the purpose of the exodus liberation. Under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites gained strategic control of the land. But there followed a lengthy process of settlement in which the tribes struggled—sometimes in cooperation, and sometimes in competition—to possess fully the land allotted to them. During the centuries of the period of the judges there was much disunity caused by internal strife and external pressures. Alongside this went chronic disloyalty to the faith of Yahweh, though it was