Joshua 23:9

“ For YHWH has driven out before you great nations and strong, and as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.”

Let the past teach them the lesson. They have defeated great and strong nations, and driven them out. No one has been able to prevent them from settling down. This was a slightly optimistic viewpoint. It is certain that they had not achieved all that they had hoped for or attempted. But from a general point of view what they had done had met with success, and they were at present at rest and settled reasonably comfortably in the land. And they were not subservient to any.