First, notice that out of the 12 tribes, only a part of the
nation entered the battlefield after the death of Joshua. At first glance, that
may seem harmless enough, but notice their succeeding steps away from achieving
total victory over all of their enemies.
Judah was selected "by God" to initiate the next phase of
conquest... but then, Judah wanted someone else to help them do their job.
Simeon agreed to do it because Judah made a deal with them to help them do
theirs too. Again, there was nothing
wrong in that per se, but it indicated a certain hesitancy and lack of faith. A
crescendo of diversions was on the horizon.
Next, Judah and Simeon didn't kill the king of their enemies... they
only humiliated him. That's not what God
had commanded (Exodus 23:23-33 & Numbers 33:51-56). Then, a fateful statement is found in Judges
1:19, they "could not drive out the
inhabitants of the valley, because. They had chariots of iron." They couldn't!? What is
that? What? Is God scared of iron chariots or something (Matthew 13:58)? Verse 19 began with the phrase, "The Lord was with Judah" -
so, if they couldn't, it's because they wouldn't.
But, that's not the worst of it. Benjamin allowed Jebusites
to remain in their city, Jerusalem. Ephraim allowed a Canaanite family of
Bethel to live in exchange for the husband's cooperation and assistance. Then
they allowed Canaanites to remain in Gezer. Manasseh didn't push the Canaanites
out of 5 of their cities nor from the towns that surrounded them. Zebulon
settled for receiving tribute payments from the inhabitants of their land.
Asher actually shared neighborhoods with the Canaanites (Judges 1:32). Naphtali
oppressed some of their enemies and befriended others. In Dan's case, the
Amorites put THEM on the defense and forced THEM to flee. Other Jews were
strong enough to force the Amorites to pay them tribute, but essentially the
nation of Israel didn't do what they were empowered and commanded to do (Judges
1:28).
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