Judges 2:1-8

1 The angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bokhim. He said, I made you to go up out of Mitzrayim, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you:

2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this?

3 Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be [as thorns] in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

4 It happened, when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Yisra'el, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5 They called the name of that place Bokhim: and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

6 Now when Yehoshua had sent the people away, the children of Yisra'el went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

7 The people served the LORD all the days of Yehoshua, and all the days of the Zakenim who outlived Yehoshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD that he had worked for Yisra'el.

8 Yehoshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old.

Judges 2:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 2

This chapter gives an account of an angel of the Lord appearing and rebuking the children of Israel for their present misconduct, Jud 2:1-5; of their good behaviour under Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, Jud 2:6-10; and of their idolatries they fell into afterwards, which greatly provoked the Lord to anger, Jud 2:11-15; and of the goodness of God to them nevertheless, in raising up judges to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, of which there are many instances in the following chapter, Jud 2:16-18; and yet that how, upon the demise of such persons, they relapsed into idolatry which caused the anger of God to be hot against them, and to determine not to drive out the Canaanites utterly from them, but to leave them among them to try them, Jud 2:19-23.