Chapter 23

1 Joshua’s exhortation before his death, 3 by former benefits, 5 by promises, 11 and by threatenings.

1. A long time. See Introduction to the book of Joshua, p. 172, for a discussion of Joshua’s age. It can be estimated that he was perhaps 83 years old when the Israelites entered Canaan. If he was 5 years older than Caleb, he was 90 at the end of the conquest of the land. According to ch. 24:29 he was 110 years old when he died. If our estimate is correct, and if the events of this chapter occurred during the last year of Joshua’s life, 20 years must have passed since the Lord gave Israel rest (chs. 21:44; 22:4). This length of time permitted Joshua to observe that one of Israel’s greatest dangers lay in being corrupted by intimacy with the Canaanites.

2. Their elders. Those summoned represented the four levels, or degrees, of civil distinction: the elders or princes of the tribes, the heads or chiefs of families, the judges who interpreted and made decisions according to the law, the officers or magistrates who executed the decisions of the judges. Eleazar the high priest was there, and Phinehas his son; doubtless Caleb was there in his ripe old age, and perhaps Othniel and many others.

The place of this meeting is not specified, but inasmuch as Shechem is mentioned in the next chapter (v. 1), as the place for the second meeting, it has been thought that the place for the first meeting was Timnath-serah, the home of Joshua. However, it may have been at Shechem, as well, or even some other place, like Shiloh.

I am old. Some years before, God reminded Joshua of his advancing age. “Thou art old and stricken in years,” He had declared (ch. 13:1). Now Joshua himself felt the effect of age and the passing of time and himself declared, “I am old and stricken in age,” literally, “I am old I have entered into the days.” He was probably in his last year, that is, in his 110th year (ch. 24:29).

3. Because of you. Literally, “before your faces,” that is, before the Israelites in battle. The Canaanites were slain as Israel marched forward in battle.

4. I have divided. Here, as in ch. 13:1–7, and afterward, in Judges 2:23, the preliminary and partial nature of the conquest achieved by Joshua is distinctly recognized God gave Israel the land to possess and the assurance that He would go before them to drive out the remaining nations as they were able and sufficient to fill in and take their place.

5. Expel them. Joshua here uses the same word for “expel” as is found in Deut. 6:19 and 9:4, a somewhat unusual word used only 11 times in the OT. It may indicate that Joshua was quoting from Deuteronomy, and that the latter existed in written form in Joshua’s day.

6. Courageous. Literally the admonition reads, “And ye shall be very strong.” Courage comes from strength both physical and spiritual. Courage is essential to all Christian living. It takes courage to confess Christ both by example and word of mouth in the face of ridicule. It takes courage to resist temptation and do good in the midst of a hostile world. It takes courage to overcome selfishness. It takes courage to admit a fault. But the Lord says to us through Joshua, “Ye shall be very strong” to do the thing that is right.

All that is written. Observe the universality of the injunction, “all that is written in the book.” There is to be no reservation or exception— no selection of favorite doctrines or of agreeable duties, but “all that is written” is to be read, believed, and obeyed.

7. Come not among these. Literally, “do not go in unto these nations.” The Israelites, though living among these nations, were to have no intercourse with them. Any association, no matter how innocent it might appear, could lead to more intimate contacts which would eventually lure the soul from God. A similar prohibition still obtains. The NT injunction is, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). The baneful results of a willful disregard of this command are often seen in the lives of the young, who, despite counsel, enter into marriage relationships with unbelievers. Besides finding a home in which true harmony can never reign, they often find, too, a growing distaste for religion, which results sooner or later in complete separation from God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

Neither make mention. For Moses’ instruction on this see Ex. 23:13 and Deut. 12:3. The very names of these gods were not to be used, nor even remembered.

Nor cause to swear. To swear by any god was virtually to acknowledge him as a witness and avenger in the case of the violation of contracts, and so in effect a suitable object of religious worship. This would mean, then, that Israel could not make any covenant with idolaters, for the only way to make it binding would be for the idolater to swear by his own god, and that would mean an acknowledgment of this god by the Israelite.

10. One man. Again, in this verse, Joshua is using the words of Moses as found in his song, recorded in Deut. 32:30.

11. Take good heed. Literally, “take heed exceedingly to your souls.” Perhaps the danger would be greater now, after the Israelites were settled at ease in the land, that their love for God might turn to something else. The scriptures in both the OT and NT emphasize the pre-eminence of love. Power may be pleasant, wisdom and beauty may be delightful, and riches may give a certain prestige and sense of security, but life is not in these. Love supersedes all. Obedience submits to the voice which cries, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). But love responds, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth” (Ps. 8:1). Obedience declines to take the name of the Lord in vain, whereas love exclaims, “The desire of our soul is to thy name” (Isa. 26:8). “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Obedience refuses to break the Sabbath, but love says, “Call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable” (Isa. 58:13). So it ought to be with all the divine commands. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10).

12. Make marriages. Literally, “become related by marriage.” It was a long time before Israel learned the lesson of how to live in the world without being of the world. It was not learned until after the Babylonish captivity, and when learned, it was soon distorted into a pharisaical exclusiveness.

13. Snares and traps. Probably, rather, “a net and a snare” (see Ex. 23:33; Num. 33:55). The implication is that the ultimate evil results are covered over so that they are not observed. Corrupt society is insidious in its attractions. The snares and traps are placed first, and not till the victim is secure do the scourges and the thorns come. Corrupt men lead away the pure by guile. They instinctively conceal their worst elements while they reveal their best, and thus they deceive their prey. The very virtues of the pure sometimes help in the work of destruction. “Charity … thinketh no evil,” and the innocent man is tempted to say of his seducers, “These men have been unfairly spoken of. They are better than the report circulated about them.”

Scourges. These would be for driving the Israelites on in the way they would not want to go. But once in the trap they would be driven on as oxen under the yoke.

Thorns. These in the eyes would indicate blindness, since a thorn in the eye would blind the individual. Just so the enemy would put out the eyes of Israel’s understanding through idolatry.

14. Way of all the earth. Rather, “in the way of all the earth.” Joshua faces this unavoidable end of the road with calmness and confidence. It is not a strange ending, for all men of the past, save Enoch and Elijah, have come to that destination. The only exception in the future will be those who will be translated at the coming of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:51–54). Joshua was dying fully satisfied with God and with what God had done. He was dying with a spiritual interest in the survivors, and the greatness of his character lay in the fact that he himself was so much concealed behind the grandeur of his own exploits, and the God who led him in them. His great question was, “What will they think of my God when I am gone? They know Him now, but will they remember?”

16. When ye have transgressed. Literally “in your transgressing.” The idea is, “whenever you transgress,” or “if you transgress,” and go and serve other gods. God assumes that His people will be faithful. He does not prove them before He blesses them. He gives to men abundantly in the present that He may prepare them to enjoy the still more abundant mercy of the future. Though God foresees coming unfaithfulness, He does not, on that account, withhold His good gifts. To be a recipient of God’s mercy and wisdom and blessing is a most wonderful privilege, but it also carries with it a most definite responsibility. To turn from God and His truth, in the face of these gifts, is to incur judgment proportionate to the light received.

Ellen G. White comments

1–16PP 521, 522

1–3, 5, 6PP 521

14–16PP 522