And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
And when Joshua had let the people go. This passage is a repetition of Josh. 24:39-31 , and it was inserted here to put the reader in possession of the reasons which called forth so strong and severe a rebuke from the angel of the Lord. During the lifetime of the first occupiers, who retained a vivid recollection of all the miracles and judgments which they had witnessed in Egypt and the desert, the national character stood high for faith and piety. But in course of time a new race arose, who were strangers to all the hallowed and solemnizing experience of their fathers - "knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel" - i:e., considered not, at least acted as if they had never heard of the marvelous interpositions of Yahweh in behalf of their nation, and too readily yielded to the corrupting influences of the idolatry that surrounded them.