JUDGES - CHAPTER 2
Verses 1-2
v1 The angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bokim. He said ‘I brought you out of Egypt. And then I brought you into the country that I promised to your family. I said, “I will never stop doing what I agreed with you. v2 You must not make an agreement with the people in this country. You must destroy their stone tables where they offer burnt offerings to their gods.” You have not done what I said. v3 So now I will not force them to leave. They will be your enemies and their gods will capture you.’ v4 The angel of the Lord said this to all the Israelites. Then they wept aloud. v5 They called the place Bokim. They offered sacrifices to the Lord.
COMMENTARY
The phrase ‘the angel of the Lord’ refers to God. It means that he appeared and he spoke to them there. Before that time, the central place where they praised God had been in Gilgal. (This was where Israel’s people first lived in that country.) But now it was in Bokim (which means ‘weepers’).
God had made an agreement with His people. And he had done what He agreed to do. But they had not done what they agreed to do. Now God said that He would allow their enemies to capture them. They would praise other gods. The people wept and they offered sacrifices. (Sacrifices were gifts for God. They were asking him to forgive the things that they had done wrong.) They were probably not really sorry. Later, they did wrong things again.
Verses 6-9
v6 Joshua told the people to go. They each went to live in their own particular area in that country. God had given to them different parts. v7 The people served the Lord during Joshua’s life. And they continued to do so during the lives of some other leaders. These were leaders that lived longer than Joshua did. And they had seen the great things that the Lord had done for Israel’s people. v8 Joshua died when he was 110 years old. v9 They buried him at the edge of his property. This was in Timnath Heres. It was in the hilly country where Ephraim’s tribe lived, north from Mount Gaash.
COMMENTARY
This was the time when the judges began to rule. There are some similar verses at the end of the Book of Joshua. There, the writer tells us more about the great things that God had done for Israel’s people. Joshua and some other leaders died, and a new generation of Israel’s people grew up. These people did not know what God had done. They did not obey God.
They praised the Baals and the Ashtoreth. Baal was the false god of rain and good crops. ‘Ashtoreth’ is the plural of Astarte, who was the female god of war and good crops. She was the wife of the god Baal. This was how people praised those gods. People had sex with the male and female priests in the temple. They hoped that this would encourage the gods and female gods to do the same. This would make the land produce food. Sometimes the people even sacrificed their children as a gift to a god.
Verses 10-19
v10 After that generation died, the next generation did not praise the Lord. They did not know what he had done for Israel’s people. v11 They did what God did not want. They praised the Baals. v12 They left their ancestors’ God, who had brought their ancestors out of Egypt. (Their ancestors were their families that had lived before them.) They worshipped other gods, which the nations near them worshipped. That made God angry. v13 They left him and they served the Baals and the Ashtoreth. v14 God was angry. He let the people that attacked them steal their possessions. They could not oppose their enemies. Their enemies defeated them. v15 Whenever they went out to fight, the Lord let people defeat them. He had said that he would do this. They were very unhappy.
v16 Then the Lord sent to them judges, who rescued them from their enemies. v17 Still they did not listen. They showed honour to other gods and praised them. They quickly stopped doing what God said. Their ancestors had not been like that. Their ancestors had obeyed God. v18 Whenever God gave a judge to them, he was with that judge. He saved them from their enemies as long as the judge lived. God was sorry for them. They suffered because some people controlled them. And those people were very cruel to them. That was why God gave them a judge. v19 But when the judge died, the people acted even worse than before. They worshipped other gods and they served those gods. They refused to change what they were doing. They did not stop doing wrong things.
COMMENTARY
The writer then tells us what the book is about. The people left God. They did evil things and they praised the Baals. Then God allowed their enemies to defeat them. And He allowed the enemies to divide them. The people cried out to the Lord. He sent judges to rescue them. Even then, they only changed their behavior for a short time. After the judge had died, they were worse than ever!
Verses 20-23
v20 The Lord was very angry with Israel’s people. He said, ‘These people have not obeyed my agreement. I made it with their family that lived before them. They have not listened to me. v21 So I will not force the other nations to leave. These nations were still in the land when Joshua died. v22 I will use them to test Israel’s people. I will see whether they will obey the Lord. Their ancestors did obey the Lord.’ v23 The Lord had allowed these nations to remain. He did not force them to leave immediately. He did not allow Joshua to defeat them.
COMMENTARY
As a result, God did not force that country’s people to leave.
Reasons He left them there:
--- 1. to punish Israel’s people,
--- 2. to test whether they were loyal to God, and
--- 3. to give them experience in battle, as we learn in chapter 3.
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