Daily Reading: Joshua 21–23
Click here to listen to Alexander Scourby reading the King James Bible.
Text: Joshua 23:1–3, 14
Joshua doesn’t end his life polishing his legacy; he ends it pointing at the Lord. When “Joshua waxed old and stricken in age” and called for “all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers,” he didn’t give them a highlight reel of his greatest hits (Joshua 23:1–2). He reminded them, “ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you” (Joshua 23:3). An old man, a worn body, a land finally at rest—and his testimony is simple: God did this, not me.
Then he says the kind of thing a dying man only says if he’s absolutely sure: “ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you” (Joshua 23:14). Every promise held. Every word came through. That’s what a lifetime of following orders from heaven will do for your perspective. Joshua had seen wandering, warfare, stubborn people, and his own failures—but standing at the edge of his rest, he doesn’t talk about how hard it was. He talks about how faithful God was.
Joshua’s warnings fit that same clarity. He tells them to be “very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses” and to “cleave unto the LORD your God” (Joshua 23:6, 8). He warns that if they turn back, marry into the nations, and serve their gods, “they shall be snares and traps unto you… until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you” (Joshua 23:12–13). In other words, the land is good, the Lord is faithful, and the danger isn’t that God will change—it’s that you will drift. That’s not a pep talk; that’s an old soldier putting everything in its right place before he goes.
You and I are standing at the end of Joshua’s story in our reading. One chapter in Israel’s history is closing. Their leader is about to “go the way of all the earth,” and a new generation is going to have to decide whether Joshua’s God is enough for them (Joshua 23:14). The next book, Judges, is going to show what happens when people forget the very things he just said. Before we get there, it’s good to let this old man’s words sit on us for a minute: God fought for you; God kept every promise; don’t let your heart wander. That’s not just Israel’s problem—that’s ours.
Daily Bible reading is how the Lord keeps that perspective in front of you when your own heart wants to chase something else. When you finish Joshua and turn the page to Judges, you’re not just checking off another book; you’re watching God stay faithful while people wobble. That’ll help you keep your balance. Joshua’s last words are like a hand on your shoulder, saying, “Don’t stop now. The same God who got you through this book will meet you in the next one. Keep reading. Keep cleaving. Not one thing hath failed.”
Until tomorrow, stay in the Book. 📖
Brother Tony