=6. One constant cause= of the persistent idolatry was doubtless to be found in the continued social relations of the Israelites with the tribes of the Canaanites. The wisdom of the forewarnings of Moses, Deut. 7:3‒5, and of Joshua, and of the command made very early in their history that the Canaanites should be driven out from the land, and that no association should be had with them, is now very apparent, Exod. 34:16. The non-observance of the command was followed by these intimate relations all over the land. At least seven tribes are named, Judg. 1, as living together with the Canaanites. Even Judah, Benjamin, and the Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem together at this time, Josh. 15:63 and Judg. 1:21. =7. The Canaanites= therefore =were admitted= into the nation of Israelites by a kind of naturalization, and they brought in with them their customs and idolatries, although they themselves were made tributary. =8. The history of the times= of the Judges is derived mainly from the books of Judges, Ruth, and 1 Samuel. But considerable light is added from the records of surrounding nations, especially from those of the Egyptians. In a poem by the poet laureate of the times of Rameses II., B. C. 1350, it is asserted that the Hittites in a battle on the plain of Esdraelon had 2,500 chariots of war. This was before the Israelites left Egypt, and the monuments record that Rameses III. captured 994 Canaanitish chariots. The goddess Ashtoreth was, according to Naville, the patroness of war-chariots, and although the chariots taken by Joshua were drawn by horses, Josh. 11:6, we find them on some of the monuments represented as drawn by oxen, and it is said that oxen have been trained to run fast. It should be remembered that the use of scythes or swords attached to the wheels or sides of chariots does not appear to have been in vogue until after this period.[79] =9. The Israelites= had no war chariots until the time of David, 2 Sam. 8:4, and it is highly improbable that at that time they were used for war purposes, but only as baggage or forage wagons, and the remaining number taken in battle were disjointed, crippled, or destroyed, as the Hebrew text is translated in the Septuagint, and not that the horses were “houghed,”[80] as in our English version. =10.= Solomon, B. C. 992, gathered chariots from Egypt and horses, although he was a man of peace, and it does not appear for what purpose the chariots were used except for display; but the act was certainly in direct violation of the law, Deut. 17:14‒20, and marked the beginning of that king’s departure from the service of Jehovah. =11. The chronology of the times= of the Judges is not clearly made out. It cannot be determined that the Judges all reigned consecutively or that any one Judge had authority over any larger district than that of a few tribes. The Scriptural order seems to be as follows: