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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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It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.
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Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
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From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
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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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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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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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the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.”
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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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Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.
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The Angel of the Lord at Bokim
The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
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And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
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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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and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
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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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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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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 no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
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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.”
