given you” (v. 16). Like Moses, Joshua exhorted his people to covenant faithfulness, fearing at the same time that his warnings might be in vain (cf. Deut. 31:24–29). The period covered by the book of Judges (about 300 years; ca. 1350–1050 BC) is a period of transition between the loose-knit federation of tribes commonly known as a theocracy and the emergence of Israel as a monarchic nation. Its transitional nature is clear both from the overlap
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