Judges 3:4

4 The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord's commands He had given their fathers through^[a] Moses.^[b]

Judges 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:4

And they were to prove Israel by them
They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God:

to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord,
which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses;
even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses, moral, civil, and ceremonial, and particularly those that concerned the destruction of the Canaanites, their altars, and their idols, ( Deuteronomy 7:1 Deuteronomy 7:5 ) .

Judges 3:4 In-Context

2 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites [how to fight in] battle, especially those who had not fought before.

3 [These nations included:] the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

4 The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord's commands He had given their fathers through Moses.

5 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

6 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit by the hand of
• [b]. Jdg 3:4; 1 Kg 8:58; 2 Kg 17:13; Ps 78:5; Jr 11:4