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Joshua 23

Joshua book home•Chapter 23 of 24•16 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Joshua 23 Overview

Years later, with Joshua old and Israel at rest from major enemies, he gathers the nation’s leaders for a farewell charge. He reminds them that the LORD has fought for them, urges them to be very courageous to keep the law of Moses, and warns against mixing with the remaining nations or serving their gods. Just as every good promise has come true, every threatened evil will also come if Israel forsakes the covenant.

JoshuaBook

23Chapter

16Verses

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Before you read Joshua 23

Coming from

Chapter 22 resolved the altar dispute and preserved unity between eastern and western tribes.

In this chapter

Joshua now addresses the deeper long-term threat: not external armies but gradual covenant compromise with peoples and gods that remain in the land.

Leads into

Chapter 24 gathers all Israel at Shechem, reviews God’s saving history, renews the covenant, and records Joshua’s death.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Joshua’s farewell deliberately echoes Deuteronomy. Courage is again defined by adherence to God’s word, and remaining Canaanite populations become a spiritual danger if Israel forms covenantal and marital attachments that lead to idolatry. Joshua balances promise and warning: God’s faithfulness guarantees both the good he promised and the covenant judgments he threatened.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Past victory does not remove the need for future faithfulness.

Truth 2

The most dangerous enemy after conquest may be assimilation into false worship rather than open military attack.

Truth 3

God’s faithfulness includes keeping warnings as surely as blessings.

Truth 4

Clinging to the LORD requires rejecting rival gods and the relationships that would normalize their worship.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Deuteronomy 7 and 12 contain the earlier warnings against covenants, intermarriage, and Canaanite worship.

Connection 2

Judges 2 shows the next generation falling into exactly the compromise Joshua warns against.

Connection 3

1 Kings 11 shows Solomon’s foreign marriages turning his heart toward other gods, illustrating the long-term danger Joshua describes.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not read the marriage warning as racial purity teaching; the stated concern is religious allegiance and idolatry.

Keep this clear 2

The 'snares and traps' language describes the consequence of covenant compromise, not an excuse to dehumanize neighboring peoples.

Keep this clear 3

The chapter concerns Israel’s covenant tenure in the land, so threatened removal should not be confused with loss of eternal salvation.

Read Joshua 23 watching for…

Joshua’s repeated reminder that the LORD fought for Israel.

The connection between courage and keeping the law.

The specific relationships Joshua says will lead to compromise.

The sequence of snare, trap, scourge, and thorn imagery.

The parallel between fulfilled good promises and fulfilled warnings.

Chapter outline2 sections

1-10Joshua reminds Israel of the LORD’s victories and urges courage to obey 11-16Joshua warns Israel not to turn back or join itself to the remaining nations

And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:

And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.

Behold, I have divided unto 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 unto 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 ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;

That ye 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 unto them:

But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.

For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.

One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto 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 unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto 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 have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

When ye 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 ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.