Catholic Commentary on Joshua 23

"You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed." (Joshua 23:14)

Joshua's Farewell

Joshua is old and well advanced in years. He summons all Israel, their elders, heads, judges, and officials, and gives his farewell address. He recounts what God has done: driven out great and powerful nations before them, given them their territory. He urges them to hold fast to the LORD and love him. Be very strong; be careful to obey all the law Moses gave; do not turn aside to the right or to the left; do not associate with the remaining nations or invoke their gods. The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you; no one has been able to withstand you to this day.

Then the double-edged promise: 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. 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. Faithful obedience inherits the blessings; idolatry forfeits the land. Joshua has no illusions about which choice Israel will eventually make. The Catechism identifies this prophetic realism as the mark of all covenant faithfulness: the promises are real and the warnings are equally real (CCC 1963).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, not one promise has failed. Hold that in one hand. And in the other: the warnings are equally reliable. The same faithfulness that fulfils the blessings will fulfil the warnings. This is not meant to produce fear but seriousness: love the LORD, hold fast, do not turn aside. The stakes are real.

Prayer

Lord God, not one of your good promises has failed. Give us the same certainty about your warnings, and let the certainty produce the obedience that inherits the blessing. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

23
Joshua’s Charge to Leaders
1 A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years, 2 he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said, 3 “and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.
 
4 See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.* 23:4 That is, the Mediterranean Sea 5 The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
 
6 Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left. 7 So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them. 8 Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
 
9 The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you. 10 One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised. 11 Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God. 12 For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them, 13 know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
 
14 Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. 15 But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

*23:4 23:4 That is, the Mediterranean Sea

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