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Judges 2

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The Angel's Rebuke at Bochim 1–5

1
And the angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you: ​
2
and ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice: why have ye done this? ​
3
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. ​
4
And it came to pass, when the angel of Jehovah spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
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And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto Jehovah. ​

Death of Joshua and a Faithful Generation 6–10

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Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. ​
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And the people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Jehovah that he had wrought for Israel. ​
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And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old.
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And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
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And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel. ​

Israel's Apostasy and Divine Punishment 11–15

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And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim; ​
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and they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down unto them: and they provoked Jehovah to anger. ​
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And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
14
And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ​
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Whithersoever they went out, the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had spoken, and as Jehovah had sworn unto them: and they were sore distressed.

The Cycle of Oppression and Deliverance 16–19

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And Jehovah raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that despoiled them. ​
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And yet they hearkened not unto their judges; for they played the harlot after other gods, and bowed themselves down unto them: they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Jehovah; but they did not so. ​
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And when Jehovah raised them up judges, then Jehovah was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented Jehovah because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. ​
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But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. ​

Remaining Nations Become a Test 20–23

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And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel; and he said, Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; ​
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I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;
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that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Jehovah to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. ​
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So Jehovah left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Judges 2

Verse 1

an angel of the LORD — He speaks as the LORD himself: 'I made you to go up out of Egypt', 'which I sware unto your fathers'. The LORD had promised, 'Behold, I send an Angel before thee… to bring thee into the place which I have prepared' (Ex 23:20), one in whom 'my name is in him' (Ex 23:21). 'Break my covenant' recalls Lev 26:44.

Verse 2

make no league — Karath, literally 'cut', the covenant verb of Josh 24:25. The rule is Ex 23:32, 'Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods'. 'Throw down their altars' (nathats) is the command of Deut 12:3, 'ye shall overthrow their altars'. The charge is plain: 'ye have not obeyed my voice'.

Verse 3

thorns in your sides — The judgment is the one Joshua had foretold: 'the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations… they shall be snares and traps unto you' (Josh 23:13), and the LORD's word to Moses (Num 33:55). 'Snare' here is moqesh, the word rendered 'traps' in Josh 23:13.

Verse 5

Bochim — The Hebrew means 'the weepers', named from the people who 'lifted up their voice, and wept' (v.4). Another place took a name from weeping, Allonbachuth, 'oak of weeping', where Rebekah's nurse was buried (Gen 35:8). They also 'sacrificed there unto the LORD'.

Verse 6

let the people go — The story returns to Josh 24:28, 'So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance'. Judg 2:6–10 retell the end of Joshua's life in order to set the sequence: the dismissal, the death of Joshua at an hundred and ten, the elders who outlived him, and then the next generation.

Verse 7

who had seen all the great works — Josh 24:31 says the elders 'had known' the works; here they 'had seen' them, as Moses said, 'your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD' (Deut 11:7). 'Outlived' is arak, to be long: Israel served the LORD as long as the generation that saw lasted.

Verse 10

knew not the LORD — Yada, to know, in the sense of knowing by experience. The words are those spoken of Pharaoh, 'I know not the LORD' (Ex 5:2), and of Eli's sons, 'they knew not the LORD' (1 Sam 2:12). This generation knew neither the LORD nor 'the works which he had done for Israel', the works the elders had seen (v.7).

Verse 11

did evil in the sight of the LORD — The sentence opens later cycles of the book: 3:7; 6:1; and with 'again' at 3:12, 4:1, 10:6 and 13:1. Baalim is the plural of Baal, the name of the god the people served. Josh 23:16 had named this as the breach that would bring the LORD's anger.

Verse 12

other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them — Moses had forbidden exactly this: 'Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you' (Deut 6:14). 'Forsook' (azab) is to leave behind. 'Provoked the LORD to anger' is the answer of the 'jealous God' (Ex 20:5).

Verse 14

he sold them — Makar, the verb of Moses' song, 'except their Rock had sold them' (Deut 32:30). 'Spoilers that spoiled' joins shasah and shasas, two closely related verbs. 'Could not any longer stand before their enemies' reverses the promise to Joshua, 'There shall not any man be able to stand before thee' (Josh 1:5).

Verse 16

raised up judges — Shaphat, to judge or govern. They 'delivered' (yasha), the root of Joshua's own name and of the 'saviours' of Neh 9:27, 'thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies'. Samuel names four: Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah and Samuel (1 Sam 12:11).

Verse 17

went a whoring — Zanah, the picture of the law: 'lest… they go a whoring after their gods' (Ex 34:15). 'Turned quickly out of the way' recalls the golden calf, 'They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them' (Ex 32:8), where the same word mahar appears. The fathers' way is called 'obeying the commandments of the LORD'.

Verse 18

it repented the LORD — Nacham, to be sorry or relent, as in Deut 32:36, 'the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants'. The 'groanings' (ne'aqah) are the word used in Egypt, 'God heard their groaning' (Ex 2:24). 'The LORD was with the judge' is the promise made to Joshua (Josh 1:5).

Verse 19

when the judge was dead — The relapse follows each death, as after Ehud, 'when Ehud was dead' (4:1), and Gideon, 'as soon as Gideon was dead' (8:33). The people 'corrupted themselves more than their fathers' (shachath, to ruin) and kept their 'stubborn way' (qasheh, hard).

Verse 20

transgressed my covenant — Abar, to pass over, as in Josh 23:16 and 7:11. 'People' is goy, the word that usually names the nations; Israel is called by it here. The anger is 'hot' as in v.14, and what the LORD says next is the decision of v.21, 'I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them'.

Verse 22

prove Israel — Nasah, to test, the verb of Deut 8:2, 'to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no'. The nations that stayed are listed in 3:1–4, 'to prove Israel by them'. The test is whether they keep the way 'as their fathers did keep it'.

Verse 23

without driving them out hastily — 'Hastily' is mahar, the 'quickly' of v.17. The conquest had been promised by degrees: 'By little and little I will drive them out from before thee' (Ex 23:30). The nations 'which Joshua left when he died' (v.21) remain, and 3:1 says why: 'to prove Israel by them'.