention of the name of their gods. Christian legislators and judges do not hesitate to introduce superstitious and idolatrous modes of swearing, on the principle that every man is to swear in the mode that will most bind his conscience. This is a plausible but unsound argument, as it renders a judicial respect to superstition or idolatry that never should be rendered, and tends to elevate and perpetuate those evils which every true Christian must, by all means, labour to root out. C.]
Reflections.—Happy is that nation, the rulers of which not only establish the true religion, but also mightily promote it with their example and advice.—Accurate observers of providence may in every age remark manifold grounds of thankfulness, and reasons for exactness in holy obedience: and God's kind favours, as well as his fearful judgments, whether past, present, or future, ought powerfully to influence us to holiness and circumspection of life. But while we are surrounded with temptations, we had need constantly to watch and pray; and to maintain a constant love to God as a mean of preservation from evil. Scarcely any snare is more fatal than affinity or intimacy with unbelievers; and it often happens that our tempters are arrested in sin, and our knowledge and remembrance of the mercies which we rejected a mean of tormenting us when we are deprived of them. It is therefore greatly unbecoming for professed Christians to regard so little the religion of those whom they marry or make their intimates: or to lard their speeches or writings with the names of idols, or even to deck their houses or gardens with their images for ornament.