The book of Joshua starts out with the death of Moses. Judges begins with mentioning the death of Joshua. There is now no one to take Joshua’s place. Moses had publicly made arrangements for a successor (Numbers 27:15–23; Deuteronomy 31:1–30; Deuteronomy 34:1–12), but evidently Joshua had not done likewise.
1 After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”