Ep 575 – Joshua 24:29-39

And so, the story of Joshua ends. The closing verses of chapter 24 chronicles the death of Joshua, but it is far from the end of the people of Israel. Their leader was gone, but they had just begun their possession of the land. There was much work to be done. The Canaanites had not yet been eliminated, but God was still prepared to help them finish what they had begun. The real question would be whether they would remain faithful to God and trust Him as they continued to possess the land. But with Joshua's death, a change began to take place within the people of Israel. Their leader was gone. The motivation and direction he had provided for years was no longer available. And as the rest of Joshua's generation died off, a new generation rose up that didn't know the Lord. They had not been trained in the ways of God. They had not been told the stories of God's miraculous interventions. And as the book of Judges reveals, the people of God failed to follow God faithfully. And they suffered the consequences.