Joshua 23
Joshua informs elders verse 1- 5
And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest to Israel
from all their enemies round about
that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age
And Joshua called for all Israel – and for the elders – and for their heads
and for their judges – and for their officers
and said to them
I am old and stricken in age
and you have seen all that the LORD your God has done
to all these nations because of you
FOR the LORD your God is HE that has fought for you
BEHOLD – I have divided to 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 to the great sea westward
And the LORD your God – HE shall expel them from before you
and drive them from out of your sight – and you shall possess their land
as the LORD your God has PROMISED to you
Joshua issues a warning against false worship verse 6- 8
BE you therefore very COURAGEOUS to keep and to do all that is
written in the book of the law of Moses – that you turn not aside there
from to the right hand or to the left
that you 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 to them
BUT CLEAVE to the LORD your God
as you have done unto this day
Joshua tells of victories that are ahead verse 9- 11
FOR the LORD has driven out from before you great nations and strong
BUT as for you – no man has been able to stand before you
to this day
One man of you shall chase a thousand – FOR the LORD your God
HE it is that fights for you – as HE has PROMISED you
Take good heed therefore to yourselves
that you LOVE the LORD your God
Joshua warns against changing Godly life style verse 12- 13
Else IF you do in any wise go back
and CLEAVE to the remnant of these nations
even these that remain among you
and shall make marriages with them
and go in to them – and they to you
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 to you
and scourges in your sides – and thorns in your eyes
until you perish from off this good land which
the LORD your God has given you
Joshua announces his death verse 14- 16
And BEHOLD – this day I am going the way of all the earth
and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls
that not one thing has FAILED of all the good
things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you
all are come to pass to you
and not one thing hath FAILED thereof
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 has destroyed you from off this good land
which the LORD your God has given you
When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God
which HE commanded you – and have gone and have served other gods
and bowed yourselves to them
Then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you
and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which
HE has given to you
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 3 And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is HE that has fought for you. (3898 “fought” [lacham] means to fight, to come to blows, to be engaged in a fight such as a military conflict, do battle, attack, struggle, or wage war)
DEVOTION: What have you seen the LORD do in your lifetime? If you are young you have seen very little of the LORD working in your life. Here is Joshua who has lived to be an old man and he has seen the LORD work wonders in his lifetime.
Too often we doubt the promises of God. Joshua reminds those who have come to him that he has seen the LORD keep HIS promises and knows that HE will continue to keep HIS promises if the people stay faithful to the LORD.
We need the witness of older saints. They are the ones who have lived through a lot during their lifetime. They know how the LORD has helped them through the difficult times.
Are you willing to listen to older saints regarding how the LORD works today? Are you willing to listen to the Word of God when it shows you what the LORD is capable of doing for HIS saints?
Parents need to show their children what the LORD has done in their lifetime and what HE is presently doing for the family as the children grow up. The witness of parents truly affects their children’s faith.
There are different enemies we are fighting today. We are fighting the influence of the internet. We are fighting the influence of I pads and all the games children can play. We are fighting the teaching at our local schools regarding issues that are not pleasing to the LORD..
CHALLENGE: Our focus needs to be on what the LORD can do for us today during our battles? Our testimony of past battles gives us hope!!
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 6 Be you therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left. (2388 ‘courageous” [chazaq] means to be/grow/make strong, to prevail, have/show courage, to be and become strong or powerful beyond the average or expected, or grow firm)
DEVOTION: Joshua is giving final instructions to the leaders of the nation of Israel. Each tribe has leaders that need to listen to his advice. He is challenging them to be very courageous in their battle against the people of the land.
He tells them that there is two ways they can go. They can either keep all that is written in the book of the law of Moses or they can turn one way or another away for the Law.
Just moving a little to the right or left of the Word of God can hurt those who follow that path. There were many false religions in the land of Canaan before the children of Israel arrived. All the nations that were still fighting with Israel wanted to introduce them to their religion with the hope that they would lose their desire to conquer them. They were even offering their daughters to them in marriage.
Today we have two directions we can go too. We can go too far to the right and think we are the only ones who are faithful to the LORD and we start making more rules to follow like the Pharisees of the New Testament. Or we can go too far to the left and let anything happen in our churches to attract anyone who is willing to come through the door.
So we can have too many rules or too few. We can have an exclusive attitude toward those who don’t believe just the way we believe or we can neglect the teaching of Scripture or doctrine to please those who come through the door.
There is a standard set in Scripture that we are not to add to or take away from. It is hard to hit this standard. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can hit it in a way that is pleasing to the LORD.
CHALLENGE: We need to watch our path. It has to be one that is pleasing to the LORD not the people around us.
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: 8 But cleave to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. (1692 “cleave” [dabaq] means to cling, stick, hold, to hold firmly or tenaciously, usually with one’s hand, to be glued, to adhere, follow, or stay with)
DEVOTION: Joshua has been a good leader. He has stayed true to the LORD. He didn’t have the problems that Moses had with the children of Israel. HE wanted them to continue to stay true to the LORD.
Here we have the use of the word cleave or hold firmly to the LORD. He was reminding them if they were going to do anything big it had to be with the LORD’S help. If battles were to be won in the future it had to be in the strength of the LORD.
Today this truth should be practiced in the church that is faithful to the LORD. If we are not glued to the LORD and HIS plan for the local church it will not succeed. We need the LORD’s guidance on a daily basis. That can only happen if we are obedient to the LORD through our prayer life and our study of the Bible.
Too often we try to use the world’s way of doing things. We think that if we put on a good show then people will come and worship with us. That might be true but it is not the LORD’S way of doing things.
HE wants us to make sure that we are faithful in our teaching of the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. HE want our music to honor HIM in words and actions.
HE want us to witness for HIM in our community through visitation and the mail system. HE wants us to make sure that we are using every means available to us to spread HIS WORD to the world.
As the funds become available we should use the radio and television to show people that the LORD is able through a proper use of music and Bible teaching.
Too often we dumb down the Word of God or we use music that is not pleasing to HIM to try to spread HIS message to the LORD.
When we use worldly music and very little teaching of the Word of God then there will be people following but they will not be genuine believers. The LORD wants genuine believer not just religious people.
CHALLENGE: Make sure that we are genuinely following the LORD in spirit and in truth. That is the way HE wants to grow HIS church today.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 14 And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and you shall know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you, all are come to pass to you, and not one thing has failed thereof. (5307 “failed” [naphal] means to disappoint, prove undependable, fall behind, be inferior, fall, or not complete an event)
DEVOTION: God NEVER falls behind. Joshua was about to die and wanted to gather the leaders one last time to give them the counsel they needed to please the LORD. He understood how hard it was to keep fighting the enemy. He knew that if they did stop fighting them, they would give in to their teachings and religion.
He wanted to remind them of the promises of God to give them victory over all the people of the land. He wanted to remind them of what they knew was true in their hearts and souls regarding the LORD. He wanted to remind them that God keep HIS word to them.
In fact, he stated it twice in this one verse to get their attention. God doesn’t disappoint. HE wants us to realize that HE only has good things for HIS children. HE corrects HIS children for their good. HE offers good gifts to those who are obedient.
Remember that good things don’t always mean money and possessions. There are many things that are more important than these two things but too often we think we are not blessed because we don’t have a lot of possession we would like or we don’t have enough money in the bank that we would like.
God never can be found to be undependable. HE is always faithful. HE gives us what HE knows is best for us when it should be given. We have to trust HIM to do what is right at just the right time.
CHALLENGE: Look into your heart and realize that all of your life has been filled with good things the LORD has given you.
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: 16 When you 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 you shall perish quickly from off the good land which he has given unto you. (4120 “quickly” [meherah] means a hurry, promptly, hastily, shortly, soon, make with speed, or swiftly.)
DEVOTION: Joshua is old and ready to die. He calls all the leader in Israel together to warn them of what will happen if they become complacent in the land. He wants the elders to know of the danger. He wants the heads of each tribe to know. He wants the judges to know. He wants the officer to know what is going to happen if they stray from the LORD.
He tells of the great victories the LORD has given to the people. He wants them to continue to drive out the enemy. HE wanted them to stay courageous. If they turn aside and let the enemies live among them it will cause them great harm.
Why? Because they will start worshiping the false gods of the land. How does this worship start? They start mentioning the name of the false gods in prayer. They then start to swear or give oaths in the names of these false gods. Next, they start to serve these false gods. Finally, they bow down to them regularly. What will be the outcome? Intermarriage with those who don’t believe in the LORD.
He wants them to cleave to the LORD with all their heart and soul. If they continue to do this, they will chase a thousand enemies each. They are to love the LORD.
He informs them that just as the LORD was able to give them the land, HE can take it away. The land is a gift from God to them for their obedience to the Law of Moses. They have a choice to make every day.
He was longsuffering with the children of Israel as we will see in the rest of the Old Testament. They gave him plenty of reasons to take the land away from them but he continually sent prophets to encourage them to come back to the LORD.
We have a choice to make every day regarding our relationship to the LORD. We can choose to be obedient or disobedient. If we chose to be obedient, HE can bless us. If we chose to be disobedient, He can take the blessings away.
Remember that sometimes HE takes the blessings away to mature us. We cannot judge others who seem to be losing the blessings of God. We can only know what is happening in our lives.
The second thing we have to remember is that God does not work in our time frame. We would think that God would immediately judge. Remember that HE is longsuffering with HIS people HE is in no hurry. HE does act swiftly on some occasions. However, HIS norm is to be longsuffering but when it ends – WATCH OUT!!!!
CHALLENGE: Learn from how the LORD dealt with the children of Israel. Learn to love HIM more. Learn that HE wants to bless us for obedience. Learn that everything that HE has given us can be taken away at any time.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Book of the Law of Moses verse 6
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Book of the Law of Moses verse 6
Covenant verse 16
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant-Keeping, Personal) verse 1, 3, 5, 8- 11, 13- 16
God – Elohim (Creator) verse 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13- 16
LORD your God verse 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13- 16
God has fought for Israel verse 3
Promised verse 5
LORD has driven out great nations verse 9
LORD never failed verse 14
LORD kept HIS promises verse 15
Covenant of the LORD your God verse 16
Anger of the LORD verse 16
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Enemies verse 1
Nations verse 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13
Heathen nations a snare verse 13
Heathen nations a trap verse 13
Heathen nations a scourge verse 13
Heathen nations a thorn verse 13
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Turn aside from the LORD verse 6, 12
Dwell with heathen nations verse 7
Mention the name of false gods verse 7
Swear by false gods verse 7
Serve false gods verse 7, 12, 16
Bow down to false gods verse 7, 16
Cleave to the remnant of heathen nations verse 12
Marry heathens verse 12
Snares and traps verse 13
Evil things verse 15
Transgressed verse 16
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Rest verse 1
Fought for you verse 3, 10
Inheritance verse 4, 13, 15
Promised verse 5, 10, 14, 15
Courageous to keep verse 6
Courageous to do verse 6
Cleave to the LORD verse 8
Victory verse 9
One man shall chase a thousand verse 10
LORD fights for you verse 10
Take heed verse 11
Love the LORD verse 11
LORD has not failed verse 14
Covenant verse 16
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Joshua verse 2
I am old and stricken in age
I have divided the nations
I am going the way of the earth
Israel verse 2
Elders verse 2
Judges verse 2
Officers verse 2
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Going the way of the earth verse 14
Perish verse 16
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QUOTES regarding passage
9–11. Finally, verse 11 summarizes this command with the positive instruction to love the Lord your God. As in Deuteronomy 6:4–9, the love described is a covenantal commitment to God and his word. Verses 9–10 describe the victory that Israel has experienced for its faithfulness until now. Again, the A-B-B1-A1 structure provides a clue to the point of this recollection:
A. The Lord has driven out before you this day great and powerful nations;
B. to this day no-one has been able to withstand you.
B1. One of you routs a thousand
A1. because the Lord your God fights for you …
God wins the victories (A/A1 elements): he enables Israel to win (B/B1 elements). Without faithfulness to God, Israel cannot hope to enjoy its successes. For the Christian, the avoidance of idolatry and its promise of victory is a theme to which Paul alludes when he asks for wholehearted dedication to Christ (Rom. 12:1), just as Jesus himself demanded such total and loving commitment in his teaching on discipleship (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:62; 14:26, 33). (Hess, R. S. (1996). Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 6, pp. 326–327). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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Israel was then solemnly exhorted, on the basis of divine interventions on their behalf, to love … God (cf. 22:5). This would require diligence and watchfulness because of the near presence of their corrupt neighbors. The temptation would be strong to forsake Yahweh and cleave to the people of Canaan, even intermarrying with them, a fateful decision and one fraught with peril to Israel. This danger was graphically described by Joshua in terms of the dire results that would follow. First, God would no longer drive out these nations but they would remain to mar Israel’s inheritance. Second, the Canaanites among them would be like snares and traps to entangle them, whips to lash them, and thorns that fly back into their faces stabbing their eyes. Third, miseries and troubles would increase for Israel until they would be dispossessed of their good land (cf. 23:15–16.).
Joshua did not contemplate any possibility of neutrality as he posed the choice to be made. They would either go with Israel’s God or the people of Canaan. So it is today. There is no middle course. “No one can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24; cf. Matt. 12:30). (Campbell, D. K. (1985). Joshua. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 368). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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What the Lord would do to Israel (Josh. 23:11–16). The Word of God is like a two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12): If we obey it, God will bless and help us; if we disobey it, God will chasten us until we submit to Him. If we love the Lord (Josh. 23:11), we’ll want to obey Him and please Him; so the essential thing is that we cultivate a satisfying relationship with God.
Joshua reminded the people that God’s Word never fails, whether it’s the Word of promise for blessing or the Word of promise for chastening. Both are evidences of His love, for “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Prov. 3:11–12; Heb. 12:6). Charles Spurgeon said, “God will not allow His children to sin successfully.”
Moses had warned Israel against compromising with the evil nations in the land (Ex. 23:20–33; 34:10–17; Deut. 7:12–26), and Joshua reaffirmed that warning (Josh. 23:13). If Israel began to mingle with these nations, two things would happen: God would remove His blessing, and Israel would be defeated; and these nations would bring distress and defeat to Israel. Joshua used vivid words like snares, traps, scourges, and thorns to impress the Jews with the suffering they would experience if they disobeyed the Lord. The final stroke of chastening would be Israel’s removal from their land to a land of exile. After all, if you want to live and worship like the Gentiles, then live with the Gentiles! This happened when God permitted Babylon to conquer Judah, destroy Jerusalem, and take thousands of the Jews into exile in Babylon.
Three times in this brief address Joshua called Canaan “this good land” (vv. 13, 15–16). When God called Moses at the burning bush, He promised to take Israel into a “good land” (Ex. 3:8); and Joshua and Caleb described Canaan as “a good land” after forty days of investigation (Num. 14:7). In his farewell message Moses used the phrase “good land” at least ten times (Deut. 1:25, 35; 3:25; 4:21–22; 6:18; 8:7, 10; 9:6; 11:17). The argument is obvious: Since God has given us such a good land, the least we can do is live to please Him.
Meditating on the goodness of God is a strong motivation for obedience. James connects the goodness of God with our resisting of temptation (James 1:13–17), and Nathan took the same approach when he confronted King David with his sins (2 Sam. 12:1–15). It was not his own badness but his father’s goodness that brought the prodigal son to repentance and then back home (Luke 15:17). “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4, NKJV). The danger is that the material blessings from the Lord can so possess our hearts that we focus on the gifts and forget the Giver, and this leads to sin (Deut. 8).
Joshua’s three main admonitions in this address need to be heeded by God’s people today: Keep God’s Word (Josh. 23:6), cleave to the Lord (v. 8), and love the Lord (v. 11). Too many Christians have not only compromised with the enemy but also have capitulated to the enemy, and the Lord is not first in their lives. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Strong (pp. 148–150). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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23:7, 8 The dangers from being incomplete about possessing all the Land included that of intermingling with the godless, as in marriages (v. 12), and committing to their gods, thus drifting from worshiping the true God. The Canaanites would become snares, traps, scourges, and thorns, causing Israelites to eventually lose the Land (vv. 13, 15–16). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Jos 23:7). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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Ver. 11. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, &c.] To be upon their guard, and to be watchful, were very necessary to them, that they might not be insnared by the Canaanites, and drawn aside by them into idolatry, and so apostatize from the Lord and his worship, since their temptations would be many: that ye love the Lord your God; which would the most strongly influence and engage them to serve and worship the Lord, and obey his commands, and be the best preservative against idolatry and false worship. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 2, p. 271). London: Mathews and Leigh)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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No God But God: Breaking with the Idols of Our Age
by Os Guinness & John Seel
Many evangelicals, being relatively new to politics, do not realize that the art of prudent and principled compromise is necessary in the political arena. (p. 54)
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Nonbelievers can speak the truth to others, and lead outwardly virtuous lives – they are what St. Augustine called “virtuous pagans.” (p. 55)
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SUBORDINATION
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
John 16:14
The Scriptures teach that the Spirit is subordinate to the Father and to the Son. That is what is meant in John 16:13. Our Lord says, “He shall not speak of himself,” which means that He does not speak from Himself—He is given what to speak. And indeed, His work, we are told, is to glorify Christ (John 16:14). The Spirit does not glorify Himself; He glorifies the Son.
Is this not wonderful? Here is the subordination. Here is the division of the work. The Son says that He has come to glorify the Father, and the Spirit’s work is to glorify the Son. Each one reflects the glory of the other. Thus, we look into the mystery of this amazing doctrine of the blessed Trinity: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:14). This is, to me, one of the most amazing and remarkable things about the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seems to hide Himself and to conceal Himself. He is always, as it were, putting the focus on the Son, and that is why I believe, and I believe profoundly, that the best test of all as to whether we have received the Spirit is to ask ourselves, what do we think of, and what do we know about, the Son? Is the Son real to us? That is the work of the Spirit. He is glorified indirectly; He is always pointing us to the Son.
Yes, we must realize that He dwells within us, but His work indwelling within us is to glorify the Son, and to bring to us that blessed knowledge of the Son and of His wondrous love to us. It is He who strengthens us with might in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16-19), that we may know this love of Christ.
A Thought to Ponder: The Spirit does not glorify Himself; He glorifies the Son.
(From God the Holy Spirit, pp. 19-20, by Dr. Martyn Llovd-Jones)
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