Joshua 23:9

Jos 23:9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but [as for] you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.

Ver. 9. For the Lord hath driven out.] He hath and he will, if you hinder not your own happiness by breach of covenant.

No man hath been able to stand before you.] None of all those who either have assailed you, or have been assaulted by you.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 23:9-10. No man hath been able, &c. — To wit, whom you have attacked; otherwise some of those people did yet remain unconquered. He fighteth — Impute not this therefore to your own valour, as you will be apt to do, but to God’s gracious and powerful assistance.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:9 Examples of great and powerful nations included the Anakim (11:21-22) and the city of Hazor (11:10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9. For the Lord has driven out from before you, etc He intimates that so long as they do not themselves change, there will certainly be no change on the part of God. Therefore he asserts that, provided they conciliate the favor of God, they shall have an uninterrupted course of victory. At length he again exhorts them, as they value their life and safety, to be careful in maintaining love to God. From this source all true obedience springs; for if we do not cling to him with free and ardent affection, we shall study in vain to frame our lives in accordance with the external form of the Law.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) No man hath been able to stand before you.—Comp. Jos_1:5.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. For the Lord] He again reminds them of the true Source of their strength, and to Whom they were indebted for their late victories.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the Lord hath driven out before you great nations and strong,.... Especially as they were reckoned in those times, before any great monarchies had existed, as did afterwards; and indeed these were, considering the land they inhabited, very numerous and populous, and were very stout and able bodied men, and some of a gigantic stature; and all dwelt in strong fortified cities, and were able to bring out large armies into the field, with chariots of iron, so that they were very formidable; but notwithstanding all this, the Lord drove them out of their strong holds, and put Israel into the possession of them, and of their land:

but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day; that is, of those that came out against them, and fought with them; these were all to a man cut off by them, or fled before them, and became tributaries to them; otherwise there were many, who as yet were not expelled by them; this the Lord had promised, and now had fulfilled, Deu 11:25.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To wit, whom you have invaded; otherwise some of those people did yet remain unconquered.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. The Lord hath driven out — Or, as the margin, then the Lord will drive. In this way this sentence becomes the apodosis of the previous verse — For if ye cleave… then the Lord will drive. No man hath been able to stand whom ye have courageously confronted, trusting in God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the Lord your God hath driven out. So the Masora and the LXX The Vulgate and the margin of our version translate by the future. So Luther also. The next verse is undeniably future. An appeal to their experience, which did not fail (see Jos_24:31) to be effective as long as the memory of these things was fresh in their minds. So in the Prayer Book of the Church of England we find the appeal, "O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared unto us, the noble works that thou didst in their days, and in the old time before them." And the passage, (Psa_44:1-3) from which the idea of this petition is taken, is an allusion to this speech of Joshua. And we often, in times of faintheartedness or sloth, need to be thus reminded of the moral and spiritual victories of the true Israel, under the true Joshua the Saviour, over the enemies with whom we are forbidden to make a compromise.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No man - To wit, whom you have invaded; otherwise some of those people did yet remain unconquered.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

to stand before you

Here "stand" represents holding ground in a battle. The word "you" refers to the entire nation of Israel. (See: Metonymy and Forms of You)

single

only one

a thousand

"1,000" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

nation

God

love

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.