mh_parser/vol_split/6 - Joshua/Chapter 23.xml

<div2 id="Jos.xxiv" n="xxiv" next="Jos.xxv" prev="Jos.xxiii" progress="9.76%" title="Chapter XXIII">
<h2 id="Jos.xxiv-p0.1">J O S H U A</h2>
<h3 id="Jos.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jos.xxiv-p1">In this and the following chapter we have two
farewell sermons, which Joshua preached to the people of Israel a
little before his death. Had he designed to gratify the curiosity
of succeeding ages, he would rather have recorded the method of
Israel's settlement in their new conquests, their husbandry,
manufacturers, trade, customs, courts of justice, and the
constitutions of their infant commonwealth, which one would wish to
be informed of; but that which he intended in the registers of this
book was to entail on posterity a sense of religion and their duty
to God; and therefore, overlooking these things which are the usual
subjects of a common history, he here transmits to his reader the
methods he took to persuade Israel to be faithful to their covenant
with their God, which might have a good influence on the
generations to come who should read those reasonings, as we may
hope they had on that generation which then heard them. In this
chapter we have, I. A convention of the states called (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.1-Josh.23.2" parsed="|Josh|23|1|23|2" passage="Jos 23:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>), probably to consult
about the common concerns of their land, and to set in order that
which, after some years' trial, being left to their prudence, was
found wanting. II. Joshua's speech to them as the opening, or
perhaps at the concluding, of the sessions, to hear which was the
principal design of their coming together. In it, 1. Joshua reminds
them of what God had done for them (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.3-Josh.23.4 Bible:Josh.23.9 Bible:Josh.23.14" parsed="|Josh|23|3|23|4;|Josh|23|9|0|0;|Josh|23|14|0|0" passage="Jos 23:3,4,9,14">ver. 3, 4, 9, 14</scripRef>), and what he was
ready to do yet further, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.5 Bible:Josh.23.10" parsed="|Josh|23|5|0|0;|Josh|23|10|0|0" passage="Jos 23:5,10">ver. 5,
10</scripRef>. 2. He exhorts them carefully and resolutely to
persevere in their duty to God, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.6 Bible:Josh.23.8 Bible:Josh.23.11" parsed="|Josh|23|6|0|0;|Josh|23|8|0|0;|Josh|23|11|0|0" passage="Jos 23:6,8,11">ver. 6, 8, 11</scripRef>. III. He cautions them
against all familiarity with their idolatrous neighbours, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.7" parsed="|Josh|23|7|0|0" passage="Jos 23:7">ver. 7</scripRef>. IV. He gives them fair
warning of the fatal consequences of it, if they should revolt from
God and turn to idols, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.12-Josh.23.13 Bible:Josh.23.15 Bible:Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|12|23|13;|Josh|23|15|0|0;|Josh|23|16|0|0" passage="Jos 23:12,13,15,16">ver.
12, 13, 15, 16</scripRef>. In all this he showed himself zealous
for his God, and jealous over Israel with a godly jealousy.</p>
<scripCom id="Jos.xxiv-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23" parsed="|Josh|23|0|0|0" passage="Jos 23" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jos.xxiv-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.1-Josh.23.10" parsed="|Josh|23|1|23|10" passage="Jos 23:1-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Josh.23.1-Josh.23.10">
<h4 id="Jos.xxiv-p1.9">Joshua's Charge to Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1427.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jos.xxiv-p2">1 And it came to pass a long time after that the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.1">Lord</span> had given rest unto Israel from
all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old <i>and</i>
stricken in age.   2 And Joshua called for all Israel,
<i>and</i> for their elders, and for their heads, and for their
judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old
<i>and</i> stricken in age:   3 And ye have seen all that the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.2">Lord</span> your God hath done unto all
these nations because of you; for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.3">Lord</span> your God <i>is</i> he that hath fought for
you.   4 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.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.4">Lord</span> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.5">Lord</span> your God hath promised unto you.   6
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 <i>to</i> the right hand or <i>to</i> the left;   7
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
<i>by them,</i> neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
  8 But cleave unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.6">Lord</span>
your God, as ye have done unto this day.   9 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.7">Lord</span> hath driven out from before you great
nations and strong: but <i>as for</i> you, no man hath been able to
stand before you unto this day.   10 One man of you shall
chase a thousand: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p2.8">Lord</span> your
God, he <i>it is</i> that fighteth for you, as he hath promised
you.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p3">As to the date of this edict of Joshua,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p4">I. No mention at all is made of the place
where this general assembly was held; some think it was at
Timnath-serah, Joshua's own city, where he lived, and whence, being
old, he could not well remove. But it does not appear that he took
so much state upon him; therefore it is more probable this meeting
was at Shiloh, where the tabernacle of meeting was, and to which
place, perhaps, all the males that could had now come up to worship
before the Lord, at one of the three great feasts, which Joshua
took the opportunity of, for the delivering of this charge to
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p5">II. There is only a general mention of the
time when this was done. It was <i>long after the Lord had given
them rest,</i> but it is not said how long, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.1" parsed="|Josh|23|1|0|0" passage="Jos 23:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. It was, 1. So long as that
Israel had time to feel the comforts of their rest and possessions
in Canaan, and to enjoy the advantages of that good land. 2. So
long as that Joshua had time to observe which ways their danger lay
of being corrupted, namely, by their intimacy with the Canaanites
that remained, against which he is therefore careful to arm
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p6">III. The persons to whom Joshua made this
speech: <i>To all Israel, even their elders, &amp;c.</i> So it
might be read, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.2" parsed="|Josh|23|2|0|0" passage="Jos 23:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
They could not all come within hearing, but he called for all the
elders, that is, the privy-counsellors, which in later times
constituted the great Sanhedrim, the heads of the tribes, that is,
the noblemen and gentlemen of their respective countries, the
judges learned in the laws, that tried criminals and causes, and
gave judgment upon them, and, <i>lastly,</i> the officers or
sheriffs, who were entrusted with the execution of those judgments.
These Joshua called together, and to them he addressed himself, 1.
That they might communicate what he said, or at least the sense and
substance of it, to those under them in their respective countries,
and so this charge might be dispersed through the whole nation. 2.
Because, if they would be prevailed upon to serve God and cleave to
him, they, by their influence on the common people, would keep them
faithful. If great men be good men, they will help to make many
good.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p7">IV. Joshua's circumstances when he gave
them this charge: He <i>was old and stricken in age</i> (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.1" parsed="|Josh|23|1|0|0" passage="Jos 23:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), probably it was in the
last year of his life, and he lived to be 110 years old, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.29" parsed="|Josh|24|29|0|0" passage="Jos 24:29"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 29</scripRef>. And he himself
takes notice of it, in the first words of his discourse, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.2" parsed="|Josh|23|2|0|0" passage="Jos 23:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. When he began to be old,
some years ago, God reminded him of it (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.13.1" parsed="|Josh|13|1|0|0" passage="Jos 13:1"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 1</scripRef>): <i>Thou art old.</i> But
now he did himself feel so much of the decays of age that he needed
not to be told of it, he readily speaks of it himself: <i>I am old
and stricken in age.</i> He uses it, 1. As an argument with himself
to give them this charge, because being old he could expect to be
but a little while with them, to advise and instruct them, and
therefore (as Peter speaks, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.13" parsed="|2Pet|1|13|0|0" passage="2Pe 1:13">2 Pet. i.
13</scripRef>) <i>as long as he is in this tabernacle</i> he will
take all opportunities to <i>put them in remembrance</i> of their
duty, knowing by the increasing infirmities of age that he must
shortly put off this tabernacle, and desiring that after his
decease they might continue as good as they were now. When we see
death hastening towards us, this should quicken us to do the work
of life with all our might. 2. As an argument with them to give
heed to what he said. He was old and experienced, and therefore to
be the more regarded, for days should speak; he had grown old in
their service, and had spent himself for their good, and therefore
was to be the more regarded by them. He was old and dying; they
would not have him long to preach to them; therefore let them
observe what he said now, and lay it up in store for the time to
come.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p8">V. The discourse itself, the scope of which
is to engage them if possible, them and their seed after them, to
persevere in the true faith and worship of the God of Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p9">1. He puts them in mind of the great things
God had done for them, now in his days, and under his
administration, for here he goes no further back. And for the proof
of this he appeals to their own eyes (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.3" parsed="|Josh|23|3|0|0" passage="Jos 23:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>You have seen all that the
Lord your God has done;</i> not what I have done, or what you have
done (we were only instruments in God's hand), but what God himself
has done by me and for you." (1.) Many great and mighty nations (as
the rate of nations then went) were driven out from as fine a
country as any was at that time upon the face of the earth, to make
room for Israel. "You see <i>what he has done to these nations,</i>
who were his creatures, the work of his hands, and whom he could
have made new creatures and fit for his service; yet see what
destruction he has made of them <i>because of you</i> (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.2" parsed="|Josh|23|2|0|0" passage="Jos 23:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), how he has <i>driven
them out from before you</i> (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.9" parsed="|Josh|23|9|0|0" passage="Jos 23:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), as if they were of no account
with him, though great and strong in comparison with you." (2.)
They were not only driven out (this they might have been, and yet
sent to some other country less rich to begin a new plantation
there, suppose to that wilderness in which Israel had wandered so
long, and so they would only have exchanged seats with them), but
they were trodden down before them; though they held out against
them with the greatest obstinacy that could be, yet they were
subdued before them, which made the possessing of their land so
much the more glorious to Israel and so much the more illustrious
an instance of the power and goodness of the God of Israel
(<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.3" parsed="|Josh|23|3|0|0" passage="Jos 23:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord
your God</i> has not only led you, and fed you, and kept you, but
he has fought for you as a man of war," by which title he was known
among them when he first brought them out of Egypt, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.3" parsed="|Exod|15|3|0|0" passage="Ex 15:3">Exod. xv. 3</scripRef>. So clear and cheap were
all their victories, during the course of this long war, that <i>no
man had been able to stand before them</i> (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.9" parsed="|Josh|23|9|0|0" passage="Jos 23:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), that is, to make head against
them, so as to put them in fear, create them any difficulty, or
give any check to the progress of their victorious arms. In every
battle they carried the day, and in every siege they carried the
city; their loss before Ai was upon a particular occasion, was
inconsiderable, and only served to show them on what terms they
stood with God; but, otherwise, never was army crowned with such a
constant uninterrupted series of successes as the armies of Israel
were in the wars of Canaan. (3.) They had not only conquered the
Canaanites, but were put in full possession of their land
(<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.4" parsed="|Josh|23|4|0|0" passage="Jos 23:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>I have
divided to you by lot these nations,</i> both those which are cut
off and those which remain, not only that you may spoil and plunder
them, and live at discretion in their country for a time, but to be
a sure and lasting inheritance for your tribes. You have it not
only under your feet, but in your hands."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p10">2. He assures them of God's readiness to
carry on and complete this glorious work in due time. It is true
some of the Canaanites did yet remain, and in some places were
strong and daring, but this should be no disappointment to their
expectations; when Israel was so multiplied as to be able to
replenish this land God would expel the Canaanites to the last man,
provided Israel would pursue their advantages and carry on the war
against them with vigour (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.5" parsed="|Josh|23|5|0|0" passage="Jos 23:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord your God will drive them from out of
your sight,</i> so that there shall not be a Canaanite to be seen
in the land; and even that part of the country which is yet in
their hands you shall possess." If it were objected that the men of
war of the several tribes being dispersed to their respective
countries, and the army disbanded, it would be difficult to get
them together when there was occasion to renew the war upon the
remainder of the Canaanites, in answer to this he tells them what
little need they had to be in care about the numbers of their
forces (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.10" parsed="|Josh|23|10|0|0" passage="Jos 23:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
<i>One man of you shall chase a thousand,</i> as Jonathan did,
<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.13" parsed="|1Sam|14|13|0|0" passage="1Sa 14:13">1 Sam. xiv. 13</scripRef>. "Each
tribe may venture for itself, and for the recovery of its own lot,
without fearing disadvantage by the disproportion of numbers; for
the Lord your God, whose all power is, both to inspirit and to
dispirit, and who has all the creatures at his beck, <i>he it is
that fighteth for you;</i> and how many do you reckon him for?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p11">3. He hereupon most earnestly charges them
to adhere to their duty, to go on and persevere in the good ways of
the Lord wherein they had so well set out. He exhorts them,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p12">(1.) To be very courageous (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.6" parsed="|Josh|23|6|0|0" passage="Jos 23:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "God fighteth for you
against your enemies, do you therefore <i>behave yourselves
valiantly</i> for him. Keep and do with a firm resolution <i>all
that is written in the book of the law.</i>" He presses upon them
no more than what they were already bound to. "Keep with care, do
with diligence, and eye what is written with sincerity."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p13">(2.) To be very cautious: "Take heed of
missing it, either on the right hand or on the left, for there are
errors and extremes on both hands. Take heed of running either into
a profane neglect of any of God's institutions or into a
superstitious addition of any of your own inventions." They must
especially take heed of all approaches towards idolatry, the sin to
which they were first inclined and would be most tempted, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.7" parsed="|Josh|23|7|0|0" passage="Jos 23:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. [1.] They must not
acquaint themselves with idolaters, nor come among them to visit
them or be present at any of their feasts or entertainments, for
they could not contract any intimacy nor keep up any conversation
with them, without danger of infection. [2.] They must not show the
least respect to any idol, nor <i>make mention of the name of their
gods,</i> but endeavour to bury the remembrance of them in
perpetual oblivion, that the worship of them may never be revived.
"Let the very name of them be forgotten. Look upon idols as filthy
detestable things, not to be named without the utmost loathing and
detestation." The Jews would not suffer their children to name
swine's flesh, because it was forbidden, lest the name of it should
occasion their desiring it; but, if they had occasion to speak of
it, they must call it <i>that strange thing.</i> It is a pity that
among Christians the names of the heathen gods are so commonly
used, and made so familiar as they are, especially in plays and
poems: let those names which have been set up in rivalship with God
be for ever loathed and lost. [3.] They must not countenance others
in showing respect to them. They must not only not swear by them
themselves, but they must not cause others to swear by them, which
supposes that they must not make any covenants with idolaters,
because they, in the confirming of their covenants, would swear by
their idols; never let Israelites admit such an oath. [4.] They
must take heed of these occasions of idolatry, lest by degrees they
should arrive at the highest step of it, which was serving false
gods, and bowing down to them, against the letter of the second
commandment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p14">(3.) To be very constant (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.8" parsed="|Josh|23|8|0|0" passage="Jos 23:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Cleave unto the Lord
your God,</i> that is, "delight in him, depend upon him, devote
yourselves to his glory, and continue to do so to the end, <i>as
you have done unto this day,</i> ever since you came to Canaan;"
for, being willing to make the best of them, he looks not so far
back as the iniquity of Peor. There might be many things amiss
among them, but they had not forsaken the Lord their God, and it is
in order to insinuate his exhortation to perseverance with the more
pleasing power that he praises them. "Go on and prosper, for the
Lord is with you while you are with him." Those that command should
commend; the way to make people better is to make the best of them.
"You have cleaved to the Lord unto this day, therefore go on to do
so, else you lose the praise and recompence of what you have
wrought. Your righteousness will not be mentioned unto you if you
turn from it."</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jos.xxiv-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.11-Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|11|23|16" passage="Jos 23:11-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Josh.23.11-Josh.23.16">
<p class="passage" id="Jos.xxiv-p15">11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,
that ye love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.1">Lord</span> your God.
  12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the
remnant of these nations, <i>even</i> these that remain among you,
and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they
to you:   13 Know for a certainty that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.2">Lord</span> your God will no more drive out <i>any
of</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.3">Lord</span> your God hath given you.   14
And, behold, this day I <i>am</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.4">Lord</span> your God spake concerning you; all are come
to pass unto you, <i>and</i> not one thing hath failed thereof.
  15 Therefore it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> as all good
things are come upon you, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.5">Lord</span> your God promised you; so shall the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.6">Lord</span> bring upon you all evil things, until
he have destroyed you from off this good land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.7">Lord</span> your God hath given you.   16
When ye have transgressed the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.8">Lord</span> your God, which he commanded you, and have
gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then
shall the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jos.xxiv-p15.9">Lord</span> be
kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good
land which he hath given unto you.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p16">Here, I. Joshua directs them what to do,
that they might persevere in religion, <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.11" parsed="|Josh|23|11|0|0" passage="Jos 23:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Would we cleave to the Lord,
and not forsake him, 1. We must always stand upon our guard, for
many a precious soul is lost and ruined through carelessness: "Take
heed therefore, <i>take good heed to yourselves,</i> to your
<i>souls</i> (so the word is), that the inward man be kept clean
from the pollutions of sin, and closely employed in the service of
God." God has given us precious souls with this charge, "Take good
heed to them, keep them with all diligence, above all keepings." 2.
What we do in religion we must do from a principle of love, not by
constraint or from a slavish fear of God, but of choice and with
delight. "<i>Lord the Lord your God,</i> and you will not leave
him."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p17">II. He urges God's fidelity to them as an
argument why they should be faithful to him (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.14" parsed="|Josh|23|14|0|0" passage="Jos 23:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "<i>I am going the way of all
the earth,</i> I am old and dying." To die is to go a journey, a
journey to our long home; it is the way of all the earth, the way
that all mankind must go, sooner or later. Joshua himself, though
so great and good a man, and one that could so ill be spared,
cannot be exempted from this common lot. He takes notice of it here
that they might look upon these as his dying words, and regard them
accordingly. Or thus: "<i>I am dying,</i> and leaving you. <i>Me
you have not always;</i> but if you cleave to the Lord he will
never leave you." Or thus, "Now that I am near my end it is proper
to look back upon the years that are past; and, in the review, I
find, and you <i>yourselves know it in all your hearts and in all
your souls,</i> by a full conviction on the clearest evidence, and
the thing has made an impression upon you"—(that knowledge does us
good which is seated, not in the head only, but in the heart and
soul, and with which we are duly affected)—"you know that <i>not
one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord spoke
concerning you</i>" (and he spoke a great many); see <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.21.45" parsed="|Josh|21|45|0|0" passage="Jos 21:45"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 45</scripRef>. God had promised
them victory, rest, plenty, his tabernacle among them, &amp;c., and
<i>not one thing had failed</i> of all he had promised. "Now," said
he, "has God been thus true to you? Be not you false to him." It is
the apostle's argument for perseverance (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.23" parsed="|Heb|10|23|0|0" passage="Heb 10:23">Heb. x. 23</scripRef>), <i>He is faithful that has
promised.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p18">III. He gives them fair warning what would
be the fatal consequences of apostasy (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.12-Josh.23.13 Bible:Josh.23.15 Bible:Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|12|23|13;|Josh|23|15|0|0;|Josh|23|16|0|0" passage="Jos 23:12,13,15,16"><i>v.</i> 12, 13, 15, 16</scripRef>): "If you
go back, know for a certainty it will be your ruin." Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p19">1. How he describes the apostasy which he
warns them against. The steps of it would be (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.12" parsed="|Josh|23|12|0|0" passage="Jos 23:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>) growing intimate with
idolaters, who would craftily wheedle them, and insinuate
themselves into their acquaintance, now that they had become lords
of the country, to serve their own ends. The next step would be
intermarrying with them, drawn to it by their artifices, who would
be glad to bestow their children upon these wealthy Israelites. And
the consequence of that would be (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|16|0|0" passage="Jos 23:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) <i>serving other gods</i>
(which were pretended to be the ancient deities of the country) and
bowing down to them. Thus the way of sin is down-hill, and those
who have fellowship with sinners cannot avoid having fellowship
with sin. This he represents, (1.) As a base and shameful
desertion; "it is going back from what you have so well begun,"
<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.12" parsed="|Josh|23|12|0|0" passage="Jos 23:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. (2.) As a
most perfidious breach of promise (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|16|0|0" passage="Jos 23:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "It is a transgression of
<i>the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you,</i>
and which you yourselves set your hand to." Other sins were
transgressions of the law God commanded them, but this was a
transgression of the covenant he commanded them, and amounted to a
breach of the relation between God and them and a forfeiture of all
the benefits of the covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jos.xxiv-p20">2. How he describes the destruction which
he warns them of. He tells them, (1.) That these remainders of the
Canaanites, if they should harbour them, and indulge them, and join
in affinity with them, would be snares and traps to them, both to
draw them to sin (not only to idolatry, but to all immoralities,
which would be the ruin, not only of their virtue, but of their
wisdom and sense, their spirit and honour), and also to draw them
into foolish bargains, unprofitable projects, and all manner of
inconveniences; and having thus by underhand practices decoyed them
into one mischief or other, so as to gain advantages against them,
they would then act more openly, and be <i>scourges in their
sides</i> and <i>thorns in their eyes,</i> would perhaps kill or
drive away their cattle, burn or steal their corn, alarm or plunder
their houses, and would be all ways possible be vexatious to them;
for, whatever pretences of friendship they might make, a Canaanite,
unless proselyted to the faith and worship of the true God, would
in every age hate the very name and sight of an Israelite. See how
the punishment would be made to answer the sin, nay, how the sin
itself would be the punishment. (2.) That the anger of the Lord
would be kindled against them. Their making leagues with the
Canaanites would not only give those idolaters the opportunity of
doing them a mischief, and be the fostering of snakes in their
bosoms, but it would likewise provoke God to become their enemy,
and would kindle the fire of his displeasure against them. (3.)
That all the threatenings of the word would be fulfilled, as the
promise had been, for the God of eternal truth is faithful to both
(<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.15" parsed="|Josh|23|15|0|0" passage="Jos 23:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): "<i>As all
good things have come upon you</i> according to the promise, so
long as you have kept close to God, so all evil things will come
upon you according to the threatening, if you forsake him." Moses
had <i>set before them good and evil;</i> they had experienced the
good, and were now in the enjoyment of it, and the evil would as
certainly come if they were disobedient. As God's promises are not
a fool's paradise, so his threatenings are not bugbears. (4.) That
it would end in the utter ruin of their church and nation, as Moses
had foretold. This is three times mentioned here. Your enemies will
vex you <i>until you perish from off this good land,</i> <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.13" parsed="|Josh|23|13|0|0" passage="Jos 23:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Again, "God will
plague you <i>until he have destroyed you from off this good
land,</i> <scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.15" parsed="|Josh|23|15|0|0" passage="Jos 23:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
Heaven and earth will concur to root you out, so that (<scripRef id="Jos.xxiv-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.23.16" parsed="|Josh|23|16|0|0" passage="Jos 23:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) <i>you shall perish
from off the good land.</i>" It will aggravate their perdition that
the land from which they shall perish is a good land, and a land
which God himself had given them, and which therefore he would have
secured to them if they by their wickedness had not thrown
themselves out of it. Thus the goodness of the heavenly Canaan, and
the free and sure grant God has made of it, will aggravate the
misery of those that shall for ever be shut out and perish from it.
Nothing will make them see how wretched they are so much as to see
how happy they might have been. Joshua thus sets before them the
fatal consequences of their apostasy, that, <i>knowing the terror
of the Lord,</i> they might be persuaded <i>with purpose of heart
to cleave to him.</i></p>
</div></div2>