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.
Near the end of his life Joshua delivered two farewell addresses to the people of God. The first, delivered at Shiloh, is what we have here in chapter 23; the second as we will read at the beginning of chapter 24 delivered at Shechem. You may remember that Moses, also gave a farewell address before his death, a further reminder that Joshua was, as it were, another Moses, a point made often in the book of Joshua. These final speeches sum up quite well the heart of what has been communicated by God throughout the book.
We have noted how the emphasis falls on how long it had been since Israel first entered the Promised Land. By the time larger military operations were concluded five years had passed (14:10). Now it is still later, but we are not told exactly how much later.
Three times Joshua is going to remind Israel of what the Lord had done for them. Throughout the Bible this is the first and the chief motivation of believing Christian life: the Lord has been gracious to us, has given us gifts and mercies we did not deserve….therefore, what is a faithful Christian life to be but one of thankfulness and loyalty to Him who has not given us what we deserve, but instead has showered us with love that we did NOT deserve.
And then verse 5 says that He is about to do more! The Lord has led them in and has more to give them! This in and of itself is worth a thousand devotions! This is not some Old Testament thing…this is simply the character of God. In Romans we read: What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
The Lord has done so much for us and yet…He intends to continue His gracious ways to us!
However, as we look at verse 6 we must see that in order to lay hold of God’s blessing, Israel was required to remain faithful to the Lord, a faithfulness demonstrated by obedience and by an active and living confidence in the Lord: The same as it is for us today.
The reference to pagan practices of worship reminds us that it was this temptation in particular that the Canaanites posed to Israel. It conformed to the conventions of ancient near eastern thought but it did not require Israel to be different, to be unlike everyone else. To put it simply, men and women crave and have always craved acceptance…but the Lord requires his people to be a counter-culture, a people set apart…this has always been a very hard thing for God’s people. The temptations to be like everyone else and to seek the pleasures, comforts and the exaltations of the world have undone a great number of God’s people in today’s world just as they did in the ancient world.
This is seen throughout the Bible and Joshua knew of what he spoke: Israel’s great peril was the temptation to conform to the world around her, to want to be just like everyone else. In a short time, we will hear God’s people clamoring for a king. That is not necessarily a bad thing but the reason they wanted one is because everyone else had one. They wanted to be like the nations around them, instead of being set apart (read; holy, for that is what holy means, to be set apart). And when she allowed that world to flourish in her very midst, ruin was not far away. When people invite the Devil to tempt them, he is always more than happy to oblige!
The Lord has been with Israel and given her the land of Canaan as He promised, Joshua is realistic about the challenges that Israel still faces. He has already mentioned the nations that still remain in the land, the peoples that Israel had not removed and he will mention them again. (9) Indeed, the word for “nations” appears 7x in this chapter. The Book of Judges will relate the sad tale of Israel’s spiritual decline, a decline that happened in large part because they did not do what the Lord told them in Joshua must be done.
In verse 11 it is of interest that Israel’s faithfulness is not defined by her obedience or her trust in the Lord, rather it is defined by her love for the Lord. This is what Paul says in I Corinthians when he defines a true believer as someone who truly and really, loves God. Love is what motivates faithfulness. Love is the force behind our obedience, at least it is, if that obedience is to be a joy and is to last.
It is love for the Lord that pushes us to want to be like Him, and not like our culture…It is love that causes us to say no to the philosophies and demands that are being shouted as us from an apostate culture and a church more concerned with being “woke” that it is in loving the Lord Jesus.
My friends, every day we are being called to be like…something…someone. But when we set the Lord Jesus before our eyes, when we see the love dripping from his hands, feet and pierced side, when we hear the promises that He makes to us about our identity and destiny, we are enraptured by a love so other worldly that we cannot help but live in and through such a love. That is what it means to be a Christian.
Prayer: Father, forgive my unholy yawning…living as though Your grace, mercy and love mean so little. Open my eyes to see more clearly so that I might have a great desire for holiness and to set my life to its pursuit. Holy Spirit of God, give me sight to the unseen, to the promises that a living hope makes to seem seeable and touchable. Help me, that I would not be ashamed at the coming of my King and Savior, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: Nunc Dimittis
