Joshua 23--Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

Joshua 23
English Standard Version

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders
23 A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The LORD your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.

14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

---

Much time passes between Joshua 22 and Joshua 23 so that Joshua is no well-advanced in years and knows that he is about to die.  He summoned all of Israel, all the elders and heads (probably the tribal chiefs), and all the judges and officers so that he can give them one final message and charge from himself and from the LORD.

Joshua reminds them that they did not gain any of this by their own hand, but it is the LORD who fought for them and defeated their enemies and gave this Land to them as an eternal inheritance.  However, their work was not finished because their inheritance was given to them before all the former inhabitants of the Land were driven out of the Land or killed.  All the Land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (the Great Sea) was to belong to Israel and only to Israel.  There were not to cohabitate with the other nations or give them any quarter nor intermarry with them nor serve their gods.  Joshua warns the people and especially the leaders of the people that day to be careful to cling to the LORD and His Law and to be careful to do all that is written in it so that they will always be a people holy unto the LORD, set apart from all the other nations of the earth, and they are to walk blameless in His sight.  Only then will the LORD continue to drive out all the remaining enemies from the Land, but if they break the covenant that the LORD made with them, then the LORD will use these enemies to punish them and torture them and even to kill them in the very Promised Land where they stand.

Joshua warns them that he is about to die and he can no longer be the one to make sure that the people and the nation obey the Law, and that that people must understand that just as the LORD had given them all the blessings of the Law for their obedience, all the curses of the Law would come upon them if they became disobedient.  Joshua specifically warned them about turning to the gods of the Canaanites because the LORD knew this is exactly what was going to happen.  The people could not say to the LORD, "Why did you never warn us?"  They will quickly turn to intermarrying with the pagan women, worshiping their gods, engaging in all kinds of sexual immorality, engaging in child sacrifice, and the LORD would allow the other nations like the Moabites, the Philistines, and Ammonites and all the others that people were supposed to destroy, but didn't to have victory over them (we'll get soon in the book of Judges).  This will lead to one of Joshua's last statements before he dies, "Choose you this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."  The nation of Israel as a whole will choose poorly as we enter into the time of the Judges, the Kings and the Prophets (the rest of the Old Testament), but the LORD will be faithful to keep his unconditional covenant that he made with Abraham even though the people are not faithful to keep the conditional covenant that the LORD mediated through Moses with His people.