That ye come not among these nations (see note on Joshua 23:4). We can here perceive that the Israelites, though living among these nations, held no intercourse with them. Neither make mention of the name of their gods. Cf. Psalms 16:4, which however is not a verbal quotation of this passage. The LXX. here has, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀνομασθήσεται ἐν ὐμῖν; the Vulgate simply, "ne juretis in nomine deorum earum." The Hebrew has the signification
The former is the better idea here, "let them not be named among you, as becometh saints," let them be quite forgotten, as though they had never been heard of; and this not with a purely theological, but with an ethical purpose, since "fornication and all uncleanness and greediness'' ( πλεουεξία; see Ephesians 5:3) were the first principles of their rites (see Introduction). Nor cause to swear by them. These words are found in connection with what follows in Deuteronomy 10:20. So with "serve" and "bow down" (see Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 5:9; Deuteronomy 8:19, etc). Here again we have Joshua quoting Deuteronomy as the book of the Law of Moses. According to the "Deuteronomist" theory, the quotation is an audacious fiction, manufactured by the person who was at that moment forging the book from which he pretended to quote.