Judges 1

This opening chapter to the book of Judges seems to recap some of the end of the previous book, as it tells of the continued conquering of the promised land (some of which went well, and much of which seems to have gone amiss). We also get the story of Caleb retold, in almost identical wording to how it was presented before - which makes me wonder if that happened before or after Joshua died, since here is seems to have occurred after. Perhaps it was just being relayed along with the other successes his people had.

There is also a neat story of the defeat of Bethel, which is very reminiscent of Rahab and Jericho. Israelite spies convince a man to betray the city, but in turn spare him and his family. It almost seems odd to request and then reward what would normally be considered trickery and deceit, but perhaps to some degree the ends justify the means. It certainly turned out well for that man, who goes unnamed.

What worries me is that many of the tribes seem to have failed in their God-given orders to destroy the peoples living there before them. I wonder if this is going to come back to bite them.