Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 24:23
Now therefore put away, [said he], the strange gods which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
23. Now therefore put away] “Now thanne, he said, do e awey alien goddis fro the middil of ou,” Wyclif. He again reverts to their secret practice of idolatry. Comp. Gen 35:2; 1Sa 7:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 23. Now therefore put away] As you have promised to reform, begin instantly the work of reformation. A man’s promise to serve God soon loses its moral hold of his conscience if he do not instantaneously begin to put it in practice. The grace that enables him to promise is that by the strength of which he is to begin the performance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The strange gods which are among you; those idols which yon either brought out of Egypt, or have taken in Canaan, which I have too much reason to believe that some of you, contrary to Gods command, do keep, whether for the preciousness of the matter, or rather for some secret inclination to superstition and idolatry, as the following words imply. See Jos 24:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Now therefore put away, [said he],…. Which last words are rightly supplied, for they are the words of Joshua:
the strange gods which [are] among you; not their private notions and secret sentiments that some of them had imbibed in favour of idols, and the worship of them, as Ben Gersom thinks; but, as the Targum expresses it,
“the idols of the Gentiles;”
either such as they had brought out of Egypt, or had found among the plunder of the Canaanites, and had secretly retained; or, as others think, their “penates”, or household gods, they had privately kept and worshipped, such as those that were in Jacob’s family, which he caused to be delivered to him, and which he hid under an oak in this place where Israel were now assembled, Ge 35:2; and which Joshua by a prophetic discerning spirit perceived were now among them:
and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel; to love, fear, and serve him; that is, pray that your hearts may be inclined thereunto, and make use of all means that may tend to direct your hearts to him, and his service; so the Targum,
“to the worship of the Lord God of Israel.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
23. Now, therefore, put away the strange gods, etc How can it be that those who were lately such stern avengers of superstition, have themselves given admission to idols? Yet the words expressly enjoin that they are to put away strange gods from the midst of them. If we interpret that their own houses were still polluted by idols, we may see, as in a bright mirror, how complacently the greater part of mankind can indulge in vices which they prosecute with inexorable severity in others. But, as I do not think it probable that they dared, after the execution of Achan, to pollute themselves with manifest sacrilege, I am inclined to think that reference is made not to their practice but to their inclinations, and that they are told to put all ideas of false gods far away from them. For he had previously exhorted them in this same chapter to take away the gods whom their fathers had served beyond the river and in Egypt. But nobody will suppose that the idols of Chaldea were treasured up in their repositories, or that they had brought impure deities with them from Egypt, to be a cause of hostility between God and themselves. The meaning, therefore, simply is, that they are to renounce all idols, and clear themselves of all profanity, in order that they may purely worship God alone. (205) This seems to be the purport of the clause, incline your heart unto the Lord, which may be taken as equivalent to, rest in him, and so give up your heart to the love of him, as to delight and be contented only with him.
(205) The words meaning literally, “The gods which are in the midst of you,’ would rather seem to indicate that even at this time some of the Israelites were addicted to the secret practice of idolatry. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
23. The strange gods The teraphim. See note on Jos 24:14.
Incline your heart By the free act of your will in the use of the power by God’s grace conferred on all.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts to YHWH, the God of Israel.”
The reply in Jos 24:22 b had been an interjection. Now Joshua continued with his exhortation. In the course of their lives, and in the course of receiving spoils from captured Canaanite cities, many Israelites had accumulated mascots and amulets and suchlike, including possibly images of Baal and Ashtoreth, in which they possibly placed much faith for protection and ‘luck’ without realising that it was derogatory to YHWH. Now he called on them to put them away (compare Gen 35:2). The phrase ‘foreign gods’ was very significant. Such things were foreign to those who were His people, to those who worshipped YHWH. They had no place in Israel where YHWH was supreme and unique and sole divinity.
“And incline your hearts to YHWH, the God of Israel.” All that they had looked to receive from their charms and amulets they must now look to Him to provide. Their response to Him and worship of Him must be total. Again there is the emphasis that Israel has no God but YHWH.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 23. Now, therefore, put awaythe strange gods See ver. 14. All this evidently shews, that Joshua was a prophet, that he could penetrate the secret intentions of the Israelites, and was certain of their propensity to idolatry. Publicly they worshipped only the true God, but in secret they had their penates (as the Romans termed them), their household gods; idols which they worshipped clandestinely, teraphim, little statues, magical rings, and other such instruments of superstition. See Spencer de Leg. Heb. lib. 3: dissert, 1 cap. 3. Of these we have more than once had occasion to speak.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jos 24:23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the strange gods which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
Ver. 23. Now therefore. ] Set forthwith upon the work of reformation which you have covenanted.
Put away the strange.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
strange gods = strangers’ (or foreigners’) gods.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
put away: Jos 24:14, Gen 35:2-4, Exo 20:23, Jdg 10:15, Jdg 10:16, 1Sa 7:3, 1Sa 7:4, Hos 14:2, Hos 14:3, Hos 14:8, 1Co 10:19-21, 2Co 6:16-18
incline: Pro 2:2, Heb 12:28, Heb 12:29
Reciprocal: Jos 24:19 – Ye cannot 1Ki 18:21 – if the Lord Job 31:28 – for Psa 119:112 – inclined
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jos 24:23. Put away the strange gods which are among you Meaning those idols which they had either brought out of Egypt, or had taken in Canaan, and which some of them kept, contrary to Gods command, whether for the preciousness of the matter, or rather from some secret inclination to superstition and idolatry.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the strange {k} gods which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
(k) Out of your hearts and otherwise.