Judges 2:6–3:6
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And 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 work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from 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 afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
3 Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 3 These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.
Section Overview
The first introduction to Judges (1:1–2:5) focused on Israel’s relative failure to possess fully the land of her inheritance. At the end of that section the angel of the Lord characterized Israel’s failure as a violation of the covenant. This violation placed Israel under the Lord’s displeasure and discipline. The inhabitants whom Israel failed to expel would become the curse of her disobedience.
This second introduction to Judges focuses on the crisis of Israel’s faith resulting from the snare of the Canaanites remaining in the land. We begin again with the death of Joshua and his generation. This is followed by the evil of Israel’s idolatry, the subjugation of Israel by the inhabitants of the land, the raising up of judges, and the testing of Israel. Israel’s theme in Judges is best captured by the statement in 2:11: “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.”
The arrangement of material in Judges is primarily theological, not chronological. One key feature of Hebrew narrative is the way in which the text relates an account and then returns to retell it from a different angle or focus. For example, the sixth day of creation is recounted in Genesis 1, and a longer, more focused account of that same day in given in Genesis 2. We find something similar with the anointing of David in 1 Samuel 16. At the end of the account David is loved by King Saul, working for him and serving as his armor bearer (1 Sam. 16:21). In 1 Samuel 17, however, David is unfamiliar with Saul’s armor and unknown to him (1 Sam. 17:38–39, 58). In 1 Samuel 18 the narrative returns and begins to describe David’s rise to favor in the service of Saul. In the same way, this second introduction to Judges returns to the death of Joshua and provides a more focused, theological explanation of Israel’s sin and its consequences.
Section Outline
I.B. The Crisis of Israel’s Faith: Idolatry (2:6–3:6)
1. The Death of Joshua and His Generation (2:6–10)
2. Israel’s Sin and Subjugation (2:11–15)
3. The Lord Raises Up Judges (2:16–19)
4. The Lord Tests Israel (2:20–3:6)
Response
This second introduction to Judges establishes the historical and theological context for the narratives of the judges that follow in the central section of the book. This section also identifies the cycle of the judge narratives that will be repeated with each of the six major judges. Israel will do that which is evil in the eyes of the Lord. This will provoke the Lord to anger, and he will give his people into the hand of their enemy. Israel will eventually repent and cry out to the Lord for help. The Lord will raise up a judge to deliver his people and secure rest for the land. Eventually, however, the judge will die and the cycle will start all over again. The subjugation and oppression of Israel by the surrounding nations is not due to the Lord’s inability to protect and provide for his people. Rather, it is the Lord himself who gives over his people. Because of Israel’s sin, “Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress” (Judg. 2:15). But this giving over to the enemy should be understood ultimately as the Lord’s kindness to his people. In each instance Israel eventually repents under the weight of her oppression and returns to the Lord. If the Lord did not discipline his people in this way, they would be wholly lost and left to remain in their sin. This is a severe mercy.
Part of this mercy is God’s using judges to deliver his people. These judges are raised up by the Lord, are sustained by his presence, and serve as the instruments of his deliverance from the enemy. They are enabled by the power of Spirit to achieve great victories. Like the victories themselves, Israel’s obedience is also hard fought. Israel often fails to listen to the judge, and when the judges die the people sink into increasing levels of corruption. The author of Judges makes clear the connection between the obedience of the people and the life of the judge: “Whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers” (2:19). This begins to prepare us to look for a judge who will not die but will secure the obedience of his people forever. The judges point forward to the person and work of Christ, the one who will deliver us from the enemy, provide for our obedience, and secure our inheritance.
2:6–10 The text returns to the time of Joshua and his generation, recounting events first recorded in Joshua 24:28–31. In both accounts Joshua dismisses the people to their inheritance, he dies at a good old age, the people bury him in the land of his inheritance, and Israel serves the Lord in that generation. The similarities between the two accounts are impressive. But there is one major difference, which is designed to grab our attention. In Judges 2:10 the author adds an important note regarding the next generation after Joshua: “There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” This characterization stands in contrast with the description of the previous generation, which had “seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel” (v. 7).
It is true that the generations after Joshua, including ours, were not eyewitnesses to the great wonders of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, her miraculous preservation in the wilderness, and the astounding battles of occupation, but that is not the real problem. In fact, this same characterization would also apply to all who have come after the generation that witnessed the earthly life of Jesus. The real problem stems from the fact that subsequent generations failed to live by faith in light of those real and true and historical events—“for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). The generations recorded in Judges suffer from a form of gospel amnesia resulting in idolatry that renders them blind to the truth of God’s power and faithfulness. The early statement of Gideon captures well the ethos of his generation:
It is the blindness caused by sin that makes us think the Lord has forsaken us when in our sin we have forsaken the Lord. This is the spiritual condition of God’s people in Judges and the setting for God’s ceaseless mercy as he returns over and over again to rescue and deliver his people from the subjugation of their sins.
2:11 This is a key verse in the book, offering the primary characterization of Israel that appears at the beginning of each of the major judge narratives (3:7; 3:12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). The nature of this evil is Israel’s idolatry, quickly expressed in the second half of the verse (“and served the Baals”). The generation that perished in the wilderness was also characterized in this way (Num. 32:13) and the Lord repeatedly warned his people against the evil of idolatry (e.g., Deut. 4:25; 17:2; Josh. 24:15). However, without circumcised hearts Israel repeatedly falls into the snare of idolatry, which would eventually result in her exile from the land. Moses understood the situation and anticipated the outcome:
2:12–13 These verses focus on Israel’s idolatry. Both begin in the exact same way, describing the nature of the people’s idolatry: “They abandoned the Lord.” The description of God as the “God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt” characterizes this sin as a violation of a covenant relationship. In this way Israel’s idolatry is portrayed as an adulterous woman who has abandoned a faithful husband (cf. Hosea 1–3). Her idolatry is a transgression of the first word of the Decalogue and a continuation of Israel’s worship of the golden calf. Deuteronomy repeatedly warns the people of Israel of the danger and threat of worshiping the so-called other gods of the people around them, but they fail to listen. Baal and Asherah are fertility gods that repeatedly ensnare Israel. They will appear again in the Othniel, Gideon, and Jephthah narratives. Israel’s idolatry also provokes the Lord to anger, for he is a faithful covenant partner jealous for his people’s holiness (Ex. 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; 32:16, 21).
2:14–15 Because Israel provokes the Lord’s wrath with the sin of idolatry, he is now described as burning with anger against his people. Israel comes under God’s curse, but it is a curse designed to provoke repentance and a return to faith. Here and throughout Judges the Lord will “give” and “sell” his people into the hands of their surrounding enemies, who then subjugate and oppress them. In other words, because Israel has sold out, the Lord sells them over into the hands of their enemies. The irony continues. The “evil” committed by Israel in Judges 2:11 is returned by the Lord in verse 15 when he turns “against them for harm.” These two words, an adjective and a noun in Hebrew, share a common root and constitute an intentional wordplay. Additionally, the “hand” of the enemy prevails against God’s people in verse 14 only because the “hand” of the Lord is turned against Israel as described in verse 15. The Lord warned his people that this would happen, swearing that Israel’s idolatry would not go unpunished. Thus God shows himself to be faithful to his covenant promises by allowing his people to experience the weight of their sin:
They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. (Deut. 32:21)
2:16 We now begin to encounter the Lord’s solution to Israel’s subjugation: the judges. The Lord’s anger burned against his people in Judges 2:14, and his hand was against them in verse 15. But now, as quickly as his wrath has come, the Lord is moved with compassion to deliver his people, and he does so with the judges whose narratives occupy the central section of the book. The pattern is established here: it is the Lord who “raises up” the judges and the Lord who delivers through these judges. As the surrounding nations serve as the instrument of God’s wrath, so the judges serve as the instrument of God deliverance.
2:17 From the moment Israel passed through the Red Sea they struggled to obey the voice of Lord. They also rebelled against Moses, the Lord’s servant and the leader of his people. In the same way, Israel will struggle to obey the voice of the judges. These judges are raised up not only to deliver God’s people from their subjugation by the nations but also to promote their fidelity to the covenant in order to prevent a return idolatry and consequent oppression. But Israel’s memory was short, and the pattern of sin, subjugation, and deliverance plays over and over again in Judges.
2:18 Three important facts about the judges are set forth in this verse. First, as indicated in verse 16, it is the Lord who raises up each judge. Second, the power and authority of the judge come in the form of the Lord’s presence with him. This reality is later described as the Spirit of the Lord’s coming upon the judge to empower for deliverance (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6; 14:19; 15:14). Third, the Lord himself was the true agent of deliverance, with the judge serving as the instrument of God’s power. This third point is also related to the second, as it is the divine presence that enables the judge to deliver. The verse concludes by explaining why the Lord raises up the judges to deliver: he has compassion and is “moved to pity” by his people’s condition. The language here is reminiscent of Exodus 2:24; 6:5, in which it is recorded that God delivered Israel from Egyptian oppression because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was the unilateral covenant with the patriarchs that moved God with compassion for his people, even as they continually violated the Mosaic covenant with their persistent idolatry.
2:19 The cycle of Israel’s idolatry is tied to the life of the judge. Upon the death of the judge, the people return to the worship of other gods. The office of the judge is not passed down from parent to child, like that of a priest or king. Rather, judges are raised up by God without any concern for succession. The text also indicates that Israel’s ongoing cycles of idolatry lead her into increasing degrees of corruption. This reality is played out in Judges until the tribe of Benjamin becomes fully Canaanite, expressed in actions corresponding to those of Sodom (cf. Judges 19 with Genesis 19).
2:20–23 The burning anger of the Lord, Israel’s transgression of the covenant, the death of Joshua, and the presence of other nations appear again in these verses (cf. Judg. 2:2–3, 8, 12, 14). It is further explained in verse 22, however, that the Lord allows these nations to remain in order to “test” the obedience of his people. The accounts that follow in Judges record how Israel repeatedly fails this test. God’s people fail to expel the remaining nations and so bring the land into full consecration. Rather, Israel becomes more and more like those nations, worshiping the gods of those nations and forsaking her covenantal relationship with the Lord. This tragic state of affairs is reflected in the subtle reference to God’s people as “this people” (or “this nation”) in verse 20. The people of God in the OT are commonly referred to as “Israel,” “the people of Israel,” or “my people.” In this rare instance, however, they are referred to as “this people,” pointing forward to its corruption as it becomes like the “nations” it failed to expel. In time, Israel will become “not my people” (Hos. 1:9).
3:1–4 The few verses that bring the second introduction to Judges to a conclusion return to and focus on the theme of testing. Once again, the Lord leaves some of the nations to remain in the land after the death of Joshua in order to test his people with regard to their obedience to his commandments from the hand of Moses. The nature of the test focuses on war, designed for those who “had not experienced all the wars in Canaan” and so to “teach war to those who had not known it.” Instruction in warfare, however, is not to be understood simply as an act of military education. The Lord uses war to test Israel’s faith in him and obedience to his commands. The people are to remember that the Lord fights for Israel (Ex. 14:14), leading the army of Israel and the host of heaven (Josh. 5:13–15), and has established important laws for warfare during Israel’s tenure in the land (Deut. 7:1–6; 20:1–20; 21:10–14).
3:5–6 A prominent theme in the book’s first introduction was Israel’s cohabitation with the nations she was commanded to expel (Judg. 1:21, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33–36). This same theme brings the second introduction to a conclusion. These are the nations the Lord left after the death of Joshua to teach his people war, to test their obedience to his commands, and to provoke faith in their covenant-keeping God. These are also the nations whose lands the Lord promised to Abraham and his offspring (Gen. 15:18–21) and then affirmed to the nation of Israel (Ex. 3:8; cf. Ex. 3:17; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Num. 13:29; Deut. 7:1; 20:17).
This section ends with a strong indictment against Israel with regard to her conduct in the land. From those nations whom the Lord prohibited, Israel took their children in marriage and their gods in worship, violating her covenant with the Lord. Deuteronomy 7:3–4 is instructive here (cf. Deut. 20:15–18):
This is the storyline of Judges. Descriptions of illicit marriages such as those recorded in Judges 3:6 are used in the OT to mark the climax of sinful activity and the coming of judgment. The description of the sons of God’s taking the daughters of man in Genesis 6 marks the beginning of the judgment of the flood. Additionally, Solomon’s taking foreign wives and his consequent idolatry in 1 Kings 11 cause the Lord to tear the kingdom from him (1 Kings 11:11). In fact, the author of 1 Kings states that “Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 11:6), the very same description applied to Israel in Judges.