This Is Only A Test

This is only a test.  It did not take long for the people of Israel to violate their covenant with God.  After Joshua died, and the elders who had witnessed all the work of the Lord, the people of Israel failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land.  It really reads like failure after failure.  Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites (Judges 1:29).  Zebulon failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or residents of Naha (v.30).  Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob (v.31).  Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath (v.33).  The practices and gods of these people would corrupt the people of God.  They failed to abide by the covenant and obey the commands of God.  Despite raising up judges, the people would act even more corruptly and would not turn from their evil practices (Judges 2:19).  So, God would turn this into a test for the Israelite people.  God said, “I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had" (v.22).  It would have been much simpler to live a life of obedience in a land where the influence of foreign behavior and foreign gods were removed.  Just as the Israelites failed to remove the foreign occupants of the land, they would also fail the test to remain true to the Lord.