Three Burials
“Joshua now faces the end of his life. He is called to be with his fathers, knowing that over the years he has proved himself to be a man of great faith and courage. And with Joshua goes the high priest, Eleazar, who has served the people’s spiritual needs throughout the conquest. With the passing of these two men of God, the last immediate links with Moses and Aaron will be severed, and a new era will soon find the Israelites in spiritual eclipse. Never again will the Israelites as a nation be this closely united, either among themselves or with their God.
The people also bury the 400-year-old bones of Joseph. It is an appropriate tie with the early patriarchs, to whom God first promised this land.”
Read Joshua 24:29-30/Judges 2:8,9 and Joshua 24:32-33
Additional Conquests
“The fact that territory has been given to a tribe or individual does not mean that the land can be immediately occupied. The inhabitants living in the land must first be driven out.”
Read: Judges 1:1-10, 16-19, Joshua 15:13-14/Judges 1:20b, Joshua 15:15-19/Judges 1:11-15 and Judges 1:22-26
Failure to Complete Conquests
“The danger of an incomplete conquest is the lingering presence of pagan influence. As long as the Canaanites remain, the Israelites will inevitably intermarry with them, and, just as inevitably, turn to worship their pagan gods.
Failure to drive out the inhabitants may indicate not only the softness of Israel’s resolve but also a certain fascination with the pagan culture about them. Whatever the reasons for their failure, God considers it a breach of covenant and knows that widespread idolatry is soon to follow.
Interestingly enough, neither Judah nor Benjamin is able to completely drive out the Jebusites from the city of Jerusalem, which is within the region of their common boundary (even despite the fact that Judah has already attacked the city once and put it to the torch.)”
Read Joshua 13:13, 16:10/Judges 1:29, Joshua 17:11-13/Judges 1:27-28, Joshua 15:63, Judges 1:21, 30-36 and Judges 2:1-5
All quotations taken from The Daily Bible.
I Spy God 