Judges 2:10

Another generation. This was a generation that had grown up in the land of Canaan subject to the corrupting influences of social and religious association with the idolatrous people of the land. The children were reaping in abundant measure what their parents had sown.

Knew not the Lord. They did not know from experience the mighty working of God, and their environment, with its corrupting influences, had not developed in them independent strength of character. Joshua and the elders of the former day had served as buttresses for their weak faith. When those buttresses were taken away by death, the people stumbled and fell because they had no strong religious foundation.

It is imperative that all Christians examine well the foundations of their faith to see whether their experience is a personal and direct relationship with God, or merely an outward endeavor based upon the experience of another. Unless the former is true, they may suffer the same fate as these second-generation Israelites. Moreover, Christians do well to remember what Israel forgot, namely, the providential leadings of God in the past. “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history” (LS 196).