After forty years in the desert, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land. God commanded them to completely destroy all of the people who lived there to cleanse the land of sin and idolatry. When they followed God's plan, the walls of Jericho fell down before them. But when they devised their own plan, they were defeated at Ai. Joshua fell on his face before the Lord because of their defeat. But God told him to stop crying and go remove the sin from their camp. Achan had sinned by keeping some of the treasure from Jericho. The Israelites destroyed Achan, his family and all his possessions. Then they followed God's plan and conquered Ai.
God helped the Israelites conquer the rest of the Promised Land. He made the sun and the moon stand still for a full day so the Israelites had enough daylight to destroy the Amorite armies. God fought for the Israelites when they destroyed the rest of the Canaanite armies. But the Israelites stopped fighting before they had completely destroyed all of the Canaanaites. Some Israelites began to worship the Canaanite idols. They did not learn the lesson that God is far greater than any idol.
JUDGES
For three hundred years, the Israelites were led by judges such as Deborah, Gideon and Samson. When neighboring nations attacked the Israelites, they would cry to God for help. Then God would raise up a judge to lead them. God would help them defeat their enemies. After a while, they would forget what God had done and go back to worshipping idols. Then God would raise up another nation to attack them until they turned back to God for help. This cycle repeated for thirteen judges. During this time, God showed special grace to a foreign widow named RUTH.
1 & 2 SAMUEL
The last judge was Samuel. The Israelites asked Samuel to let them have a king like the other nations. God chose Saul as the first king, but he didn't obey God. So God chose David as king because David had a heart that followed God. David trusted God when he fought against Goliath, the giant. David wrote many of the PSALMS to praise God. God promised that David's family would always be kings in Israel.
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