Joshua 23

Joshua 23 - Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders

Joshua begins his farewell address – 23:1-5

(1) The years passed, and the Lord had given the people of Israel rest from all their enemies. Joshua, who was now very old,

• This is about 13 or 14 years after the conquest of Canaan, and seven after the division of the land among the tribes.
• Remember he was 80 years old when the Israelites left Sinai.
• Joshua 13:1: When Joshua was an old man, the Lord said to him, “You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered.
• Judges 2:7-12: And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him - those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. The Israelites did evil in the Lord ’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord.

(2) called together all the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel. He said to them, “I am now a very old man.

• We do not know whether this took place at Timmoth-serah where Joshua lived or at Shiloh where the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant were located or at Shechem, the location of the speech recorded in Joshua 24.
• Chapter 23 is a farewell speech just to the leaders of Israel. Chapter 24 is a speech to all the Israelites.

(3) You have seen everything the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime. The Lord your God has fought for you against your enemies.

• It was natural for the Israelites to credit Joshua for the success. But, Joshua shows them that all their enemies had been defeated because the Lord their God had fought for them and that God alone should have the glory. A good example for us! If only our country's leaders had this attitude! True humility seems to be lacking in our political leaders today. A big ego seems to be a requirement for office in this land of ours.
• Joshua is giving a brief history lesson to remind the leaders what God has done for them in the past and can yet do for them - if they remain faithful and do not follow the ways of the Gentile inhabitants of the land.

(4) I have allotted to you as your homeland ALL the land of the nations YET UNCONQUERED, as well as the land of those we have already conquered - from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

• The power of the Canaanite armies had been broken so that they could make no defeat the Israelites, but they were still strong enough in some areas, especially along the coast, to keep the Israelites out without major warfare - which the tribes were unwilling to conduct.

(5) This land will be yours, for the Lord your God will himself drive out all the people living there now. You will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.

• So he had divided the land up. However, they had not yet taken all of the land. They had taken enough to settle but they had not yet fully driven out all of the enemies. And so Joshua is telling them that God will lead them to victory and encourages them to take the rest of the territory that God had promised to them.
• To fail to finish taking and occupying the rest of the land was sinful!
• Israel was ordered to finish the work of totally conquering the remaining heathen and to fully dispossess them. God would be with Israel in the remaining conflict, Joshua declared. But, they did not fully obey Joshua’s command as given here.

Warning to keep God’s law and be faithful to Him – 23:6-10

(6) “So be very careful to follow EVERYTHING Moses wrote in the Book of Instruction. DO NOT DEVIATE from it, turning either to the right or to the left.

• Joshua’s words are a reminder of Moses’ exhortation to the nation of Israel just before his death to keep all that had been written in the Law. Now Joshua did the same thing. But, he knew their heart and knew they'd quickly depart from the laws set down by God through Moses.
• The Torah was then in written form and complete and was to be the strict rule of faith and conduct for all Israel! It is evident that Joshua ended the Torah after Moses' death. Who will wrap up Joshua's book after his death?

(7) Make sure you do not associate with the other people still remaining in the land. Do not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or serve them or worship them.

• Daniel 3:16-18: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
• John 17:15-16: I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.
• Romans 12:2: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
• 1 Corinthians 15:33: Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
• Philippians 2:14-15: Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
• James 4:4: You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
• Joshua was now concerned  about Israel’s winning the spiritual war just as he had been dedicated to their victory in the military realm.
• Israel was to have no dealings, social, commercial, civil, religious or business, with their heathen neighbors. If Israel became involved with their heathen  neighbors, these pagans would lead them astray from following the true God of heaven and earth.
• During the closing years of Joshua's life, he became increasingly aware of Israel's growing complacency and their tendency to compromise with the heathen. Some of the heathen had already been put into slavery to the Israelites rather than being eliminated, and that was a source of wealth that added new power to the temptation to allow the nations a place among God's people. The former slaves enjoyed becoming slave owners.
• This is the problem we have today of living with worldly people around us. The influence of these people can be very strong. We are in the world, but we must not be of the world. We must not practice the ways of the world. God wants His people to be holy, for He is holy.

(8) RATHER, *CLING tightly to the Lord your God as you have done until now.

• *CLING:
• Same word is used in verse 12 to provide a direct contrast!
• Cling has three definitions: To hold fast or adhere, remain close (resist separation) or remain emotionally attached. Vines and their tendrils physically cling to an object. A child clings to his parents. This is emotional but also can be physical.
• The word cling means to be diligent. It means persistence. It means commitment.
• Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.(ASV). An intimate inseparable oneness of mind - body - soul. "Cleave" in Genesis is the same Hebrew word for "Cling" here.
• Deuteronomy 10:20: You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone.
• Ruth 1:14: And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.
• Jeremiah 13:11: As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory - an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.
• Clinging to the Lord does not come naturally to those living by the flesh.
• They are to remain so tightly to the Lord that they are inseparable.
• Madvig notes: “ The Hebrew word translated “cling” (dabaq) is used in Genesis 2:24 to describe the intimate and binding relationship between husband and wife. It is used several times in Deuteronomy to describe a close relationship between God and man (4:4; 10:20; 11:22; 13:4). In spite of occasional lapses, Israel’s behavior was characterized as holding fast to the Lord.”
• They have been faithful up to this point but there were signs of moral breakdown among the people. It was not yet complete but it was already beginning.

(9) “For the Lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you, and no one has yet been able to defeat you.

• It was because God fought for Israel that they won, not because they were better soldiers or Joshua was a better general.
• Psalm 44:1-3: O God, we have heard it with our own ears - our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago: You drove out the pagan nations by your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. You crushed their enemies and set our ancestors free. They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them.

(10) Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised.

• Here and throughout this entire speech that Joshua is giving to the leaders, he is quoting from the book of Deuteronomy. There are about 12 quotes from Deuteronomy in his charge to these people. This “put to flight a thousand” comes from the song of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. And it is interesting that this indeed has happened in their history where God has been with them and one has chased a thousand. Actually, in the next book (Judges), when we get to the case of Gideon, we find that three hundred chased a hundred and thirty-five thousand and put them to flight. God being with them, God strengthening them and God helping them, they were able to put to flight their enemies.
• Leviticus 26:8: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.
• Deuteronomy 32:30: How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
• The Lord often works through a group of believers. However, there are also many times when God works through one man. We may say we're only one person and can't make changes or influence others, but God only needs one person. Here are a few examples of the many times God used one person:
• ONE MAN SLEW A GIANT - David - 1 Samuel 17.
• ONE MAN STOOD AGAINST FALSE RELIGION - Elijah - 1 Kings 18.
• ONE MAN SHARED THE GOSPEL - Philip - Acts 8:5-12, 26-40.
• ONE MAN SUPPORTED A NEW CONVERT - Barnabas - Acts 9:26-28.
• Daniel, Gideon, Dinah, Samuel, Luther and so many others! Hebrews 11 lists many more.

Warning of consequences for being influenced by the nations – 23:11-16

(11) So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

• Deuteronomy 6:5: And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
• Luke 10:27: The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
• Jude 1:21: and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
• Joshua makes it clear the Israelites’ only future hope is to walk close to God. He is the one who had granted victory, even to the extent that one of their men could chase a thousand of the enemy. Sadly, today’s average Israeli doesn’t realize the only reason Israel as a nation exists against overwhelming odds is because God continues to protect His chosen people, in spite of their unbelief.

(12) “But IF you turn away from him and *CLING to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and IF you intermarry with them,

• *CLING: See verse 8! We either "cling" to the Lord or we "cling" to the things of the world. We can't "cling" to both!
• Joshua was worried that the Israelites would turn from God to idolatry. In order to keep the Israelites focused on God, Joshua is reminding them of the past where God has led them and kept them safe. Joshua knew this was an issue to bring up and fight.
• In the book of Judges, (the next book of the Bible) that next generation of Israelites did in fact turn to idolatry.
• Exodus 34:15-17: “You must not make a treaty of any kind with the people living in the land. They lust after their gods, offering sacrifices to them. They will invite you to join them in their sacrificial meals, and you will go with them. Then you will accept their daughters, who sacrifice to other gods, as wives for your sons. And they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods. You must not make any gods of molten metal for yourselves.
• Deuteronomy 8:19: “But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed.
• Judges 3:1-6: These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. These people were left to test the Israelites - to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses. So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.
• 1 Kings 11:1-8: Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
  • A Christian young person must take great care in choosing a mate for life. He or she can help draw the other closer to the Lord or can draw the other away from the Lord.
• Jeremiah 3:6-8: During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.
• 2 Corinthians 6:17: Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.

(13) then know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your backs and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

• Numbers 33:55: BUT if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live.
• Deuteronomy 7:16: “You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you.
• Note the conditional nature of the land promise. God had given them the land in fulfillment of His promise to the fathers. He was willing even to remove the remnant of the people of the nations from the land. But whether or not He did that and whether or not Israel would remain in the land would depend on their faithfulness in obedience to Him. Receiving the land was unconditional. Keeping it was conditional. See Leviticus 26:14-33; Deuteronomy 28:15-68. The record of Israel’s history after this point, of course, shows they were not faithful and were therefore eventually removed from the land as God promised here and elsewhere.
• 2 Kings 10 tells us that the Reubenites, Gadites, and one half Manasseh were the first to be cut off from Israel.  They’d totally succumbed to the sin of the ungodly people around them.

(14) “*Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!

• Joshua 24:29: After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.
• At the end of a long, full and fulfilled life, Joshua's greatest concern was not about himself but about the people and his concern about what was going to happen to them after he was gone. His fear is that bringing them into the Promised Land will have been in vain because he knows, as did Moses, that they will quickly turn from the Lord.
• Genesis 25:7-10: Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the field Abraham had purchased from the Hittites and where he had buried his wife Sarah.
• Genesis 49:29-33: Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.” When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.
• Numbers 23:10: Who can count Jacob’s descendants, as numerous as dust? Who can count even a fourth of Israel’s people? Let me die like the righteous; let my life end like theirs.”
• 1 Kings 2:1-2: As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man.
• Acts 7:59-60: As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
• Hebrews 9:27: And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
• 2 Timothy 4:7-8: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me - the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

(15) But as surely as the Lord your God has given you the good things he promised, he will also bring disaster on you if you disobey him. He will completely destroy you from this good land he has given you.

• God kept his His promises and expects Israel to keep His commandments.

(16) IF you break the covenant of the Lord your God by worshiping and serving other gods, his anger will burn against you, and you will quickly vanish from the good land he has given you.”

• Read Leviticus 26 for God's promise for obedience and His punishment for disobedience.
• Deuteronomy 4:26-27: “Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. IF you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed. For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.
• Joshua 24:19-20: Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. IF you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.”
• Today there can be many other gods that a believer can follow after. Money can become a god; career can become a god; sex can become a god; popularity can become a god; power can become a god. Anything that comes in the way of putting God first can become a god or idol.
• It wasn't long after Joshua's death that this disintegration began, though God was patient with Israel, seeking all through the history of the Judges and of the Kings to draw Israel back from their idolatry, until eventually their stubbornness became so determined that the nation was carried away from their land. Even then, God worked to restore Judah from the bondage of Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:22-23), bringing a remnant back, but that remnant became guilty of the enormous wickedness of crucifying the Lord of glory, and now for nearly 2000 years Israel has borne the solemn results of their rebellion.
  • 2 Chronicles 36:22-23: In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are the Lord’s people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”
• He knows that they are going to fail. He has observed these people long enough through the forty years in the wilderness, through all the testings. He realizes that there’s going to be failure down the line.
• What does history show? That these people did forsake the covenant of God. They’ve begun to worship other gods. And first of all, the Assyrians came and conquered the ten northern tribes. Took them into captivity. And then the Babylonians came and conquered Judah and carried them away to the Babylonian captivity. Later, the Greeks, the Romans, the Muslims, the Crusaders and Hitler came to destroy the Israelites and now Persia (Iran) wants to "wipe them off the map."
• In the archaeological diggings in the Kidron valley just above the spring of Gihon in what is known as the city of Ophel which was the city of Jerusalem, the city of David, as they have been excavating this particular section of Jerusalem, Professor Yigal Shiloh in charge of the digs has uncovered the houses that were destroyed by the Babylonian army when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 607 and then later 595 B.C. In these houses, they found hundreds of little idols, idols of the pagan gods. Of course, Jeremiah cried out against this as did Isaiah and the other prophets. But the people forsook the living God as Jeremiah said, God has two complaints against them. First of all, you have forsaken Me, the fountain ofliving water and you’ve carved out for yourselves cisterns. But they’re broken cisterns that can hold no water. Turning from God they began to worship other gods and as the ultimate result, they were taken in captivity and they were taken away from the land that God had given them. Even as Joshua speaks of this as an event that surely will happen.
• This speech, Ziese explained, was a “recollection of past deeds, encouragement for present action, and warnings concerning the future.”
• Joshua’s one anxiety appears to have been about the nations that were left. Seven times he refers to the nations of the land. What God had done to them; how they were allotted to be an inheritance; how God was prepared to thrust them out; and especially how great a temptation would be suggested by their perpetual presence, lest the people should be tempted to cleave unto them, intermarry with them, and adopt their gods. It was as though the old man realized that he was the only barrier between Israel and the inroads of worldly conformity and idolatrous rites; and his exhortation anticipates that addressed by the apostle Paul to the elders of the church at Ephesus: Acts 20:29: I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.

APPLICATION and LESSONS to LEARN:

1. Even though Joshua was not perfect, he proved that a life of obedience to God bears great rewards.
2. Obedience, faith, and dependence on God made Joshua one of Israel's strongest leaders. He provided a bold example for us to follow. Like us, Joshua was often besieged by other voices, but he chose to follow God, and he did it faithfully.
3. Romans 8:31: What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
1. It’s so important to be aligned with God and His plan. It’s important that we understand that God is for us, which gives us the confidence to face any kind of a problem or any kind of a situation.
2. If we're faithful, obedient and on God's side, we are unbeatable. But, if we depend upon our own strength and abilities, we are already defeated and robbed of the victory.
4. Consider our own lives where we have not completely given ourselves over to God. The danger is our own idolatry:
   1. To live the Christian life is to walk by faith. It is to trust that Jesus was a living human who gave His life for our sins and at the same time, understand that He was, is and always will be God.
   2. To act on that faith is all about living a life that makes a difference for Christ. It is about trusting God with EVERY aspect of our lives.
   3. When there are areas of our life we don't give to God, that is idolatry.
   4. When we are trusting in God and "something else" that too is idolatry.
5. The whole point is to get us to examine our own lives and ask ourselves, "Are there areas of my life where I am trusting in God and something else?"
6. The point for the Christian is just as God has given us spiritual victories as we draw close to Him, it is also a guarantee if we start to turn our lives against Him, we still start having real losses in whatever we face in life.
7. I know of cases where devout Christians turned to adultery or a "party all the time" lifestyle. I have then watched their lives go way downhill. I know of a few cases where people have turned back to God, but the warnings of these verses is true. Once we know God and decide to turn from that lifestyle, we do pay the price in this lifetime. It is almost as if God is saying to such people, "What do I have to do to get you to turn back to me? How low do you have to sink in life before you realize how much better it is to be obedient to me?" It is amazing to watch the lives of people go to very low levels and still such people would rather live in that lifestyle than turn back to God. That is the danger being presented in these verses.
8. The goal for Joshua's being called by God has been met. At the end of our life, like Joshua, we need to be able to say with Paul:
1. 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
9. We need to heed Joshua's admonitions to Israel and apply them to our own lives:
1. Remember what God has done for you (verse 3).
2. Finish the task God has give you (verse 5).
3. Keep God's Word (verse 6).
4. Don't let unbelievers to tempt you or move you away from the Lord or compromise (verse 7).
5. Cling tightly to the Lord (verse 8). Be faithful to the Lord.
6. Love the Lord (verse 11).
7. Bear in mind the consequences of backsliding (verse 12-16).
10. Moses was an example to Joshua. Joshua was an example to the people. We are to be an example to our family and those God brings to us and places around us.
11. Do you desire a life of impact and victory like Joshua’s?
12. There is one truth that we hold in common with the Israelites. It is irrefutable that God is faithful. We may not understand all that is going on in our lives, but if we will step back and look at the larger picture, we will see that God has been working in our lives all along. He has been faithful. So, let us respond to God’s fulfilled promises with faithfulness. Since God has been faithful, we should respond in the same way.
13. Jesus, please let my life make a difference like Joshua.
14. Joshua lived about twenty years in Egypt, forty years in the wilderness and fifty years in the promised land. He went from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the desert and then to the promised land. In a way, that is the journey of a Christian. We are born and live in sin until we put our faith in Jesus. We live in newness of life as Christians in this world, a place that is not our home. Eventually we die to live in our promised land – heaven where Jesus is waiting for us.
15. True success is not what the world thinks of you and what you have done, but what God thinks of you and what you have done.
16. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
17. What advice and statements would you give to others, especially your children, when you near the end of your life's journey?
18. Our idols may be more subtle than Israel’s, because they may include family, ministry, health, success, prosperity, the avoidance of pain, etc. In fact, our “gods” may be anything and everything of prime importance in our lives, anything other than God Himself.
19. Is your heart divided?  Have others things become more important to you than the things of God? If so, realign your priorities and put God first in your life.
20. It is often interesting in a journey to look back over the way which we have traveled, and it is interesting to remember events and experiences through which the years have brought us. Sometimes in old age people enjoy the memory of past years, especially recognizing the Lord's mercy which has led them. They see it now in events which at the time seemed hard. Such memory of the Lord's goodness in the past should make us grateful and should lead to stronger resolutions to be faithful to the Lord. Live with no regrets!

NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation.
• Disclaimer: Source material for this study has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible at http://joshua-biblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/joshua-references-and-sources.html