Chapter 23
Opens with this verse:
1 A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, [Jos 23:1 ESV]
So we have moved many years past the time when peace prevailed in Canaan, and the events of chapter 22 are now long past. We're moving quite a few years ahead in time.
2024 - This:
5 The LORD your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. [Jos 23:5 ESV]. There was still work to be done. There were still peoples in Canaan that were to be driven out of the land, and their land and their goods were to be taken. This happens as Joshua is near death. Joshua dies at the age of 110. I believe he was 80 when they crossed the Jordan. We do not know how long that initial campaign too, or how old Joshua was when he parceled out the land of Canaan. But we DO know that 30 years after they started, they were still not done. They were "in" all the places God had given them, but they had not accurately followed God's commands concerning that land, as to it's previous (and unfortunately still current) inhabitants. The military might of Canaan was broken during the Joshua campaign. There were no longer any Canaanites "in charge" in Canaan. They had no kings and their gods were outlawed. But many of the people were still there. Those not in the armies of Canaan and many born since that campaign were still in the land.
Joshua is old. He gives advice, and reminds those in Israel of what God has done, and continues to do for them. He warns them not to mix with those left in Canaan - those they didn't kill - nor to say the names of their gods aloud, nor to swear by those gods, or serve them or bow down to them.
6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day. [Jos 23:6-8 ESV]
Here is the second or third time now that the people are commanded not to even say the names of the foreign gods in the land of Canaan. I have a hard time thinking this "rule" has changed. I plan to be very careful of this in the future.
In this verse, Joshua admonishes Israel to stay a pure nation, and not to intermarry or mingle with the remaining Canaanites, but to push the rest on out of the land:
12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you. [Jos 23:12-13 ESV]
Joshua makes it clear that the covenant in place between God and Israel is conditional. If they turn to other gods, all their blessings will turn into curses.
2024 - It is about more than just turning to the gods of Canaan. Even to associate with its people, whom God has declared to be irredeemably evil and deserving of physical, earthly death, will not only lead to trouble, but ISRAEL WILL FORFEIT THE LAND!!!
2024 - But then, what does this mean?
14 "And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. [Jos 23:14 ESV]. ALL have come to pass, not one has failed...what can that mean given the previous few verses saying it was not all done? That God has promised to fight for them, and get rid of the military resistance of Canaan, but then leave the clean up to them? Or perhaps God had been faithful THUS FAR as Israel carried out God's plan to possess Canaan. There'd been nothing, SO FAR, that God had said he'd do that he had not done. But the job was not over, or there would not have been these warnings about "thorns in their eyes". God was still prepared to help them as they finished the job, but he was not going to do it without them. Yes, this seems like the best interpretation.
Here is another statement that all God promised Israel has been fulfilled. This must refer to promises about the land they were given:
12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you. [Jos 23:12-13 ESV]
Not one has failed...