What is happening in this passage where Joshua lets the people go?

This passage looks back to a time near Joshua’s death, when he sent the tribes home to their own parts of the land that had been given to them. Each person went to his inheritance to live there and take full possession of it. While Joshua lived, and while the elders who had seen God’s mighty works were still alive, the people served the Lord. The verses then move quickly forward to say that Joshua died, was buried in his town, and that whole generation eventually passed away.

Who is Joshua in this passage and why is his death important?

Joshua is called the son of Nun and the servant of the Lord. He was the leader who took over after Moses and brought Israel into the promised land. His death at one hundred and ten years marks the end of that strong, faithful leadership that had personally seen God’s power in Egypt, at the sea, in the wilderness, and in the land. When Joshua and the elders who shared those memories were gone, Israel lost that living witness, and this opened the way for the people to drift from God.

What does it mean that another generation "knew not the Lord"?

When it says another generation arose that “knew not the Lord,” it does not mean they had never heard of Him at all. They were raised in Israel and would have been taught about God and His past works. The point is that they did not know Him in a real, heartfelt way. They did not love, fear, and worship Him as the one true God, and His mighty acts did not shape how they lived. This lack of living, practical knowledge left them open to turning aside to other gods.

How does this passage connect to Israel’s later idolatry and troubles?

These verses form the doorway into the long pattern that follows, where Israel keeps falling into sin, suffering under enemies, crying out, and being rescued. While Joshua and the elders who had seen God’s great works were alive, the people stayed with the Lord. After that generation died, a new generation grew up that did not truly know God or take His past deeds to heart. Because they lacked that living faith and memory, they later did evil, turned to other gods, and came under God’s anger and discipline.

What does this teach about the role of memory and testimony in faith?

This passage shows how much it matters to remember what God has done and to pass that on. The people served the Lord while those who had actually seen His great works were still there to talk about them and lead the way. When that generation was gone, the stories were no longer joined to living example, and the next generation did not truly know the Lord. It reminds us that hearing about God’s works, seeing them lived out, and keeping them in mind helps guard against drifting away.

Why is the faithfulness of Joshua’s generation so short-lived after their deaths?

During Joshua’s life and the lives of the elders, there was clear leadership and fresh memory of God’s saving acts. That held the people steady for a time. But when they died, many in the next generation had not seen those events themselves, and what they had heard did not sink deeply into their hearts. The passage hints that faith tied only to certain leaders or to fresh memories can fade if it is not rooted personally in God. Once that living link was gone, their obedience quickly weakened.

What does this passage show about God’s character toward His people?

Here we mainly see the setup for what comes next. God had faithfully given Israel the land and done great works for them. The people’s service while Joshua and the elders lived shows that God is worthy of trust and worship. When the next generation forgets Him, later verses explain that God responds with anger at their unfaithfulness, yet also shows mercy by raising up deliverers. So this opening section prepares us to see both God’s holiness in judging sin and His kindness in hearing their groans.

How can someone today take warning from the generation after Joshua?

The warning is that it is possible to live among God’s people, hear about His works, and still not truly know Him. The new generation had information but not a living, shaping knowledge of God. That led them into trouble and idolatry. For someone today, this points to the need for personal trust in God, not just borrowed faith from parents or leaders. It also encourages older believers to share clearly what God has done, so that the next generation hears it in a real and meaningful way.

What is the significance of Joshua being buried in Timnath-heres?

Joshua being buried in the border of his own inheritance in Timnath-heres shows that God had kept His promise to bring him, and the people with him, into the land. It also quietly marks the close of his story: the servant of the Lord finishes his work, enjoys his portion in the land, and then dies. The mention of the exact place, in the hill country of Ephraim near the hill Gaash, gives a concrete end to his life and underlines that a whole era of leadership and firsthand experience of God’s works has now ended.

Why does this passage shift so quickly from faithfulness to forgetfulness?

The quick shift in the story highlights how fast things can change once godly leaders and living witnesses are gone. In just a few lines we move from the people serving the Lord under Joshua and the elders, to Joshua’s death and burial, to the passing of that whole generation, and then to a new generation that does not truly know God. The speed of the change in the narrative alerts the reader to the seriousness of the problem and prepares us for the repeated failures that follow in the rest of the account.

Judg.2.6

Judges 2:6

KJV

¶ And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

¶ And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

¶ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.

And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

¶ And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

Cross References

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