Joshua 23:13

13 know that the Lord will no more destroy these nations from before you; and they will be to you snares and stumbling-blocks, and nails in your heels, and darts in your eyes, until ye be destroyed from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.

Joshua 23:13 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 23:13

Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more
drive out [any] of these nations from before you
Or, "knowing ye shall know" ^F18; or "know ye"; this may be taken for granted, or the fullest proof, and clearest demonstration, and strongest assurance will be given of it, that in case of such bad conduct, and disobedience to the will of God, no more of the nations of the Canaanites will be driven out of the cities in which they are:

but they shall be snares and traps unto you;
who by their bad examples would draw them both to idolatry and superstitious worship, and into all irreligion, profaneness, and immorality, as they did, ( Psalms 106:35-39 ) ;

and scourges in your sides;
who either, by ensnaring them, would get an advantage over them, and distress them in their persons, families, and estates; or would be the means of the Lord's correcting and chastising them with the rod and stripes of men, for the iniquities these would draw them into; the allusion is to scourges and lashes laid on the sides of men, or to goads with which beasts are pushed on their sides and driven:

and thorns in your eyes;
very troublesome and distressing; for even a mote in the eye is very afflicting: and much more a thorn; (See Gill on Numbers 33:55). Jarchi interprets this word by camps surrounding them, as shields do the bodies of men, and which is approved of by Gussetius ^F19:

until ye perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God hath
given you;
by sword, famine, pestilence, or captivity, which has been their case.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (wedt ewdy) "sciendo scietis", Montanus; "sciendo scitote", Pagninus, Vatablus.
F19 Comment. Ebr. p. 717.

Joshua 23:13 In-Context

11 And take ye great heed to love the Lord our God.

12 For if ye shall turn aside and attach yourselves to these nations that are left with you, and make marriages with them, and become mingled with them and they with you,

13 know that the Lord will no more destroy these nations from before you; and they will be to you snares and stumbling-blocks, and nails in your heels, and darts in your eyes, until ye be destroyed from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.

14 But I hasten to go the way , as all that are upon the earth also : and ye know in your heart and in your soul, that not one word has fallen of all the words which the Lord our God has spoken respecting all that concerns us; there has not one of them failed.

15 And it shall come to pass, that as all the good things are come upon us which the Lord God will bring upon you all the evil things, until he shall have destroyed you from off this good land, which the Lord has given you,