Judges 2:6-10--The Death of Joshua

Judges 2:6-10
English Standard Version
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The Death of Joshua
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.

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We talked about this event in the book of Joshua as well, but the author of the book of Judges (probably the judge and prophet Samuel) wants to emphasize again that the Israelites let their faith be something that belonged to their parents and grandparents--the ones who had been through the Passover, the Exodus of wandering through the wilderness while being led by the Presence of the LORD, the ones who ate manna from heaven, and the ones that crossed the Jordan River and had the LORD miraculously deliver the Land to them.  The new generation didn't experience any of that for themselves, so it wasn't real for them.  They did not know of the LORD or the things He had done because their parents and grandparents did not teach them the things that they were supposed to.

Joshua lived to be 110 years old (only ten years younger than Moses at his death) and he was buried within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.  All of that generation died (including Caleb who was still alive in Judges 1, so there is some overlap between Joshua and Judges).  How sad it is to realize that they were just one generation away from being described as those "who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel," because the parents did not take care to teach the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy) to their children as they were required to.