The hardships which they endured, and the fighting which they did, were a great blessing to Israel. Hence it is much written: ‘And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.’
But no sooner were Joshua and the generation which lived contemporaneously with him dead and buried, than a different state of things began to come in. ‘And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim.’
The lot of this generation was far different from that of the one which preceded them. Mounting the stage of existence, they found themselves the inheritors of certain fundamental blessings. These were a legacy bequeathed to them by their hardy, brave, Christian ancestors. They found themselves in possession of a beautiful country, dotted with splendid cities which they had neither built nor conquered, and abounding in fertile fields and luxuriant vineyards which they had neither planted nor sown. They viewed their lot with satisfaction, and began to settle down to a life of ease and pleasure. There was no Jordan to cross; no hill of Hebron to storm. The brave but now departed Caleb, even at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, had driven out the sons of the giant Anak. Southern Canaan had been conquered, and the northern alliance broken. The tribes of Israel had dispersed to their possessions. The army was disbanded, and ‘it was looked upon as a difficult and doubtful undertaking to renew the war.’ Joshua had told these younger ones in Israel to complete the work of exterminating the heathen, so nobly begun by their fathers. ‘The Lord your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.’
But this generation of Israel had a dislike for war. They were peacefully scattered, dwelling on their pleasant estates in the fairest country in the world. The army had disbanded, and they saw many reasons why the war should not be renewed. Therefore they made no vigorous effort to complete the conquest of the land. Satisfied with the territory already gained, their zeal soon flagged. The fear of their fathers was still in the hearts of their enemies; hence they were enabled to put them under tribute. ‘When Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.’ This was much more congenial to their tastes and inclinations than the hardships of war. It was the old story,—wealth bred luxury, and luxury bred vice; ‘and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, . . . and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.’
The generation of Israel which conquered the promised land accomplished much work. According to the word of the Lord, they destroyed the great majority of the inhabitants of Canaan. Some, however, of the tribes and peoples were left unconquered. These were in the land at the time when Joshua and those who had borne arms with him passed away.
Undoubtedly this first generation of Israel should have cleared the land entirely of the heathen. But God bore with their shortcomings because of his great mercy, and all that they had done. To be sure, the second generation complained against Joshua and those with him because every heathen tribe had not been utterly crushed. They said that if their fathers had only done what the Lord told them to do, they would not now have so much trouble on their hands. They saw that if their fathers had followed the instruction of the Lord, they would not have left any heathen in the land to be a snare to them.
Now what they said may have been all true. Nevertheless God, who is all-wise, foresaw their apostasy, and purposely for their good did not deliver the nations into the hands of Joshua. God foresaw their indolence and their ease, and therefore he left these heathen tribes, so that the spirit of Christian warfare and work might be revived in Israel. Viewed from this standpoint, God wrought salvation for his people through their enemies. An apparent curse turned out to be a real blessing.
‘And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.’
Thus it appears that these tribes were purposely left by the Lord to test and to prove the generation of Israel which followed after Joshua and those who20had conquered the land. God turned the presence of Israel’s enemies into a blessing to them. The second generation was obliged to fight against these nations which were left. The faith and hardship which this warfare made necessary were the very things which this generation of Israel needed most. In the warfare with these tribes that remained, those who ‘had not known all the wars of Canaan,’—the wars when the land was first conquered,—were to be proved by the Lord whether they were true men or not. These were left for the benefit of Israel, to teach them war.
When this, the second generation of Israel dwelling in the land, found that they had to fight against these tribes which were left, their faith in God began to revive. Their need of God became very evident to them. Many of them were thus led to forsake their sins and to serve God faithfully so that he could bless them and give them the victory over their enemies.
