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Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”
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The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.
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And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”
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She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
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Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.
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As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.
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The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
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So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.
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He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
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When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.
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When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,
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Disobedience and Defeat
After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance.
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The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
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After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
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Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
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They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger
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In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
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Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
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Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.
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Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.
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Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
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Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me,
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I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.”
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These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan
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(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):
