Jos 23:6-8 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do, etc. - It requires no small courage to keep a sound creed in the midst of scoffers, and not less to maintain a godly practice among the profane and profligate. That is written in the book - By the word of God alone his followers are bound. Nothing is to be received as an article of faith which God has not spoken.

Joshua 23:6-8

Verse 6

Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do, etc. - It requires no small courage to keep a sound creed in the midst of scoffers, and not less to maintain a godly practice among the profane and profligate.

That is written in the book - By the word of God alone his followers are bound. Nothing is to be received as an article of faith which God has not spoken. Verse 7

Come not among these nations - Have no civil or social contracts with them, (see Jos 23:12), as these will infallibly lead to spiritual affinities, in consequence of which ye will make honorable mention of the name of their gods, swear by them as the judges of your motives and actions, serve them in their abominable rites, and bow yourselves unto them as your creators and preservers; thus giving the whole worship of God to idols: and all this will follow from simply coming among them. He who walks in the counsel of the ungodly will soon stand in the way of sinners, and shortly sit in the seat of the scornful. Nemo repente fuit turpissimus. "No man rises to the highest stages of iniquity but by degrees." Nero himself, under the instructions of Seneca, was a promising youth.