Judges2
New King James Version
1Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you.
2And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?
3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ”
4So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
7So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.
8Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old.
9And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
10When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
11Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;
12and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.
13They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
15Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
16Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
17Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so.
18And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.
19And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
20Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice,
21I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,
22so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.”
23Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Judges 2.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The angel of the Lord rebukes the people. (1–5). The wickedness of the new generation after Joshua. (6–23).
vv1-5
It was the great Angel of the covenant, the Word, the Son of God, who spake with Divine authority as Jehovah, and now called them to account for their disobedience. God sets forth what he had done for Israel, and what he had promised. Those who throw off communion with God, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, know not what they do now, and will have nothing to say for themselves in the day of account shortly. They must expect to suffer for this their folly. Those deceive themselves who expect advantages from friendship with God's enemies. God often makes men's sin their punishment; and thorns and snares are in the way of the froward, who will walk contrary to God. The people wept, crying out against their own folly and ingratitude. They trembled at the word, and not without cause. It is a wonder sinners can ever read the Bible with dry eyes. Had they kept close to God and their duty, no voice but that of singing had been heard in their congregation; but by their sin and folly they made other work for themselves, and nothing is to be heard but the voice of weeping. The worship of God, in its own nature, is joy, praise, and thanksgiving; our sins alone render weeping needful. It is pleasing to see men weep for their sins; but our tears, prayers, and even amendment, cannot atone for sin.
vv6-23
We have a general idea of the course of things in Israel, during the time of the Judges. The nation made themselves as mean and miserable by forsaking God, as they would have been great and happy if they had continued faithful to him. Their punishment answered to the evil they had done. They served the gods of the nations round about them, even the meanest, and God made them serve the princes of the nations round about them, even the meanest. Those who have found God true to his promises, may be sure that he will be as true to his threatenings. He might in justice have abandoned them, but he could not for pity do it. The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they became saviours. In the days of the greatest distress of the church, there shall be some whom God will find or make fit to help it. The Israelites were not thoroughly reformed; so mad were they upon their idols, and so obstinately bent to backslide. Thus those who have forsaken the good ways of God, which they have once known and professed, commonly grow most daring and desperate in sin, and have their hearts hardened. Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were spared, and so they were beaten with their own rod. Men cherish and indulge their corrupt appetites and passions; therefore God justly leaves them to themselves, under the power of their sins, which will be their ruin. God has told us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are not willing to believe it, until by making bold with temptation we find it true by sad experience. We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Let us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all our days.
Key Words
מֲלְאָךְ: a messenger; specifically, of God, i.e. an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher)
עָלָה: to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative
גִּלְגָּל: Gilgal, the name of three places in Palestine
בֹּכִים: Bo-kim, a place in Palestine
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
מִצְרַיִם: Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
שָׁבַע: to seven oneself, i.e. swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times)
Cross References
Judges 2Direct textual link showing Israel's faithfulness during the lifetime of Joshua and the elders.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identifies the Angel of the Lord with the Angel of the Covenant sent before Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Connects the Angel's appearance to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord's host.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallels the burial place of Joshua in Timnath-heres (called Timnath-serah in Joshua).
Supported by Matthew Poole
The explicit commandment prohibiting covenants and marriages with the Canaanites to prevent idolatry.
Supported by Matthew Poole
A poetic summary of Israel's failure to destroy the nations, learning their works instead.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The Mosaic warning that un-driven inhabitants would become pricks in eyes and thorns in sides.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Joshua's farewell warning that remnant nations would become snares, traps, and thorns.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Describes the cycle of Israel's rebellion, oppression, and God's pity raising up deliverers.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Explicitly restates that the remaining nations were left to prove Israel's obedience.
Supported by Matthew Henry