John Gill Commentary Joshua 23

And it came to pass a long time after
Or "after many days" ^F15 , that is, years:

that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round
about ;
the greatest part of the land of Canaan was subdued, the whole divided by lot to the tribes of Israel, and they quietly settled in the respective portions assigned them, the Canaanites that remained giving them no disturbance, in which state of rest and peace they had now been for some years;

and this may be reasonably supposed to be the last year of the life of Joshua, see (Joshua 23:14) .

that Joshua waxed old [and] stricken in age ;
and became feeble and decrepit, and greatly declined; for though he was ten years younger than Moses when he died, yet not so vigorous, strong, and robust as he, but was pressed and bore down with the infirmities of age.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (Mybr Mymym) "post dies multos", Pagninus, Masius, Tigurine version; "exactis maltis diebus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

And Joshua called for all Israel
Summoned them together, whether at Timnathserah, his own city, he being old and infirm, and not able to go elsewhere; or whether at Shechem, where it is plain they were afterwards convened, (Joshua 24:1), or whether rather at Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, is not certain; and by "all Israel" cannot be meant the whole body of the people, unless it can be thought to be at one of the feasts, when all the males in Israel appeared before the Lord; though this seems to be not a stated convocation, but occasionally made, and to be understood of the representatives of the people called together, as explained in the following clause:

[and] for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and
for their officers ;
the first and is supplied, and another word or words may be supplied, as "even", or "that is", or the like, and so explanative of all Israel, namely, "their elders", both in age and office, especially the latter, the seventy elders, or who composed what in later times was called the great sanhedrim; and the "heads" of their tribes, the chief princes of every tribe; and their "judges" in their several cities, who heard and tried causes, and administered justice and judgment to the people; and their "officers", who attended on them to execute the judgment they pronounced:

and said unto them, I am old [and] stricken in age ;
which he observes as a reason of his calling them together to give them some advice and instructions before his death, and in order to command greater reverence of him, and respect to him, and to excite attention to what he had to say to them.

And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done unto all
those nations because of you
How he had destroyed them, and driven them out of their habitations to make room for them, meaning the seven nations of the Canaanites:

for the Lord your God [is] he that has fought for you ;
Joshua does not attribute any of the things that were done to his own valour, nor theirs, nor so much as mentions himself or them as instruments, but wholly ascribes all to the Lord, who fought their battles for them, and conquered their enemies, and subdued them under them; the Targum is, ``the Word of the Lord fought for you;'' the Captain of the host of the Lord, (Joshua 5:14Joshua 5:15) .

Behold, I have divided to you by lot these nations that
remain
Who are unsubdued, not yet conquered, as well as those that are

to be an inheritance for your tribes ;
to be possessed by them and their children for ever:

from Jordan, with all the nations I have cut off, even unto the great
sea westward ;
the phrase, "with all the nations I have cut off", is to be read in connection with "those nations that remain"; both those that were cut off by the sword of Joshua, and those that remained unconquered, being divided by lot to the tribes of Israel; and which reached from Jordan eastward, where Joshua and Israel entered into the land, to the Mediterranean sea, called the great sea in comparison of little ones in Canaan, as the Dead sea, and the sea of Tiberias; and which great sea lay west to the land of Israel, or where the sun sets, as the phrase in the Hebrew text is.

And the Lord your God he shall expel them from before you
That is, such of them as yet remained among them:

and drive them from out of your sight ;
the same thing expressed by different words, for the confirmation of it:

and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God has promised
to you ;
all which is to be understood on condition of their good behaviour towards the Lord, and obedience to his commands; by which tenure they held the possession of the land when put into it, and for their disobedience did not possess the whole.