<t /><p class="bodytext">The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, &#8220;Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.&#8221;

But they did not obey<n id="1" /> their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped<n id="2" /> them. They quickly turned aside from the path<n id="3" /> their ancestors<n id="4" /> had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commands, but they did not.<n id="5" />

Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, &#8220;Please allow us<n id="1" /> to pass through your land.&#8221; But the king of Edom rejected the request.<n id="2" /> Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate.<n id="3" /> So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

<p class="bodytext">The woman went and said to her husband, &#8220;A man sent from God<n id="1" /> came to me! He looked like God&#8217;s angelic messenger &#8211; he was very awesome.<n id="2" /> I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger said to Manoah, &#8220;If I stay,<n id="1" /> I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the <sc>Lordsc>, you should offer it.&#8221; (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger.)<n id="2" />

They said to him, &#8220;We promise!<n id="1" /> We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.&#8221; They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

Everyone who saw the sight<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since<n id="2" /> the Israelites left the land of Egypt!<n id="3" /> Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!&#8221;p>

The Israelites asked, &#8220;Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8221; They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the <sc>Lordsc> at Mizpah must certainly be executed.<n id="1" />

So they asked, &#8220;Who from all the Israelite tribes did not assemble before the <sc>Lordsc> at Mizpah?&#8221; Now it just so happened no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the gathering.<n id="1" />

When their fathers or brothers come and protest to us,<n id="1" /> we&#8217;ll say to them, &#8220;Do us a favor and let them be,<n id="2" /> for we could not get each one a wife through battle.<n id="3" /> Don&#8217;t worry about breaking your oath!<n id="4" /> You would only be guilty if you had voluntarily given them wives.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> was with the men of Judah. They conquered<n id="1" /> the hill country, but they could not<n id="2" /> conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.<n id="3" />

The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The men of Zebulun did not conquer the people living in Kitron and Nahalol.<n id="1" /> The Canaanites lived among them and were forced to do hard labor.p>

At that time I also warned you,<n id="1" /> &#8216;If you disobey,<n id="2" /> I will not drive out the Canaanites<n id="3" /> before you. They will ensnare you<n id="4" /> and their gods will lure you away.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

When a leader died, the next generation<n id="1" /> would again<n id="2" /> act more wickedly than the previous one.<n id="3" /> They would follow after other gods, worshiping them<n id="4" /> and bowing down to them. They did not give up<n id="5" /> their practices or their stubborn ways.p>

So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.

Joshua left those nations<n id="1" /> to test<n id="2" /> Israel. I wanted to see<n id="3" /> whether or not the people<n id="4" /> would carefully walk in the path<n id="5" /> marked out by<n id="6" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, as their ancestors<n id="7" /> were careful to do.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">These were the nations the <sc>Lordsc> permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel &#8211; he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.<n id="1" />

He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.<n id="1" />

The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud<n id="1" /> did not pull the sword out of his belly.<n id="2" />