Judges 2:22

22 I will use them to test Israel, to see if Israel will keep the Lord's commands as their ancestors did."

Judges 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 2:22

That through them I may prove Israel
Afflict them by them, and so prove or try them, their faith and patience, which are tried by afflictions; and such were the Canaanites to them, as afflictions and temptations are to the spiritual Israel of God; or rather, whether they would keep in the ways of God, or walk in those the Canaanites did, as follows:

whether they will keep the way of the Lord, as their fathers did keep
[it], or not;
whether they would worship the true God their fathers did, or the gods of the Canaanites; not that the Lord was ignorant of what they would do, and so made the experiment; but that the sincerity and faithfulness, or insincerity and unfaithfulness of their hearts, might appear to themselves and others.

Judges 2:22 In-Context

20 So the Lord became angry with the Israelites. He said, "These people have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me.

21 I will no longer defeat the nations who were left when Joshua died.

22 I will use them to test Israel, to see if Israel will keep the Lord's commands as their ancestors did."

23 In the past the Lord had permitted those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them out or help Joshua's army defeat them.