Joshua 23:1-16
1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and strickena in age.
2 And Joshua called for all Israel, 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:
3 And ye have seen 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 Behold, I 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 great sea westward.b
5 And the LORD your God, he shall 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.
6 Be 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;
7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
8 But cleavec unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9 For the LORDd 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.
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,e that ye love the LORD your God.
12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
13 Know for a certainty that 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 going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not 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 shall 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 When 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 LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
Joshua 23:7. Neither make mention of the name of their gods. This prohibition is often repeated, and it involves mythology in difficulties. The LXX had authorities for saying, Joshua 24:33, that the Israelites fell away to worship Astarte and Ashtaroth. Of Astarte we find the following remarks, that she was a goddess of Syria, and one of the four Venuses that espoused Adonis, called also Atergatis, by Elian, and Tertullian in his Apology. She was the Venus or goddess of the Sidonians, to whom Solomon built an altar to please his idolatrous queens. Ashtaroth is a plural name, equivalent to riches, flocks, &c. He was called the god of the Egyptians. These idols were destroyed by Samuel, 1 Samuel 7:3; but were privately restored by Solomon. Of Baal we have spoken, on Numbers 32:38.
REFLECTIONS.
Joshua, feeling the approaches of death, by the increase of his infirmities; but feeling his soul unimpaired in vigour and fidelity to God, assembled all Israel, to receive his final commands. It is by charges and injunctions of this nature, that virtuous princes live and reign for ever in the heart and memory of all their subjects. He opened the assembly by reciting a summary of the miracles of providence and grace by which God had enabled them to conquer the country. He exhorted them to persevere in the same piety and fortitude, assuring them withal, that God would expel the remaining heathen. As they had not repented on seeing the wonders of the Lord, and feeling his vengeance, their sentence still remained.
Anxious to encourage them in the Lord's awful work, he joins his testimony to that of Moses, saying that one of them should chase a thousand, because God would fight for them as he had promised.
This success was however on condition of their perseverance in the love of God; on condition of their abstaining from marriages, and from covenant and intercourse with the obdurate and devoted nations; because after those covenants they would be incapable of executing the divine vengeance. God would not fight for them in a state of perjury and lies.
The case is similar with the christian church. If a minister of religion associate with the wicked in their routes and parties, from that moment his mouth is stopped. He can no longer magnify the righteousness of God in the pulpit, and denounce sentence against sinners. The libertines who may occasionally listen to his voice, perceiving the dissonance between his words and works, will harden their hearts against the truth, and declare with a high voice, that he shall never convert them from profligacy to hypocrisy. No man who does not live in the spirit and practice of religion can possibly reprove the wicked with good effect. On the contrary they will be as snares to his feet, enticing him to sin, and as thorns in his sides to reproach him when he goes astray.
Mark also the considerations with which Joshua enforced his exhortation. Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth. And among all the venerable elders who stood before him, not one was so old as he by about thirty years. He had served the Lord with an unspotted piety; and the Lord had fulfilled to him, and to his faithful people every promise of his covenant; and therefore he could exhort them to fidelity, with all the weight of wisdom, and of vast experience. Hence we see that as aged and faithful men have these advantages over the young, they should particularly lay themselves out to encourage early piety, and perseverance in every virtue to the end of life. Nor was Joshua, less than Moses, wanting to add, that a defection from the true religion would not only forfeit all its blessings, but incur all its curses. And who for the sordid love of sin would forfeit all this good, and bring upon himself the insupportable displeasure of Almighty God.