After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (NIV)

‘Parents cannot automatically pass their faith on to their children; being born into a Christian family does not guarantee that one will become a true Christian. But the teaching and, above all, the example of godly parents will indeed predispose their children to become Christians. However, the children themselves must take that final step of faith…Moses had told the Israelites to teach each new generation about the Lord (see Deuteronomy 6:6-9…); but teaching alone is not enough. Each person must experience the Lord for him or herself; each person must make his or her own personal commitment to the Lord. Clearly the new generation of Israelites had not done this.’ Tom Hale.

PRAYER:  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23,24 King James Version