Judges 2:6-23

The Death of Joshua

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.

7 ¹And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel.

8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years.

9 And they buried him within the boundaries of ²his inheritance in Timnath-heres, ³in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

11 ⁴And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

12 ⁵And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ⁶They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ⁷bowed down to them. ⁸And they provoked the LORD to anger.

13 They abandoned the LORD ⁹and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

14 ¹⁰So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he ¹¹gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ¹²And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, ¹³so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.

15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, ¹⁴and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

16 ¹⁵Then the LORD raised up judges, ¹⁶who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for ¹⁷they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. ¹⁸They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.

18 Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, ¹⁹the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ²⁰For the LORD was moved to pity by ²¹their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.

19 But ²²whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.

20 ²³So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he said, "Because this people ²⁴has transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,

21 ²⁵I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died,

22 in order ²⁶to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their fathers did, or not."

23 So the LORD left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Judges 2:6-23 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.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 7-9, see Joshua 24:29-31
• 2. Joshua 19:50
• 3. Joshua 24:33
• 4. Judges 3:7; Judges 4:1; Judges 6:1; Judges 10:6; Judges 13:1
• 5. Deuteronomy 31:16
• 6. [Deuteronomy 6:14]
• 7. ver. 17, 19; [Exodus 20:5]
• 8. Deuteronomy 31:29
• 9. Judges 3:7; Judges 10:6; Psalms 106:36; [1 Samuel 7:4]
• 10. ver. 20
• 11. 2 Kings 17:20
• 12. Judges 3:8; Judges 4:2; [Deuteronomy 32:30; 1 Samuel 12:9]
• 13. Leviticus 26:37; Joshua 7:12, 13
• 14. See Leviticus 26:14-46; Deuteronomy 28:15-68
• 15. Judges 3:9, 15; 1 Samuel 12:11; Acts 13:20
• 16. Judges 3:31; Judges 10:1, 12, 13; Judges 12:2, 3; Judges 13:5; [Judges 3:9; Nehemiah 9:27]
• 17. Judges 8:33; Exodus 34:15
• 18. Deuteronomy 9:12
• 19. [Joshua 1:5]
• 20. Genesis 6:6; Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalms 106:45; Jeremiah 18:8; Jeremiah 26:3; [Numbers 23:19]
• 21. Exodus 2:24; Exodus 6:5
• 22. [Judges 3:12; Judges 4:1; Judges 6:1; Judges 8:33]
• 23. ver. 14
• 24. Deuteronomy 17:2; Joshua 23:16
• 25. ver. 3; Joshua 23:13
• 26. Judges 3:1, 4; Exodus 15:25; [Deuteronomy 8:2, 16; Deuteronomy 13:3]