March 31: Judges 1:1 – Judges 3:30

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan – Judges 1 (A repeat of what happened in Joshua)

• Upon the death of Joshua, Israel asks God who will go first against the Canaanites to fight them. God tells them that the tribe of Judah will lead them, and Judah invites the tribe of Simeon to join them. Together they go against the Canaanites, and God gives them over to them. They find Adoni-bezek (a king), capture him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. He later dies in Jerusalem.
• Judah goes on to conquer several other cities in the area, including Jerusalem, Hebron, and Debir. Before they conquer Debir, Caleb promises to give his daughter Acsah to the man who attacks and conquers Kiriath-sepher. Othniel (son of Caleb's brother Kenaz) conquers the city and gets Acsah as a wife. She requests springs from her father, and he gives her them to go with the field he has already given her.
• Judah and Simeon capture other towns in Canaan. 

Failure to Complete the Conquest

• God is with the tribe of Judah, and they take possession of the country, but they fail to drive out the people living in the plains, who had chariots.
• The tribe of Benjamin fails to drive out the Jebusites in Jerusalem. They also attack Bethel, and kill all but one man and his family (he had showed them a way into the town). The man and his family build a new town in the land of the Hittites.
• The tribe of Manasseh fails to drive out the people living in several cities. The Israelites make the people of these towns their slaves.
• The tribe of Ephraim fails to drive out the people of Gezer, so the Canaanites there continue to live among them.
• The tribe of Zebulun fails to drive out the people living in Kitron and Nahalol, so the Canaanites there continue to live among them.
• The tribe of Asher fails to drive out people from several cities. They move into the area and live among the peoples.
• The tribe of Naphtali fails to drive out the people in two cites and move in to live among them.
• The tribe of Dan is pushed back into the hill country by the Amorites, but the descendants of Joseph increase their strength and make the Amorites their slaves.

Israel's Disobedience – Judges 2

• The angel of the Lord tells the people that they have been disobedient to God by not driving the Canaanites out of the land as He instructed. He tells the Israelites that these people will now be thorns in their sides. The people lift up their voices and weep, then sacrifice to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

• Joshua dies at the age of 110 years, and Israel buries him in Timnath-heres. All of the other people of this generation die, and the generation afterward does not know the Lord or what He had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

• The Israelites serve the Baals, abandoning God. They go after other gods, provoking the Lord to anger. God gives them over to plunderers.

The Lord Raises Up Judges – Judges 2 & 3

• God raises up judges who save them from the hands of those who plunder them. But Israel does not listen to the judges. Whenever He raises up a judge, He is with the judge, and the judge saved the people from their enemies. The people return to their evil ways after the judge dies, and God decides he will no longer drive out any nations from among them.
• The five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites that live on Mount Lebanon remain in the land. Israel now lives among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They marry with these people and worship their gods.

Othniel

• God is angered, and He sells them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia, who they serve for eight years.
• Israel cries out for a deliverer, and God raises up Othniel, the son of Kenaz (Caleb's younger brother). The Spirit of God is on him, and he goes to war against the king of Mesopotamia, who he conquers. Israel rests in the land for forty years, then Othniel dies.

Ehud

• Israel again does what is evil in God's sight, and God strengthens the king of Moab, who along with the Ammonites and Amalekites, defeats Israel. The people of Israel serve the king of Moab for eighteen years.
• Israel again cries out for a deliverer, and God raises up Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite. Ehud makes a double-edged sword and binds it to his thigh under his clothes, then goes to the king of Moab, who is quite overweight. After presenting a tribute to the king, he sends everyone else away from the roof chamber and tells the king that he has a message for him from God. He gets up from his seat and thrusts his sword into the king, all the way to its hilt, then closes and locks the doors as he leaves.
• The king's men find the doors locked and think he is relieving himself, but after a while, they open the doors with the key and find the king dead.
• Ehud escapes into the hill country of Ephraim, sounding the trumpet. The people of Israel go with him to war against the Moabites, subduing it, and Israel rests for eight years.