Joshua 23

This is the first of the last two chapters of the Book of Joshua. It follows Joshua 22, in which the tribes east of the Jordan were reconciled with the western tribes over the matter of the altar. The chapter contains Joshua's first farewell address, delivered as his death approached, and is followed in Joshua 24 by the covenant renewal at Shechem.

Outline

• Verses 1–2: Long after the LORD had given Israel rest, Joshua, now old and advanced in years, summons the elders, heads, judges, and officers.
• Verses 3–5: He reminds them that the LORD fought for Israel. By lot Joshua had allotted to the tribes as an inheritance both the nations that remained and those already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea. He declares that the LORD will also drive out the remaining peoples.
• Verses 6–8: He tells them to keep the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left. He charges them not to make mention of the names of the remaining nations' gods, nor to swear by them or serve them, but to cleave to the LORD alone.
• Verses 9–11: Because the LORD fights for them, one man will chase a thousand; therefore they must take good heed to themselves to love the LORD.
• Verses 12–13: He warns that if they intermarry and associate with the remaining nations, the LORD will no longer drive those nations out. They will then become snares and traps, scourges in Israel's sides, and thorns in their eyes.
• Verses 14–16: Joshua says that he is "going the way of all the earth." Just as not one of the good things the LORD promised has failed, so, he warns, if they transgress the covenant and serve other gods, every evil thing will likewise come upon them, and Israel will perish quickly from the land.

Key Verses

• Joshua 23:6 "that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left": Joshua now passes on to the people the very command he himself received in Joshua 1.
• Joshua 23:14 "all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof": a representative verse confessing the fulfillment of God's promises.

People and Places

• Joshua: Moses' successor, who delivers the farewell address in this chapter.
• Moses: mentioned as the one through whom the book of the law was given.
• The Jordan River and the Great Sea: the Great Sea refers to the Mediterranean. The two serve as the eastern and western boundaries of the land of Canaan allotted to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Points for Reflection

• Chapters 23 and 24 both present Joshua's farewell. Scholars regard the style and thought of this chapter as close to those of Deuteronomy.
• Although the end of chapter 21 states that the promises were all fulfilled, this chapter speaks of "the nations that remain." This tension carries over into Judges, where Judges 2:3 echoes this chapter's warning.
• Verse 10 recalls Deuteronomy 32:30, and verse 13 recalls Numbers 33:55. "The way of all the earth" is an expression for death that also appears in David's final charge (1 Kings 2:2).
• Christian readers generally interpret the command to separate from the foreign nations not as an ethnic distinction but as a spiritual lesson to shun idolatry. The scope of its application, however, varies among interpreters.