After Joshua was dead, the Israelites remembered their promise to obey the Lord. They began to fight against the wicked people who still lived in the land; for God had told them to destroy those people and to tear down their idols. When they fought God helped them just as he had done while Joshua lived and led them, out to battle. And God caused their enemies to be afraid of them. Every time they went out to battle they gained a victory, and all the while they kept gaining more cities and more land to call their own.
But after some time the Israelites grew tired of fighting. Perhaps they thought, “We will rest a while and enjoy the good country places We have already, taken. Then we can go out to battle again.” But instead of tearing down the idols while they rested, they made friends with the wicked people who served these idols. They even began to let their, children play with the boys and girls of Canaan; and by and by when their children grew up they married the sons and daughters of their wicked neighbors. And those sons and daughters taught the Israelites’ children to bow down before the idols in the land and worship them. Thus little by little the Israelites had come to forget their promise to Joshua, that they would serve the true God, and him only.
But God did not forget his promises to the Israelites. He sent an angel to tell them that he was not pleased with them, because they had quit fighting against the wicked people of Canaan. The angel said, “Because you have not obeyed the Lord fully as you promised to do, now he will not help you when you want to drive these people away. These people will always live in your land, and they will try to teach you to do wickedly. If you refuse to serve their idols, God will bless you; but if you turn away from God, he will allow great troubles to come upon you.’
The Israelites listened to the angel’s words, and they felt sorry because they had not tried harder to drive out all the Canaanites while God was helping them so wonderfully. They even wept; but now it was too late, for God would not help them drive their enemies away any more. Because they had made friends with these people, now they must live among them and see their wicked doings.
However sorry the Israelites were, it was not very long until they were again forgetting, and were doing many things God had commanded them not to do. They were bowing down before the idols that stood under the beautiful trees of Canaan instead of going tio Shiloh to worship the true God. They were even offering sacrifices on the altars in their fields where the Canaanites worshiped other gods. It seemed so easy for them to act as did their wicked neighbors. Perhaps at first they had thought, “Three journeys each year to Shiloh are too many. We will go only twice.” Then maybe the next year they went only once, and by and by they did not go at all.
Although people may forget their promises, God never forgets.
Whatever he says he will do, that he always does. And now when the Israelites began to worship idols, God allowed troubles to come upon them. He allowed a strong enemy from a country far away to the east to come and fight against them. The Israelites were weak, because God was not fighting for them, and they lost the victory. Then their enemies ruled over them. For eight years this cruel enemy made their lives unhappy.
When this great trouble came upon the Israelites they remembered how God used to help them. And they began to call upon God to help them again. Although they had done many wrong deeds, God heard them when they called. He saw they were in trouble and he spoke to a brave man among them whose name was Othniel. This man had married the daughter of the brave old soldier Caleb.
Othniel may never have forgotten the true God as the other Israelites had done. But while they were worshiping idols he could not help them. Now, when they turned away from idol-worship and prayed to God, he called the soldiers of Israel together and led them to battle against their strong enemy. And God gave them the victory.
After this time God used Othniel as a leader of the Israelites. He was called a judge. For forty years he ruled the people, and while he lived the land of Israel enjoyed rest from wicked nations round about them. But when he died, many of the people quit going to the tabernacle at Shiloh to worship God. They would not even listen to the words of the Levites. They wanted to worship gods that they could see, like the Canaanites worshiped. So they turned again to worship idols. And troubles came upon them quickly, just as God had promised. Not far from the land of Israel was a country called Moab. This country was ruled by King Eglon. And this King looked with greedy eyes toward the rich land of Israel. He thought, “I should like to rule that country, too.” One day he called his soldiers and sent them to fight against the men of Israel. And because God was not willing to help the Israelites in this battle they were beaten again. Then for eighteen long years King Eglon ruled over them.