Judges 2:2

2 and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

Judges 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 2:2

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land,
&c.] This the Lord charged them not to do, when he covenanted with them, and assured them of bringing them into the land; and yet they had done it, as some instances in the preceding chapter show, which were the occasion of the angel's coming to them to rebuke them, see ( Deuteronomy 7:2 ) ;

you shall throw down their altars;
this they aught to have done as soon as they were come into the land, and possessed of the places where they were erected, to show their detestation of idolatry, and to prevent the use of them to idolatrous purposes, see ( Deuteronomy 7:5 ) ( 12:3 ) ;

but ye have not obeyed my voice;
the command of God, but on the contrary had made leagues and covenants with several inhabitants of the land, allowing them to dwell among them on paying a certain tax or tribute to them; and had suffered their altars to continue, and them to sacrifice upon them to their idols, according to their former customs:

why have ye done this?
transgressed the commandment of God in the instances mentioned. It showed the wickedness of their hearts, their ingratitude to God, who had done such great things for them, and their proneness to idolatry, and liking of it.

Judges 2:2 In-Context

1 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,

2 and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

3 So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”

4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept.

5 So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.