Judges 1:1-10 — Sermon Prep & Expository Preaching Guide

The Death of Joshua and the Problem of Succession

The opening phrase of Judges — "after the death of Joshua" — does more than mark a chronological transition. In Hebrew narrative, the formula wayyehi aharei mot signals the close of one era and the uncertain opening of another. The book of Joshua had ended with a charismatic military leader at the center of Israel's national life; Judges begins in the unsettling space his absence created. This was not merely a change of personnel. The entire political architecture of Israel shifted. Without a central commander to coordinate the tribes, Israel reverted to a looser confederation of clans and kinship groups, each responsible for securing its own allotted territory. The first test of this new arrangement was also the most urgent: the Canaanites had not been driven out.