Joshua 23:1-16

Come in, and receive God’s promises!

Joshua

Brian Rowlands

Maps to help you to study this book are on the Internet at www.easyenglish.info.

Chapter 23

Joshua says ‘Goodbye’ to his leaders – Joshua 23:1-16

v1 After many years passed, Joshua was very old. The *Lord had given peace to the *Israelites. Their enemies who lived near them did not attack them any more. v2 Then, Joshua called all the people to him with their leaders, judges and officers. He said to them, ‘I am now very old. v3 You, yourselves, saw what the *Lord did to your enemies, to help you. It was the *Lord who fought them for you. v4 Remember how I have given to each of your *tribes a special part of the land. All the land belongs to you, although some other people still live there. I fought for this land and I took it from the nations near you. I led you in your battles between the river Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. v5 The *Lord himself will remove your enemies from the land. He will defeat them in front of you, and you will live in their land. He promised that he would do this.

v6 Be very strong. Do everything that Moses told you to do in his Book of the Law. Obey his rules. Do not turn away from them even slightly. v7 Do not become friends of the nations that are near you. Do not pray to their gods. Do not use the names of their gods when you make a promise. You must not serve their gods or *worship their gods. v8 But you must always obey the *Lord your God, as you have done until now.

v9 The *Lord has removed strong and powerful nations in front of you. Nobody has been strong enough to stand against you. v10 One *Israelite can defeat 1000 men. This is because the *Lord your God fought for you. This is what he promised to do. v11 You must be very careful to love the *Lord your God.’

v12 Joshua said to all the people, ‘Perhaps you will turn away to join with other nations that remain among you. Perhaps you will marry their people, or you will mix with them. v13 Then you can be sure that the *Lord your God will not continue to defeat them for you. Instead, they will hurt you and they will kill you. They will hit your backs. And they will make your eyes blind. Then you will lose this good land that the *Lord your God has given to you.

v14 Now I am going to die, as all men do. The *Lord has kept every one of the promises that he gave to you. You know that deep in yourselves. He has not failed to keep one of his promises. v15 The *Lord has kept every good promise. But he will also keep his promise to cause trouble and to kill you. He will send you away from this good land that he has given to you. v16 He will do this if you do not obey his rules. If you do not obey him, he will be very angry with you. You must not serve other gods and you must not *worship them. If you do these terrible things, then the *Lord will be angry. You will soon die. And your families will have to leave this good land.

Verse 1 We do not know how much time had passed since the two and a half *tribes went home. It could have been many years. The *Israelites lived in peace. Their enemies did not continue to fight them.

Verses 2-5, 14, 15 Joshua reminded the people about several things.

• You have seen that God is working for you.

• You have seen that God is fighting for you.

• God has given you land to live in.

• God will continue to work for you.

• God has kept all his promises.

• God will keep all his promises.

Christians should remember this. God is on our side. He is working for us. He will keep all his promises.

Verses 6-10 Joshua also gave several instructions to the people.

• Be strong.

• Obey God’s instructions.

• Do not become friends with God’s enemies.

• Do not *worship false gods.

• Love God.

These are instructions for Christians today.

Verse 7 We need to become friends with people who are not Christians. We want them to become Christians. But we must not let this friendship be too close. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul wrote, ‘Do not try to work with people who are not friends of God. You cannot do it. Right things and wrong things cannot work together. Light and darkness cannot work together.’ We must be careful. We must not become too friendly. We must not do the wrong things that they do. We must not let them have a bad effect on us by the things that they do.

Verses 12-14 Joshua warned the people:

• Perhaps you will become friends with your enemies (that is, the other people who lived in the land).

• Perhaps you will marry some of them.

• They will hurt you.

• God will not be happy.

• God will not give you any more good things.

Christians must be careful, too. God will not forget us if we do evil things. But our evil deeds will spoil our *fellowship with God. And they will cause us many troubles. We should always be loyal to God.

Lord ~ a name for God in the Bible. The original language of the Old Testament is called Hebrew. In the Hebrew language, there are two words that we translate as ‘Lord’. The Hebrew word ‘ADONAI’ means that God rules. God is our master. The Hebrew word ‘YHWH’ means that God never changes. God is always God.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
Israelites ~ people from Israel. They are also called Hebrews and Jews.

Israel ~ all the people born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; the people that God chose; or, the land that the Israelites lived in.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. It is also a name for one of the Israelites.
tribe ~ the whole family of one of Jacob’s 12 sons.
worship ~ to love and to praise God more than anyone else. But some people worship false gods, instead of the real God.
fellowship ~ when we are very good friends with someone.