Time to return to the history books in the Old Testament. Judges covers the period from Joshua to the time of the kings. It records a cycle of the people deserting God, getting into trouble, and then God raising up a "judge" to rescue them, only for the cycle to be repeated.
The author is not stated, though tradition says it was Samuel there is no Biblical confirmation of this. The frequent phrase "in those days Israel had no king" indicates it was written in the time of the kings.
It is a rather depressing book in some ways. Through Joshua many of the promises to Israel were fulfilled, but Israel all too readily adopted the ways of the Canaanites, worshipping false gods and living immoral and unjust lives.
Things seem to start off well with the nation asking, after Joshua's death, who should go up to fight the Canaanites. Judah enlisted the help of the Simeonites as well, and they enjoyed a convincing victory. Then they took the city of Jerusalem. Further victories over the Canaanites followed, and Israel seemed to be following the command of God to conquer the whole land. However, there were parts of the land where the Canaanites were not completely driven out (v27), though they were subjected to forced labour. The Amorites also resisted on some parts.
This pattern of good, but incomplete, progress is repeated in the Bible. In Kings and Chronicles we read of idols being rooted out of the land, but the "high places" were allowed to remain. In our own lives we have a habit of not getting rid of sin completely. We are prepared to settle for partial victories. In the end this leads to trouble.
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