Judges 2:15

15 among whomsoever they went; and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord spoke, and as the Lord sware to them; and he greatly afflicted them.

Judges 2:15 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 2:15

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against
them for evil
They prospered not in any business they undertook, or put their hands unto; or in any expedition they went upon, or when they went out to war, as Kimchi, Ben Melech, and Abarbinel explain the phrase: the battle went against them, because God was against them; his hand was against them, and there was no resisting and turning that back; and this sense seems to agree with what goes before and follows after; though in some Jewish writings ^F1 it is explained of those that went out of the land to escape the calamities of it, and particularly of Elimelech and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, ( Ruth 1:1 Ruth 1:2 ) ;

as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them;
having ratified and confirmed his threatening with an oath, that if they served other gods, he would surely bring upon them all the curses of the law; see ( Deuteronomy 29:12-20 ) ;

and they were greatly distressed;
by the Canaanites they suffered to dwell among them, who were pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides, as had been threatened them; and by the nations round about them, who came in upon them, and plundered them, and carried them captive.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F1 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 12. p. 34.

Judges 2:15 In-Context

13 And they provoked the Lord, and forsook him, and served Baal and the Astartes.

14 And the Lord was very angry with Israel; and he gave them into the hands of the spoilers, and they spoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, and they could not any longer resist their enemies,

15 among whomsoever they went; and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord spoke, and as the Lord sware to them; and he greatly afflicted them.

16 And the Lord raised up judges, and the Lord save them out of the hands of them that spoiled them: and yet they hearkened not to the judges,

17 for they went a whoring after other gods, and worshipped them; and they turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked to hearken to the words of the Lord; they did not so.