We finished our day to retracing our steps back to the Canaanite city Azeka. We had the good fortune of welcoming Rabbi Teitelbaum for this section of the tour.
Azeka was a Canaanite city which was conquered by the Israelites and later became the area where David fought Golyas. For our purposes, it is an important spot because it allowed us to see the coastal plains which were controlled by the Plishtim and the mountains of Yehuda, controlled by Israel.
GOD threw them into a panic before Israel: [Joshua] inflicted a crushing defeat on them at Gibeon, pursued them in the direction of the Beth-horon ascent, and harried them all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.
While they were fleeing before Israel down the descent from Beth-horon, GOD hurled huge stones on them from the sky, all the way to Azekah, and they perished; more perished from the hailstones than were killed by the Israelite weapons.
Yehoshua 10:10-11
We learned about the technological advantage of the Plishtim over the Israelites which was the chariot which allowed them to dominate on the plains but not the hills. We then learned about the iron chariots of the Plishtim and why they could possibly have iron during the late Bronze Age.
Joshua was now old, advanced in years. GOD said to him, “You have grown old, you are advanced in years; and very much of the land still remains to be taken possession of.
Yehoshua 13:1
We then considered the most troubling question of all, which is why the Israelites did not complete the job they were given. Why did they not conquer the whole land? It seems that the single biggest struggle the Israelites confronted in the book of Shoftim was living with pagan neighbors which were not conquered. We explored some of the fascinating ideas why they were not able to finish the job in the times of Yehoshua.