1. These are the nations the Lord did not force to leave. He wanted to test the Israelites who had not fought in the wars to take Canaan.
2. The only reason the Lord left those nations in the land was to teach the descendants of the Israelites. He wanted to teach the people who had not fought in those wars how to fight.
3. These are the nations: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon and the Hivites. The Hivites lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
4. Those nations were in the land to test the Israelites. The Lord wanted to see if Israel would obey the commands he had given to their ancestors by Moses.
5. The people of Israel lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
6. The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people. And the Israelites allowed their daughters to marry the sons of those people. Israel served the gods of those people.
7. The people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. They forgot about the Lord their God. Instead, they served the idols of Baal and Asherah.