Judges 2

Chap. II. ver. 1. — an angel of the Lord] From the words which follow, “I made you to go up out of Egypt,” it appears that this was not a crested, but an uncrested angel, “the Angel of the covenant,” the same which appeared to Joshua near Jericho, Josh. v. 13, which, as was there shewn, was the Son of God Himself. Bp. Patrick. — come up from Gilgal to Bochim.] The Divine Person spake first perhaps to some considerable persons at Gilgal, and then to the whole assembly at Bochim. Pyle. In all probability, the latter place was Shiloh, where the people of Israel were wont to assemble, and which was now called Bochim. Bp. Patrick. Or else it lay near to Shiloh. Dr. Wells.

Judges 2:3

3. Wherefore I also said,] “I said” means “I resolved.” Dr. Wells. the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

Judges 2:6

6. And when Joshua had &c.] The inspired writer here repeats what had before been mentioned in the book of Joshua; probably in order to shew that the Israelites went to their possessions well disposed, although their love of the world and study of their own private advantages so increased, as to make them forget the publick good, and take little care of their religion. Bp. Patrick.

Judges 2:7

7. — served the Lord all the days of Joshua,] The Jews were strictly commanded to complete the expulsion of the Canaanites, fully empowered to do so, and warned of the guilt of neglecting it; of the temptation to which that neglect would expose them, and the certain punishment which would await their transgression. On their disobeying the Divine command, an angel was sent to remind them of their duty, and of the danger they incurred. Notwithstanding, however, their repeated and flagrant disobedience, the wonders they had already seen, and the discipline under which they had been trained, produced on that generation a decisive and permanent effect, for “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that outlived Joshua.” Dr. Graves.

Judges 2:10

10. — which knew not the Lord,] Which did not regard the Lord, nor cleave to His religion. Bp. Patrick. Which had not been eyewitnesses of the before-mentioned miracles, and therefore were thoughtless of God, and careless of their duty towards Him. Dr. Wells.

The Jews were, at this period, mere children in moral and religious conduct: they were very inattentive to the history of past transactions, so that many of the very next generation after Joshua “knew not,” that is, considered not, and therefore acted as if they had not known, the wonders which God had wrought for Israel. The temptations to intermarry with their neighbours, and adopt their manners and worship, were too powerful for their unsteady and carnal minds: the beauty of the women of Canaan, the pomp and gaiety of their festivals, the voluptuousness of their impure rites, the hope of gratifying their curiosity by idolatrous divinations, the overpowering fears impressed on their souls by idolatrous superstition; their anxiety to conciliate the favour

Before CHRIST about 1455. That is, weeper. about 1444. prolonged days after Joshua. about 1450. Their wickedness after Joshua. God’s anger and Before CHRIST about 1426. about 1406. yet the works which he had done for Israel.

Judges 2:11

11. — served Baalim.] The idol gods or deified men of the Canaanites and other nations. The word Baal, in Hebrew, signifies “Lord,” and was applied as a general name to the idols of Syria, Palestine, and the neighbouring nations. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells, “Baal and Ashtaroth,” ver. 13, the sun and the moon. Dr. Hales.

Judges 2:12

12. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers.] It has sometimes been asserted, that the repeated relapses of the Jews into idolatry, at various periods of their history, render the reality of the Mosaick miracles suspicious: for, according to those who thus argue, it is not credible that the witnesses of such stupendous miracles, or their immediate posterity, should have so soon forgotten the Divine power thus plainly manifested, or apostatize from a religion thus awfully enforced. But these reasoners entirely mistake the nature of this apostasy, and forget the character of the people among whom, and the period when, it took place. These relapses into idolatry never implied a rejection of Jehovah as their God, or a doubt of the truth of the Mosaick Law. The Jewish idolatry consisted for the most part in worshipping the true God by images and symbols; or in worshipping Him in forbidden places, on high hills, and under groves; or in combining idolatrous rites with the Mosaick appointment, and joining together the worship of God and idols, none of which imply any doubt of the existence of the true Jehovah, but arose from their proneness to imitate the superstitions of the neighbouring nations. Even when they gave way to that most flagrant species of idolatry, the worship of idols without God; yet even then they did not so much reject the true God, as conceive that there were intermediate and subordinate deities, with whom they had more immediate concern. In truth, the temptations to some or all of these kinds of idolatry were so powerful, from errors in opinion widely spread, and sanctioned by the Egyptians and Canaanites, and strengthened by the habitual attachment of the Jews to the idols, the symbols, and the rites of Egypt, as well as the sensual allurements of idolatrous worship, and the overpowering terrours of idolatrous superstition; that we have rather reason to wonder that the Jews, dull, sensual, and stubborn as they were, could by any system of discipline be corrected, than to doubt that such Divine superintendence and control was actually

exercised, because they relapsed so frequently into their idolatries. Dr. Graves.

Judges 2:14

14, 15. And the anger of the Lord was hot &c.] The Divine vengeance soon began to repay them the effects of their folly and ingratitude; the Canaanites became their masters, and treated them on all sides with desolation, insolence, and slavery. Thus God fulfilled His threatenings, Deut. xxviii; and, in proportion to the increase of their iniquities, they became weak and destitute, and a perfect prey to their enemies. Pyle.

Judges 2:16

16. — judges.] These were extraordinary rulers, inspired with courage and wisdom for their deliverance from slavery, and for effecting their reformation. Pyle. They appear to have had authority chiefly in time of war, so that, commonly, when they had wrought the deliverance for the people, and the army was dismissed, they became private persons again: still some had an established authority for their life, not over the whole commonwealth of Israel, but over that part of it which they rescued from slavery. The constant phrase concerning these great men, is, “that the Lord raised them up;” that is, stirred them, by an extraordinary motion, to undertake things beyond the reach of human wisdom or power. Bp. Patrick.

They were governours, possessing a power between that of a king and an ordinary magistrate; inferior to that of the former, and superior to the latter. Scripture tells us, that God “raised them up;” that is, communicated to them gifts, natural and supernatural, according to the exigencies of the people; and, in all their encounters with their enemies, attended them with a peculiar providence. They were appointed by God; being, however, only marked out for the office by the gifts with which He invested them, and the exploits which He enabled them to perform. They were, in fact, God’s vicegerents for the government of the people: every attempt at raising themselves to the regal dignity was deemed an usurpation on His right, who was the only Sovereign of the Hebrews; and therefore we find Gideon refusing this supreme authority when it was offered to him, chap. viii. 23. In short, these judges were by office the protectors of the laws, the defenders of religion, and the avengers of all crimes, particularly of idolatry. It must be owned, that, as the power of working miracles is not necessarily accompanied with a holy life, so the persons, thus employed by God, did not always lead lives answerable to this high character: they were men of the same passions and infirmities with others; and the great advantages which, under God, they procured for the Israelites, did not exempt them from that frailty, which is incident to

pity towards them. The nations left to prove Israel. Before CHRIST about 1406.

Judges 2:18

18. — for it repented the Lord] That is, God altered the course of His providence towards them, when they groaned under their oppressions, and cried to Him for help with the promise of amendment, chap. iii. 9, 15; vi. 7, 8. Bp. Patrick.

Chap. III. ver. 2. — that the generations — might know, to teach them war.] Another reason is here given for a portion of the Canaanites being left among the Israelites; namely, to keep up their warlike discipline and disposition, to prevent their growing sluggish from the want of occasions to exercise their courage, and to make them feel more sensibly their continued dependence on the power of God. Bp. Patrick.