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The Last Words of Joshua
This chapter is based on Joshua 23 and 24.
When the wars and conquest ended, Joshua had withdrawn to the
peaceful seclusion of his home at Timnath Serah. “Now it came to
pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their
enemies round about, that Joshua ... called for all Israel, for their
elders, for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers.”
As Joshua felt the effects of old age coming on him and realized
that his work must soon close, he was deeply concerned for the future
of his people. “You have seen,” he said, “all that the Lord your God
has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your
God is He who has fought for you.” Although the Canaanites had
been subdued, they still possessed quite a bit of the land promised to
Israel, and Joshua urged his people not to forget the Lord’s command
to drive out these idolatrous nations.
The tribes had all gone to their homes, the army had disbanded,
and renewing the war looked like a difficult and doubtful plan. But
Joshua declared: “The Lord your God will expel them from before
you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land,
as the Lord your God promised you. Therefore be very courageous
to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses,
lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left.”
God had faithfully fulfilled His promises to them. “You know
in all your hearts and in all your souls,” he said, “that not one thing
has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke
concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of
them has failed.”
As the Lord had fulfilled His promises, so He would fulfill His
threatenings. “It shall come to pass, that as all the good things have
come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the
Lord will bring upon you all harmful things. ... When you have
transgressed the covenant of the Lord ..., then the anger of the Lord
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