May 9, 2025
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Joshua and Titus? Here’s today’s reading:
Joshua 23 (NIV)
Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders
1 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.……Continue Reading
Joshua reminds the Israelites ALL God has accomplished on for them, the blessings they have received through their obedience but also the judgement for their times of disobedience. They still had work to do in this land, God wanted them to take complete possesion of it and drive out those that remain. joshua warns them of just accepting another people as their own and the potential danger of that, a danger we see so clear today. When we try to live harmoniously with the world we end up with watered-down Christianity that makes excuses for sin and allows “acceptable” sins to remain and God wants us to bring truth and light to those in the darkness. We can’t dumb down the truth to fit in better but must stand firm on God’s truths and not continue to repeat the patterns of behavior that as we see here have been happening since the beginning.
Joshua 22 and 23
Joshua 23
How nostalgic this must have been for Joshua to reflect on all the things that the people had been through and all the things God did for him and through him. It is interesting how many words of God and Moses he shares with the people…namely be strong and courageous, don’t let the book of the law depart from you, and don’t become intertwined with the pagan nations within them and around them. To consider all that God had for the Jews and all the ways He would bless and provide if they only maintained their covenant with Him and didn’t follow foreign gods. It is sad that they do the exact opposite of what Joshua encourages here. Our hearts at times are not that much different, but may we learn from their negative example and trust and follow this God who never fails to fulfill His promises….
All that God had done through Joshua to establish a nation. Of God’s choice. A mirror of what God does in us to mold his temple in each one of us. Mostly. Be strong. Be careful to obey all that is written. Not turning to the left or right. Imagine a world following that advise.!!!!
It is the Lord our God who fights for us. So we can be very strong because one of us is like a thousand with the Lord on our side. We can trust with all our heart and soul that not one of the good promises the Lord God gives us will ever fail. Every promise has been and will be fulfilled. Amen!
Joshua 23
”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, and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.“
Joshua 23:6-8 NKJV
Hold fast to the Lord.
It is interesting to me that the Israelites are to be strong and courageous even while entering a battlefield with a sword. Of course this is the command for any warrior. And the command to us in facing spiritual battle Ephesians 6. Isn’t it also how we should approach life? How often do we make decisions or retreat in fear or worry in our everyday lives?
hopefully, not very often….