Bob Russell
April 02, 2025
Joshua 23 outlines the first of two farewell addresses from Joshua before his death. He first looks back to remind the leaders of Israel of God’s great faithfulness over multiple generations. Then he looks forward with a warning about the dangers of departing from God. Joshua exhorted them to continue building from the foundational truth to love the Lord above and before anything else.
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Joshua 23:1-4 After a long time had passed and the LORD had given Israel rest from all
their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, 2 summoned all Israel—their
elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. 3
You yourselves have
seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake;
it was the LORD your God who fought for you. 4 Remember how I have allotted as an
inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations
I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to
possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger
and stronger than you.
·
Our battles are won when we put our faith solely
in God.
Psalm 44:3 (CSB) For they did not take the land by their sword — their arm did not bring
them victory — but by your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,
because you were favorable toward them.
Joshua 23:5-6 The LORD your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive
them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD
your God promised you. 6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of
the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.
Joshua 1:7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according
to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the
right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
Joshua 23:7-8 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke
the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down
to them. 8 But
you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now.
Judges 2:10–14 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another
generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
11 Then the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the
God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and
worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s
anger 13 because
they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against
Israel the LORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold
them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able
to resist.
1 Kings 11:4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his
heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his
father had been.
Joshua 23:9-11 “The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this
day no one has been able to withstand you. 10 One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD
your God fights for you, just as he promised. 11 So be very careful to love the LORD your God.
John 13:34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another.
· Love one another even when they don’t deserve
it.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his
glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of
grace and truth.
Joshua 23:12-13 “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these
nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate
with them, 13 then
you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations
before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your
backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the
LORD your God has given you.
Deuteronomy 7:3–4 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or
take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following
me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will
quickly destroy you.
2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV) Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what
partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light
with darkness?
·
Do not partner with unbelieving people.
Joshua 23:14-16 Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your
heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you
has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. 15 But just as all the good
things the LORD your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on
you all the evil things he has threatened, until the LORD your God has
destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16 If you violate the
covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other
gods and bow down to them, the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will
quickly perish from the good land he has given you.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to
come to repentance.
·
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accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.