23:1 VA YEHI MI YAMIM RABIM ACHAREY ASHER HENI'ACH YHVH LE YISRA-EL MIKOL OYEVEYHEM MI SAVIV VIYHOSHU'A ZAKEN BA BA YAMIM
וַיְהִי מִיָּמִים רַבִּים אַחֲרֵי אֲשֶׁר הֵנִיחַ יְהוָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל מִכָּל אֹיְבֵיהֶם מִסָּבִיב וִיהֹושֻׁעַ זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים
KJ: And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
BN: And it came to pass, some while after YHVH had brought Yisra-El peace with all its neighbouring enemies, that Yehoshu'a grew old and came toward the end of his days.
BN: And it came to pass, some while after YHVH had brought Yisra-El peace with all its neighbouring enemies, that Yehoshu'a grew old and came toward the end of his days.
How old would he have been then? He was already an adult when they left Egypt - he was appointed as one of Mosheh's ministers virtually from the outset, and then as one of the spies, in the second year of the Exodus. Forty years of wandering and war before he took over as leader. We are not give a time-line for the "conquest", but certainly several years; and again we are not given anything more precise than "a long time after", which infers several years, perhaps a decade...
23:2 VA YIKRA YEHOSHU'A LE CHOL YISRA-EL LIZKENAV U LE RA'SHAV U LE SHOPHTAV U LE SHOTRAV VA YOMER ALEHEM ANI ZAKANTI BA'TI BA YAMIM
KJ: And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age
BN: And Yehoshua summoned all Yisra-El, their elders, their heads, their judges, and their military officers, and said to them: "I am old and coming to the end of my days...
23:3 VE ATEM RE'IYTEM ET KOL ASHER ASAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LE CHOL HA GOYIM HA ELEH MIPNEYCHEM KI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU HA NILCHAM LACHEM
23:2 VA YIKRA YEHOSHU'A LE CHOL YISRA-EL LIZKENAV U LE RA'SHAV U LE SHOPHTAV U LE SHOTRAV VA YOMER ALEHEM ANI ZAKANTI BA'TI BA YAMIM
וַיִּקְרָא יְהֹושֻׁעַ לְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל לִזְקֵנָיו וּלְרָאשָׁיו וּלְשֹׁפְטָיו וּלְשֹׁטְרָיו וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אֲנִי זָקַנְתִּי בָּאתִי בַּיָּמִים
BN: And Yehoshua summoned all Yisra-El, their elders, their heads, their judges, and their military officers, and said to them: "I am old and coming to the end of my days...
23:3 VE ATEM RE'IYTEM ET KOL ASHER ASAH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LE CHOL HA GOYIM HA ELEH MIPNEYCHEM KI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU HA NILCHAM LACHEM
וְאַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לְכָל הַגֹּויִם הָאֵלֶּה מִפְּנֵיכֶם כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא הַנִּלְחָם לָכֶם
BN: "And you have seen all that YHVH your god has done to all these nations because of you; for YHVH your god is he who has fought for you....
23:4 RE'U HIPALTI LACHEM ET HA GOYIM HA NISH'ARIM HA ELEH BE NACHALAH LE SHIVTEYCHEM MIN HA YARDEN VE CHOL HA GOYIM ASHER HICHARTI VE HA YAM HA GADOL MEVO HA SHAMESH
רְאוּ הִפַּלְתִּי לָכֶם אֶת הַגֹּויִם הַנִּשְׁאָרִים הָאֵלֶּה בְּנַחֲלָה לְשִׁבְטֵיכֶם מִן הַיַּרְדֵּן וְכָל הַגֹּויִם אֲשֶׁר הִכְרַתִּי וְהַיָּם הַגָּדֹול מְבֹוא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ
BN: "And you have seen that I have shared with you, by process of lots, these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Yarden, with all the nations that I have cut off, all the way to the Great Sea in the west...
23:5 VA YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU YEHEDAPHEM MI PENEYCHEM VE HORISH OTAM MI LIPHNEYCHEM VIYRISHTEM ET ARTSAM KA ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LACHEM
וַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא יֶהְדֳּפֵם מִפְּנֵיכֶם וְהֹורִישׁ אֹתָם מִלִּפְנֵיכֶם וִירִשְׁתֶּם אֶת אַרְצָם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לָכֶם
BN: "And YHVH your god will expel them from before you, and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land, as YHVH your god has promised you...
23:6 VA CHAZAKTEM ME'OD LISHMOR VE LA'ASOT ET KOL HA KATUV BE SEPHER TORAT MOSHEH LE VILTI SUR MIMENU YAMIN U SEM'OL
וַחֲזַקְתֶּם מְאֹד לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשֹׂות אֵת כָּל הַכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה לְבִלְתִּי סוּר מִמֶּנּוּ יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול
BN: "But you will need to remain very steadfast, and keep, and do, everything that is written in the Book of the Law of Mosheh, and make sure that you do not turn aside from it, either to the right hand or to the left...
All that is written in the Book of the Law of Mosheh was probably just the Ten Commandments, carved on two tablets of stone, using Egyprian hieroglyphs, the only "alphabet" available at that epoch. Despite the insistence in Jewish tradition that the full Five Books are intended here, this is, sadly, historically impossible.
23:7 LE VILTI VO BA GOYIM HA ELEH HA NISH'ARIM HAELEH IT'CHEM U VE SHEM ELOHEYHEM LO TAZKIYRU VE LO TASHBIY'U VE LO TA'AVDUM VE LO TISHTACHAVU LAHEM
לְבִלְתִּי בֹוא בַּגֹּויִם הָאֵלֶּה הַנִּשְׁאָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אִתְּכֶם וּבְשֵׁם אֱלֹהֵיהֶם לֹא תַזְכִּירוּ וְלֹא תַשְׁבִּיעוּ וְלֹא תַעַבְדוּם וְלֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לָהֶם
BN: "That you do not assimilate into these nations that remain among you; nor make mention of the names of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them, nor serve them, nor prostrate yourselves before them...
Yes, this is what it has all really been about: racial purity and the superiority of "our" faith over "their" faith.
23:8 KI IM BA YHVH ELOHEYCHEM TIDBAKU KA ASHER ASIYTEM AD HA YOM HA ZEH
כִּי אִם בַּיהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם תִּדְבָּקוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם עַד הַיֹּום הַזֶּה
BN: "But remain faithful to YHVH your god, as you have done up until today...
23:9 VA YORESH YHVH MIPNEYCHEM GOYIM GEDOLIM VA ATSUMIM VE ATEM LO AMAD ISH BIPHNEYCHEM AD HA YOM HA ZEH
וַיֹּורֶשׁ יְהוָה מִפְּנֵיכֶם גֹּויִם גְּדֹלִים וַעֲצוּמִים וְאַתֶּם לֹא עָמַד אִישׁ בִּפְנֵיכֶם עַד הַיֹּום הַזֶּה
BN: "For YHVH has driven out from before you nations that were once both great and strong; but as for you, no man has been able to stand before you until this day...
23:10 ISH ECHAD MIKEM YIRDAPH ALEPH KI YHVH ELOHEYCHEM HU HA NILCHAM LACHEM KA ASHER DIBER LACHEM
אִישׁ אֶחָד מִכֶּם יִרְדָּף אָלֶף כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא הַנִּלְחָם לָכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר לָכֶם
BN: "One man of you shall chase a thousand: for YHVH your god, he it is who fights for you, as he has promised you...
I have forced myself to resist commentary on this speech, but can no longer. It is precisely the sort of "pep-talk" farewell speech that priests and politicians always make, and we have to understand it in that context - especially after the abysmal failure of Mosheh to do the same in his lengthy farewell diatribe against his own people, which was essentially the entire Book of Deuteronomy, chapter after chapter of telling them what useless vermin they all were. So at least Yehoshu'a is making the appropriate speech (assuming that he continues as above!); but we, as the readers in the future, have to understand it as such, and not take it literally. Abraham Lincoln made the same speech, after Amendment 13 was passed, declaring the end of slavery for all time, and the liberation of "the negro" from racial hatred; and the great-great-grandparents of Q-Anon and MAGA sat listening solemnly, and made their plans for civil war. Winston Churchill made the same speech at the end of World War II, declaring the defeat of anti-Semitism for all time, and claiming "we have brought Fascism to its knees", even while Franco went on ruling in Spain, Salazar in Portugal, Stalin in Russia... And yet, and nonetheless, it is the right speech, the necessary speech, for any retiring leader.
23:11 VE NISHMARTEM ME'OD LE NAPHSHOTEYCHEM LE AHAVAH ET YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם לְאַהֲבָה אֶת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
BN: "Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that you love YHVH your god...
23:12 KI IM SHOV TASHUVU U DEVAKTEM BE YETER HA GOYIM HA ELEH HA NISH'ARIM HA ELEH IT'CHEM VE HIT'CHATANTEM BAHEM U VA'TEM BAHEM VE HEM BACHEM
כִּי אִם שֹׁוב תָּשׁוּבוּ וּדְבַקְתֶּם בְּיֶתֶר הַגֹּויִם הָאֵלֶּה הַנִּשְׁאָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אִתְּכֶם וְהִתְחַתַּנְתֶּם בָּהֶם וּבָאתֶם בָּהֶם וְהֵם בָּכֶם
BN: "But if you turn around, and associate yourselves with the remnant of these nations, even those that are still living among you, and you make marriages with them, and live among them, and they with you...
The oldest moan in the Jewish world, and the reason for the inevitable "Jewish State" law, passed in Israel in July 2018 - the law of the necessary ghetto; just as modern Israel is reluctant to take any non-Jewish refugees and migrants. The twelfth commandment (the eleventh, written in the dust of the Holocaust, was "Thou Shalt Survive"): לא תתבולל - LO TITBOLEL - Thou Shalt Not Assimilate.
So exogamy is now formally forbidden, though actually the phrasing suggests something even more enclosed. The last two chapters of Nechem-Yah (Nehemiah), which belong to precisely the period when the Tanach was being Redacted, may well have been the reason for giving this entire speech, and especially this verse, to Yehoshu'a.
23:13 YADO'A TED'U KI LO YOSIPH YHVH ELOHEYCHEM LEHORISH ET HA GOYIM HA ELEH MI LIPHNEYCHEM VEHAYU LACHEM LE PHACH U LE MOKESH U LE SHOTET BE TSIDEYCHEM VE LITSNINIM BE EYNEYCHEM AD AVAD'CHEM ME AL HA ADAMAH HA TOVAH HA ZOT ASHER NATAN LACHEM YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
יָדֹועַ תֵּדְעוּ כִּי לֹא יֹוסִיף יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם לְהֹורִישׁ אֶת הַגֹּויִם הָאֵלֶּה מִלִּפְנֵיכֶם וְהָיוּ לָכֶם לְפַח וּלְמֹוקֵשׁ וּלְשֹׁטֵט בְּצִדֵּיכֶם וְלִצְנִנִים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם עַד אֲבָדְכֶם מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה הַטֹּובָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לָכֶם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
BN: "Know for a certainty that YHVH your god will never again drive out any of these nations from before you; but they will be snares and traps for you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which YHVH your god has given you...
This verse is hugely important theologically. YHVH has made a covenant, to give his chosen people this land. He has fulfilled that covenant and insists that he will no longer interfere in human history. This is now in the hands of Man. And if any enemy ever comes along and conquers you - it will serve you right, so don't blame YHVH. (Not that he will stop interfering, any more than Humankind will cease calling on him to interfere, but this is the theological theory).
And of course, if this was written in Nechem-Yah's time, for the political needs of the day, then his listeners will know what we know: there was no "conquest", only a partial claiming of bits and pieces of land; that the following of other gods started immediately, and absorption, and assimilation, back and forth between YHVH and the Ba'alim for centuries, this area lost to colonisation, that area conquered, then the entire land subjected to exile and slavery, new peoples with new foreign gods brought in, a partial return from exile, yet another virtual conquest, this time by the Greeks, and now the current situation which this newly created Tanach is supposed to resolve, bringing all the various nations and faiths together in a single, national (invented) identity... all of which will be destroyed by the next round of Greek invasion, and then obliterated for two thousand years by the Romans...
23:14 VE HINEH ANOCHI HOLECH HA YOM BE DERECH KOL HA ARETS VIYDA'TEM BE CHOL LEVAVECHEM U VE CHOL NAPHSHECHEM KI LO NAPHAL DAVAR ECHAD MIKOL HA DEVARIM HA TOVIM ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ALEYCHEM HA KOL BA'U LACHEM LO NAPHAL MIMENU DAVAR ECHAD
23:14 VE HINEH ANOCHI HOLECH HA YOM BE DERECH KOL HA ARETS VIYDA'TEM BE CHOL LEVAVECHEM U VE CHOL NAPHSHECHEM KI LO NAPHAL DAVAR ECHAD MIKOL HA DEVARIM HA TOVIM ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ALEYCHEM HA KOL BA'U LACHEM LO NAPHAL MIMENU DAVAR ECHAD
וְהִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הֹולֵךְ הַיֹּום בְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל הָאָרֶץ וִידַעְתֶּם בְּכָל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁכֶם כִּי לֹא נָפַל דָּבָר אֶחָד מִכֹּל הַדְּבָרִים הַטֹּובִים אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם עֲלֵיכֶם הַכֹּל בָּאוּ לָכֶם לֹא נָפַל מִמֶּנּוּ דָּבָר אֶחָד
BN: "And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the Earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which YHVH your god spoke concerning you; all have come to pass for you, and not one single thing of them has failed...
The trouble with statements of this sort, outside of a Hollywood B-movie or a piece of commercially reliable and popular fiction, is that it can only ever be true in fantasy: my tomato plant died, my dad's sick with cancer, my falafel stall got closed down by the authorities because my rival bribed a senior official, and my copy of the Book of Job has been vandalised. That's four things, not just one.
23:15 VE HAYAH KA ASHER BA ALEYCHEM KOL HA DAVAR HA TOV ASHER DIBER YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ALEYCHEM KEN YAVI YHVH ALEYCHEM ET KOL HA DAVAR HA RA AD HASHAMIYDO OT'CHEM ME AL HA ADAMAH HA TOVAH HA ZOT ASHER NATAN LACHEM YHVH ELOHEYCHEM
וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר בָּא עֲלֵיכֶם כָּל הַדָּבָר הַטֹּוב אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲלֵיכֶם כֵּן יָבִיא יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם אֵת כָּל הַדָּבָר הָרָע עַד הַשְׁמִידֹו אֹותְכֶם מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה הַטֹּובָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לָכֶם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
BN: "Therefore it shall come to pass, just as all good things have come to you which YHVH your god promised you, so shall YHVH bring upon you all evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which YHVH your god has given you...
Note that he uses ADAMAH and not ARETS, here and above, but not in the next verse.
Oh dear, and he was doing so well - see the parenthesis in my note at verse 10!) This is precisely reminiscent of Mosheh's farewell diatribe at the end of Deuteronomy; somewhat shorter and gentler, but of the same order. And the need to repeat it seems almost to confirm that Yehoshu'a, like Mosheh, knows perfectly well that a religion of this kind has to be imposed, because as soon as the soul-police go off-duty...
23:16 BE AVARCHEM ET BERIT YHVH ELOHEYCHEM ASHER TSIVAH ET'CHEM VA HALACHTEM VA AVADETEM ELOHIM ACHERIM VE HISHTACHAVIYTEM LAHEM VE CHARAH APH YHVH BACHEM VA AVADETEM MEHERAH ME AL HA ARETS HA TOVAH ASHER NATAN LACHEM
בְּעָבְרְכֶם אֶת בְּרִית יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֶתְכֶם וַהֲלַכְתֶּם וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם לָהֶם וְחָרָה אַף יְהוָה בָּכֶם וַאֲבַדְתֶּם מְהֵרָה מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּובָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לָכֶם
BN: "When you transgress your covenant with YHVH your god, failing to do as he has instructed you, and have gone and served other gods, and prostrated yourselves before them; then the anger of YHVH shall be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which he has given you."
Just as with MA'AL in the previous chapter, so a play on the homophones AVAD and AVAD here - the one with an Ayin (וַעֲבַדְתֶּם) being "to worship", the one with an Aleph (וַאֲבַדְתֶּם) being "to wipe out". Similarly AVARCHEM (עָבְרְכֶם), which is "transgression", but from the same root, EVER (עבר), that gives the word "Hebrew", and which is constantly referenced in this book as EVER HA YARDEN, "across the Yarden".
And what a splendidly upbeat note on which to bring your life's work to an end! Except that it isn't; there is still one more chapter to go, and he has a lot more to say, to the whole people, not just the leaders.
pey break
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