“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left; that you not come 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 down yourselves to them; but hold fast to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.
“For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you. Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.
“But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you; know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 9, 12 6. Be you therefore very courageous, etc He now…
6. Be you therefore very courageous, etc He now shows them the mode of conquering, — not to indulge gross security, as too often happens, as a substitute for genuine confidence. He affirms that God will be propitious to them, and promises that whatever they attempt will turn out prosperously, provided they are steadfast in obeying the Law. However confidently hypocrites may contemn and deride God, they would wish, however, to have him astricted to them; nay, they often, with no small pomposity, boast of his promises. But true faith, while it reclines upon God, keeps those who possess it in his fear. In short, those who would find God must seek him sincerely, and if we desire to be regarded by him, we must beware of turning our backs upon him. The expression, Be you very courageous, as has elsewhere been said, denotes serious study, because in the great weakness of our nature no man will set about the thorough observance of the Law, if he does not exert himself above his strength. Attention ought also to be paid to the definition of true obedience which is here repeated from Moses, (Deuteronomy 5:32) and said to consist in not turning either to the right hand or the left.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 11, 12, 13 And not yet subdued.
And not yet subdued.
Let not the Judges admit an oath which any shall swear by their idols.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Jos 23:6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep…
Jos 23:6 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 [to] the right hand or [to] the left;
Ver. 6. Be ye therefore very courageous.] Get good store of spiritual mettle, which is got by prayer, and maketh a man invincible. Of cowards they were wont to say in Rome, that there was nothing Roman in them: of many amongst us it may be said, There is nothing Christian in them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Be ye therefore very courageous; for it will require…
Be ye therefore very courageous; for it will require great courage and resolution to execute all the commands of Moses, and particularly that of expelling and destroying the residue of the Canaanites.
To the right hand or to the left, i.e. in one kind or other, by adding to the law, or diminishing from it, as Moses speaks.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to…
Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses,.... To observe which required spiritual strength, fortitude of mind, a holy courage, a firm and fixed resolution, and particularly to destroy the Canaanites required in that book, and to abstain from all communion and fellowship with them:
that ye turn not aside therefrom, to the right hand or the left; See Gill on Jos 1:7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Very courageous - For it will require great courage…
Very courageous - For it will require great courage and resolution to execute all the commands of Moses, and particularly, that of expelling and destroying the residue of the Canaanites. The right hand or the left - That is, in one kind or other, by adding to the law, or diminishing from it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 Verse 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep…
Verse 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do, &c.] It requires no small courage to keep a sound creed in the midst of scoffers, and not less to maintain a godly practice among the profane and profligate.
That is written in the book] By the word of God alone his followers are bound. Nothing is to be received as an article of faith which God has not spoken.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 Jos 23:6. Be ye therefore very courageous — For…
Jos 23:6. Be ye therefore very courageous — For it would require great courage and resolution to execute all the commands of Moses, and particularly that of expelling and destroying the residue of the Canaanites. The right hand or the left — That is, in one kind or other, by adding to the law, or diminishing from it. Which was the condition upon which God promised to continue them in the possession of the land. By this it is evident that the book of the law of Moses was extant in those days, and that the people read it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10, 13 Come in, an expression which may denote any familiarity,…
Come in, an expression which may denote any familiarity, or marriage. (Menochius) --- Hebrew is in the form of a prohibition, "Come not among (have no connections with) these nations....Neither mention their gods, nor swear (or cause to swear by them.") The psalmist (Psalm xv. 4,) says, speaking either of idols, (Haydock) or of sinners, Nor will I be mindful of their names by my lips. Osee (ii. 16,) says, She shall call me no more Baali, ("my lord," a term applied by wives to their husbands) on account of its reminding one of the idol Baal. Hence David calls Jerobaal, or Gedeon, Jeroboschot, 2 Kings xi. 21. St. Paul would not have Christians so much as to name the sins of impurity, Ephesians v. 3. The more religious Jews will not even mention an idol, or an unclean animal; and they beg pardon before they speak of a heretic. (Drusius) --- Some understand that the worship of idols is meant by naming them, as those who invoke the name of Jesus Christ, were his disciples, Acts ix. 14., 1 Timothy ii. 19., and Exodus xx. 24. To swear by idols is always sinful, (Exodus xxiii. 13,) while it is an act of religion to swear on proper occasions, by the name of God. Theophrastus (ap. Josephus, contra Apion i.) observes, that the laws of the Tyrians prohibit the using of foreign oaths, such as that of the Corban, which was peculiar to the Jews. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Take good heed, therefore, that ye love the Lord…
Take good heed, therefore, that ye love the Lord your God--The sum of his exhortation is comprised in the love of God, which is the end or fulfilment of the law (Deu 6:5; Deu 6:11:13; Mat 22:37).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6–13 6. Very courageous — This is the same exhortation…
6. Very courageous — This is the same exhortation that God gave to Joshua at the death of Moses. See Jos_1:7, notes.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 6. Be ye therefore very courageous] Joshua exhorts them…
6. Be ye therefore very courageous] Joshua exhorts them to bravery and constancy in the same terms as he had been exhorted himself. See above, Jos_1:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 9, 10, 12 (6) Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and…
(6) Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses.—As Joshua was the servant of the law himself, so must his successors be. No higher position was attainable than this. It has been the same with the successors of the greater Joshua. With them, and with those who follow them, nothing can ever supersede the authority of the written word.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–13 Be ye therefore very courageous. The original is stronger,…
Be ye therefore very courageous. The original is stronger, Be ye exceedingly courageous. (see note on Jos_1:6) That is written in the book of the law of Moses. A yet more distinct intimation that the words of Moses had been collected into a book at this early period, and that it was known as the Book of the Law of Moses. It seems incredible that such a book should have been invented at a time when the precepts it contained were lightly regarded, and should have been represented as the proper standard of conduct when every one knew that it could never have been anything of the kind.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 6-8. Cleaving unto the Lord.
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I THE DUTY.
(1) Personal devotion. God seeks the devotion of our hearts. It is inward and spiritual, and not merely a fact of visible conduct. It implies drawing near to God in prayer, walking with God, delighting in Him, seeking to be like Him, aiming at pleasing Him.
(2) Active obedience. Joshua exhorts the people to "be very courageous," "to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses." Devotion of heart is a mockery unless it leads to obedience in conduct. We must cleave to God in action as well as in feeling.
(3) Purity. The people are exhorted to avoid the contamination of heathen society and the sin of idolatry. Anything that takes the place of God in our heart is an idol. All sinful pleasures and worldly interests that are not consistent with pure devotion to God separate us from Him and vitiate our service. God cannot accept our sacrifices while we approach Him with sinful affections. (Isa_1:18)
II THE DANGER. Joshua saw that there was a danger that the people should cease to "cleave unto the Lord." This arose from various causes:
(1) Prosperity. It was now "a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel." In times of prosperity we are often off our guard, and become indolent, and hence are in danger.
(2) Bad example. The Canaanites who remained in the land would be a source of temptation to idolatry and immorality. We need to be especially careful if we are surrounded by those who live worldly and unholy lives. The influence of an ever present example is insidious and powerful.
(3) The inherent difficulty of duty. The people were exhorted not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left. The path of duty is narrow. (Mat_7:18, Mat_7:14) There are many wrong ways, but only one right way.
(4) The loss of an old leader. Joshua was about to die. He feared for the people after his guiding hand was removed. When trusted leaders are called away the Church is thrown back on the individual responsibility of its members to preserve its fidelity.
III THE MOTIVES FOR OVERCOMING THE DANGER AND FULFILLING THE DUTY. The great source of devotion is love to God. Joshua says, "Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God." We cannot cleave to the Lord out of a mere sense of duty. We must feel attracted by the influence of His love to us, rousing our love to Him. (Hos_11:4) This influence will be realised as we reflect upon the goodness of God in the past. Joshua appeals to the experience of the people and theft memory of God"s great goodness and powerful help. We have not only the providential grace of God to reflect upon, but also the wonderful love He has revealed in the sacrifice of Christ. (2Co_5:14) If we have been at all faithful in the past, the thought of this fact should stimulate us to maintain our fidelity. Joshua says, "Cleave unto the Lord your God as ye have done unto this day." Past devotion is no security against future unfaithfulness. But it is a motive to fidelity, because, failing this, the fruits of the labour and sacrifice of the past will be lost; because the habits of the past will make it easier to be true in the future the greater difficulties being overcome, it would be foolish to yield before the lesser; and because the experience of the blessings which accompany fidelity should make us see that our joy and peace are in "cleaving unto the Lord. W. F. A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 11 Be ye therefore very courageous.
Jos_23:6
Be ye therefore very courageous.
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On Christian courage
In the first place, in your relation with your fellow-creatures, in your intercourse with the world, it requires much courage and resolution to be sturdily upright and just. When your interest, your feelings, your wants, nay, even your future independence, are on one side, and the plain dictates of duty and religion on the other, then it is that you must be very courageous; and not turn aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left. Here is the trial: to prefer the praise of God and the approval of the conscience, with loss, with disgrace or derision, and even poverty for life, to the mean and dishonest acquirement of every worldly good. Courage is requisite even in doing good. Our good actions may cost us much trouble and even expense, much opposition, much vexation, and much misrepresentation; for our good may not only be evil spoken of, but it may be to ourselves a positive evil in a worldly and temporal point of view. On some occasions we may have to encounter the resistance of the indolent and the selfish; the thwarting malignity of envy, that will never either co-operate or commend; the sneers of the niggardly, who revenge an extorted charity by slandering the man that shamed them to it; and the unkind constructions of the worldly, who never attribute disinterested motives to a prominence in well-doing. On other occasions, we may be induced to benefit others, even against their will; to succour the worthless and ungrateful; to weary ourselves in long, and perhaps for the time fruitless, attempts to soften the obstinate, persuade the wilful, reform the profligate. In all these cases we want also a bold and patient decision of character. Again, it requires courage to forgive injuries and endure wrongs, as well as, on the other hand, to ask for forgiveness and to make reparation. Yet the Christian must do both when necessary. Courage is required, again, in maintaining truth and sincerity. I do not mean by this merely avoiding flagrant falsehood and equivocation; but acquiring habits of open and frank avowal of our minds, except where we may give needless pain or offence. No deference to rank or circumstances, no indolent aversion to differ from others, no ill-timed timidity, or desire to ingratiate, must prevent our bold and determined reprobation of what is decidedly wrong, however glossed by fine language or supported by sophistry and cunning. Courage is very necessary also in setting a good example. We are neither to love the praise of men more than the praise of God, nor to follow a multitude to do evil. The real Christian may want resolution to maintain a Christian example; he may shrink from singularity; he may fear a laugh, an obnoxious name, or misrepresentation; he may think it too precise and severe to protest and strive against received customs and opinions, though plainly at variance with the Word of God; or, lastly, he may distrust his own steadfastness and perseverance. Yet all he wants is courage--courage, not to go about setting the whole world right, not to put on a garb of austerity and intolerance that does not belong to him or his religion; not to declare war against practices and amusements which sweeten the busy occupations of life and are decidedly innocent; but to be steadfast and immovable in the plain, straightforward course of Christian duties of every kind. Again, courage is most requisite in striving against all the inward corruption of our fallen nature. In the first place, the Christian has to contend with wicked thoughts and tendencies, or inclinations. When allowed to grow to maturity they become headstrong passions, lusts, and appetites, whose power is generally in proportion to the time they have been indulged. At that fearful period, the courage required is, as it were, that of plucking out an eye, or cutting off a limb! for habit has by that time made the indulgence quite necessary to the sinners happiness, and even comfortable existence. Courage is again necessary, under this head, in getting the better of our natural selfishness. Pride and vanity and pretension are also vices that need no common courage and resolution to master them. They are, however, most unchristian tempers, and must be subdued. But, lastly, it is in perfecting holiness in the heart--by purity, vigilance, discipline, and perseverance-that the Christian warrior has most need of courage and resolution. His enemies are so strong and numerous, and the fort he holds so easily surprised and taken, that he has need of the whole armour of God, that he may have victory, and triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh. (A. B. Evans, D. D.)
To keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses.--
The supreme excellence of Holy Scripture
I. The book commended: All that is written in the book of the law of Moses.
1. Observe it was to the written law alone that Joshua directed them.
2. From that day to this the will of God has been made known to us in writing.
3. The evidence of the Divine authority of the New Testament is of the same description.
4. Oh, let the written Word of God, infallible truth, be elevated far, far above the writings of men, however excellent.
II. The exhortation respecting it: Be ye therefore very courageous, &c.
1. Keep it--treasure it up in your hearts; lodge it in your memories; inscribe it on the tablet of your mind.
2. Do it. We are not to keep the Holy Scripture as a curiosity in a cabinet; not to hide or bury it, but to practise it. If the Scriptures do not exercise a practical influence over us, they will only increase our condemnation.
3. Observe the universality of the injunction, All that is written in the book. There is to be no reservation nor exception--no selection of favourite doctrines or of agreeable duties, but all that is written is to be read, believed, obeyed I
4. There must be no deviation from the narrow way--that ye turn not aside therefrom, to the right hand or to the left. This is the chart--be careful to steer by it! This is your map, your guide, your lamp; beware of the smallest deviation! (Isa_30:21).
5. Be ye Very courageous to keep and to do all this! He had said in the previous verse that God would drive out their enemies before them; and now he says, Be ye very courageous--but not to fight with sword and spear, but with spiritual weapons--moral courage: be bold for God--much courage is needed: for want of it Peter denied his Lord. Be not ashamed of Christ--confess Him before men.
III. The consequences of obedience or disobedience to this exhortation may be learned from scripture and experience. Wherever Gods written Word was known and read and honoured, religion has flourished; and where that Word has been neglected, religion has decayed. (Dean Close.)
Turn . . . not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.--
Obedience
1. What motive has the Christian to obedience? Looking to be saved only through the righteousness of another, what is there to induce him to walk righteously before God Himself?
(1) Gratitude, or responsive love. The Christian is plied with reminders of what the Lord hath done for him by Christ to open to him the heavenly Canaan and to give him an inheritance, and his grateful heart responds to the heavenly logic, Take heed that ye love the Lord, Serve the Lord in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He hath clone for you. If ye love Me, keep My commandments.
(2) Hope. Ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised you. Christ is made the author of eternal salvation to them that obey Him; and he that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity.
(3) Fear. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God ye shall perish quickly from off the good land. And similar are the rules with regard to entering heaven, of which land Canaan was a figure. Disobedience entails exclusion.
2. But what kind of obedience is necessary, or rather what do we learn from our text, will obedience require or call for?
(1) Courage. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do. Many look down upon a Christian as a poor, mean-spirited creature, and only half a man. But he is the highest kind of man. In proportion as he acts up to his principles he is a bold, courageous hero, and may stand up among the bravest and noblest, and suffer not by the comparison. Is it a mark of courage to submit to the operators knife, and a still higher mark to operate upon oneself? This the obedient servant of God does. He plucks out the right eye, he cuts off the right hand of forbidden indulgence; that is, in obedience to Gods will he will give up inclinations which cost him as much as plucking or cutting. Is it a mark of courage to face the cannons mouth? Aye; but it is a higher mark for beings constituted as we are, naturally proud and sensitive, to brave the mouth which sneers and jeers at piety, so that we are often a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
(2) Completeness. Be ye very courageous to keep and do all, &c. The moral law of Moses, though no longer it can be so kept as to give us a right to eternal life, is to be our guide and rule in our present life. For the ten commandments expanded contain all the precepts, duties, and dispositions of a servant of God, just as buds contain all the leaves of that flower which opens out into such fulness of detail. And the Christian is to keep and do all.
(3) Carefulness. That ye turn not aside, &c. The path of obedience is generally a middle path, and we must seek to have such views of Gods Word, under the teaching of Gods Spirit, that our love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that we may approve things that are excellent; or, as it might be rendered, discriminate things that differ, and ever hear a voice behind us saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. The extreme opposite of wrong is not right. We go safest between extremes. The pendulum swings as far to the right hand as it does to the left, and because some persons go to extremes one way, we are apt to go to extremes the opposite way. Some are all for privilege, others all for duty; but we must turn not aside to the right or left. Thankful for privileges, we must do our duty. (H. C. Mitchinson, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv6, 11 Jos_23:7. That ye come not among these nations] They…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Jos_23:7. That ye come not among these nations] They were not to form with the Canaanites any civil or social alliances. The word rendered “come” indicates close and familiar intercourse. Neither make mention, etc.] “Four different expressions are used to describe idolatry.
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(1.) Hiz’ kîr v’shçm elohim, to make mention of the name of their gods, in such a manner that he who mentions them gives himself up to them, approaches them with love, i.e., to mention them with admiration. Hiz’ kîr does not mean to praise, as is evident from Exo_23:13; see also Psa_20:8 (Jos_23:7, E.V.), and Hengstenberg’s notes on that passage.
(2.) Lo thash’biu, not to cause to swear by the gods of the Canaanites. Swearing and causing to swear by a god were in ordinary life the most frequent evidence of belief in that god, and therefore the law was enforced, that the name of Jehovah was to be the only one by which they swore (Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20).
(3.) ’Avad, to serve them, colors; and
(4.) hish’tach’veh, to worship, are distinguished from each other in this way: the former expresses rather the external worship by sacrifice; the latter, calling upon God from the heart. The two words are frequently connected together. They are so in the original passage, Exo_20:5; see also Exo_23:24; Deu_4:19; Deu_5:9; Deu_8:19; Deu_30:17, etc.” [Keil.]
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_23:6-10
FROM COURAGE, THROUGH HOLINESS, TO VICTORY
Joshua, who had so often personally led the Israelites to victory, here shews them how they may attain like triumphs after he is gone. The aged general, who is about to go the way of all the earth, tells out the secret of his many triumphs ere he departs. This secret of victory holds good on every field where men can be found fighting for truth and for God.
Taking Joshua’s words in the order given, the leading thoughts which they contain may be thus stated:
I. There can be no holiness without courage. “Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written.” Unless they were courageous they would fail both in keeping and in doing. Nor would an ordinary courage suffice; they must be very courageous.
1. Men need to be very courageous to constantly resist temptation. A little courage will do to keep some of the things that are written. Ordinary fortitude will do for easy occasions. There are multitudes who can keep ever so many things on Sunday, when in God’s house, and among God’s people; and yet, at other times, they utterly fail.
2. Men need to be very courageous to steadily confess their love to God. Some people treat confession as a thing to be attended to once in a lifetime. They confess their love to Christ when they join His Church, and then they seem to suppose that they have done with this matter of confession altogether. Some think confession a matter for the grand occasions of life. They admire the firmness which led Daniel to the lions’ den, and readily applaud the fidelity of the three Hebrews on the plain of Dura. They believe thoroughly in the heroism recorded in the history of the martyrs. And yet these same admirers of the martyrs fail to be faithful in the small matters of their own daily temptations. We are not to think such men hypocritical and dishonest. Probably many of them would have had courage enough for martyrdom themselves. The simple truth is this: for many temperaments, it needs a better courage to acknowledge Christ daily, than to die for Christ in martyrdom.
3. Men need to be very courageous to do the things of God with an even and a holy mind. Many persons are spasmodic in their zeal. At times they have all the boldness of Peter before the Sanhedrim; at other times they are as weak as Peter before the servants of the high priest. What God asks of us is a boldness which is calm enough to ignore parade and to forget shame.
4. Did men but see things as they are, it would need far more courage to sin than to be holy. These words do but address themselves to the common feeling of men. It is the transgressor who most needs to be very courageous. Holiness is man’s act of sheltering himself behind an arm which can never fail; sin is man’s act of fleeing before the scoff of his weak fellow to defy the Omnipotent.
II. There can be no cleaving to God without holiness. “Turn not aside … come not among these nations … but cleave unto the Lord your God.” A man cannot turn aside and at the same time cleave to God. No man can commune with his idols and also with Jehovah. It is said of some that “they feared the Lord and served their own gods;” that is possible, but it is not possible for any one to cleave to the Lord and serve his own gods. There is all the difference in the world between that “fearing” and this “cleaving.”
1. Every man may cleave to God. These are words addressed to all Israel. There was no man in the host who might not have this high honour and this perpetual joy. It is very marvellous to read in the Gospels of the Son of God, “And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town.” What a picture is that! It is omnipotence leading infirmity! It is perfect purity conducting embodied sin! It is God in His veiled glory, hand in hand with man in his manifest wretchedness! That is no exceptional representation of Divine condescension. Here are words which are addressed to a nation, and through that nation to a world in all its succeeding generations, and these words put before us all the possibility of this exalted union. They say to every man, You too may cleave unto the Lord your God.
2. No man can cleave unto God and also unto sin. When Jesus leads the blind, it is that they may be blind no longer. When God bids us cleave unto Himself, it is that we may let go all things which are not according to His will.
3. He who would cleave unto God well, should think much on God’s abundant mercy and help (Jos_23:9). The faithful man always has a faithful God. Joshua was able to commend the people in their past relation to God (Jos_23:8); that being so, it followed, as a matter of course, that he could speak with joy of God’s past relation to His people. He who has endeavoured faithfully to do his little things for God will never want occasion to sing, “The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad.” And then, God’s gracious past helps the faithful man’s future. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” A holy life ever becomes full of encouragements to holiness. It is sin that makes such facilities for sinning. The iniquity of a man’s heels “compasses him about;” the piety of a man compasses him about no less.
III. There can be no victory without cleaving to God. “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.” The help of God is for the man who cleaves to God. Without God, no man can prevail. His very victories become defeats. No matter how few or weak the foes, or what may be the field, he who fights without God must fail. With God one man may chase a thousand. Elisha led the army of the king of Syria whithersoever he would (2Ki_6:8-23). Peter, with God’s angel to help, was more than the four quarternions of soldiers who sought to keep him. Paul and Silas, with their feet made fast in the stocks, sang till their bondage melted into liberty, and they presently found their oppressors turned into suppliants. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_23:6.—MAN’S RELATION TO THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN.
I. Every man should be acquainted with that which is written. The Bible claims the attention of every living man who has heard of it. Any man who wilfully neglects to make himself acquainted with it is entitled to small respect from his fellow-men.
1. The Scriptures are the greatest moral and social force that the world has ever known.
2. The influence of the Scriptures, while so mighty, has ever been for good.
3. The intrinsic character of the Scriptures is another claim on our attention which should not be resisted. For these and other reasons of a similar character, every one should at least acquaint himself thoroughly with the Bible. Some of the most notorious infidels of the last generation acknowledge that they had hardly read the Bible at all. A man’s self-respect has its claims, and this acquaintance with the Scriptures is a very important claim, even in this direction.
II. No man should act partially with that which is written. Men stand in an important relation to all that is written in the book. Many people deal with the Bible as they would with the multiplied dishes of a sumptuous dinner; they choose what they prefer, and leave the rest. They think themselves under no kind of obligation to take aught but what is agreeable.
1. Men choose promises, and leave the precepts.
2. Men choose among the precepts themselves.
3. Men choose as to the traits of the revealed character of God.
4. Men choose among Scripture doctrines. The Bible stands or falls as a whole. No man can pick and choose among the laws of his country. No man has liberty to leave some laws unkept, and to say: “I make an exception in the matter of theft, in the matter of impurity, or on the question of murder.” A man must be either a citizen or an outlaw. Law is binding all round. He who looks for law to keep himself and his family is a debtor to do the whole law of his country. So the things written in the book of the law of God are all obligatory. Heaven is very merciful to pardon sin, but not to permit determinate rebellion in anything. Heaven also says: “You must be outlaw or citizen.”
III. All men need courage before that which is written.
1. It needs courage to keep that which is written. Courage before scoffers. Courage as to conventional proprieties and customs. Courage under disappointments.
2. It needs courage to do that which is written. Courage to be faithful in times of great importance. Courage to be faithful in that which is least.
3. It needs courage to keep straight on. We are to turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. The things which are written ask for progress. They ask, also, for undeviating progress.
4. It needs most courage of all to reject that which is written. Men are only able to reject what is written by ceasing to think on the things with which the writings deal. Few people would be able to sin much and at the same time think carefully. A man who turns from God has need to make himself both blind and deaf to some things.
Jos_23:7.—FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNGODLY.
“Have no civil or social contracts with them (see Jos_23:12), as these will infallibly lead to spiritual affinities, in consequence of which you will make honourable mention of the name of their gods, swear by them as the judges of your motives and actions, serve them in their abominable rites, and bow yourselves unto them as your creators and preservers; thus giving the whole worship of God to idols: and all this will follow from simply coming among them. He who walks in the counsel of the ungodly will soon stand in the way of sinners, and shortly sit in the seat of the scornful. ‘No man rises to the highest stages of iniquity but by degrees.’ Nero himself, under the instructions of Seneca was a promising youth.”—[A. Clarke, LL.D.]
“Bad men will be as the heathen were for the Israelites, a trap and a snare, and a scourge in the sides, and thorns in the eyes for those who live in intercourse with them.”—[Fay.]
Jos_23:8-10.—REASONS FOR CLEAVING UNTO GOD.
I. Cleave unto God because you have long done so already (Jos_23:8).
1. The obligation arising from known liberty and possibility. All the past says that you may so cleave. The past says that you can cleave to God. It is no speculation. There is no excuse on the side of fear as to acceptance. There is no excuse in the direction of insufficient strength.
2. The obligation of continued necessity. All the old reasons for cleaving to Him are still in force. New reasons have been continually added.
3. The obligation of consistency. No man should lightly make his life into a series of grave contradictions.
4. The obligation of not hindering others. The past days of cleaving to God may have led others to God. Turning back would hinder them.
II. Cleave unto God because you have not cleaved to Him in vain (Jos_23:9).
1. God has given His help irrespective of personal merit. “The Lord hath driven out from before you.” You who sinned so often in the wilderness. You who had an Achan among you. You who have been so slow to go up and possess the land.
2. God has helped notwithstanding mighty enemies. He hath driven out from before you “great nations and strong.”
3. God’s help has never yet, ailed you. “No man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.”
III. Cleave unto God because you will yet need God.
1. A man’s enemies may yet be against him as a thousand to one. No man can predict his future. No man knows the relation of others to him in the future.
2. God’s help is equal to any emergencies. If necessary, cleaving to Him, “one man shall chase a thousand.” We do not know the future; let it be enough that we know the power and love of God.
3. God’s help is promised. There is no question about the sufficiency of that help; neither is there any question about its being given to the man who cleaves unto the Lord. History guarantees the sufficiency of Divine power; the everlasting covenant, added to history, pledges the constancy of Divine love.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 12 turning aside from it neither to the right hand…
turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left
Disobeying the commands of the law of Moses is spoken of as turning to the right or to the left away from a path. (See: Metaphor)
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you may not mix
Possible meanings are 1) having close friendship with them or 2) intermarrying with them.
mention
to speak of
their gods
This refers to the gods of the remaining nations.
cling to Yahweh
"hold tightly to Yahweh." Believing in Yahweh is spoken of as if they were holding tightly onto him. AT: "continue to believe in Yahweh" (See: Metaphor)
to this day
"until the present time"
translationWords
written
law
nation
name
false god
oath
worship
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6–13 23:6 Since before crossing the Jordan River to take…
23:6 Since before crossing the Jordan River to take the land of Canaan, Joshua’s guiding principle had been to be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote and not deviate. Now he passed on these instructions to the leaders who would succeed him in leading Israel.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.