Judges 2:3

3 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.^[a] They will be thorns^[b][c] in your sides,^[d] and their gods will be a trap to you."^[e]

Judges 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 2:3

Wherefore I also said
Supposing, or on condition of their being guilty of the above things, which was foreseen they would:

I will not drive them out from before you;
the seven nations of the Canaanites entirely, and which accounts for the various instances related in the preceding chapter; where it is observed, that they could not, or did not, drive the old inhabitants out of such and such places, because they sinned against the Lord, and he forsook them, and would not assist them in their enterprises, or them to their sloth and indolence:

but they shall be [as thorns] in your sides:
very troublesome and afflicting, see ( Numbers 33:55 ) ; or for straits, as the Septuagint, or be such as would bring them into tribulation, and distress them, as the Targum; so they often did:

and their gods shall be a snare unto you;
which they suffered to continue, and did not destroy them, as they ought to have done; they would be, as they proved, ensnaring to them, and whereby they were drawn to forsake the worship of the true God, and bow down to them, as we read in some following verses.

Judges 2:3 In-Context

1 The Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you.

2 You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars.But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?

3 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap to you."

4 When the Angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

5 So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ex 23:29
• [b]. LXX reads affliction
• [c]. Lit traps
• [d]. Nm 33:55
• [e]. Ex 23:33; 34:12; Dt 7:16; Jos 23:13