C² r 1,2. Expostulation. Cause. Disobedience.
s 3. Threatening.
r 4. Expostulation. Effect. Warning.
s 5. Worship.
1434-1100 B.C.
Judges 2)
1: And the Angel of the Lord (or Captain of Yahaveh's host, Who had appeared to Joshua in Gilgal. Josh.5:13-15) came up from Gilgal to Bochim (Heb. = weepers), and said, “I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I sware to your fathers; and I said (cp. Gen.17:7), ‘I will never break My covenant with you.
2: And you all shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land (cp. Ex. 23:22. Deut. 7:2,5, &c.); you all shall throw down their altars’ (cp. Ex. 34:12,13. Deut. 12:3): but you all have not obeyed my voice: why have you all done this? (or "what is this that you all have done)
3: Wherefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides (some codices read, "be adversaries to you". Cp. Num. 33:55. Josh. 23:13), and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ ”
4: And it came to pass, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
5: And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
D D¹ 2:6-10. Antecedent. D² 2:11–8:32. Subsequent.
D¹ t 6. Joshua's life.
u 7. Predecessors. Knowledge. Obedience.
t 8-10-. Joshua's death.
u -10. Successors. Ignorance. Disobedience.6: And when Joshua had let the People go (cp. Josh. 24:28-31), the sons of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.
7: And the People served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and who had seen all the great work of the Lord, that He did for Israel.
1434 B.C.
8: And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
9: And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah (cp. Josh. 19:50; 24:30), in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
10: And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers:
and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord (Fig., put for obeyed not or cared not for), nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
D² E¹ 2:11–3:4. The People and their Apostasies.
E² 3:5–8:32. The oppressors and the Deliverers.
E¹ v 2:11-13. Evil committed.
w 2:14-. Anger of Yehovah.
x 2:-14,15. Punishment. Sold to enemies.
v 2:16-19. Evil repeated.
w 2:20-. Anger of Yehovah.
x 2:-20-3:4. Punishment. Proved by enemies.
11: And the sons of Israel did the evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim (= lord [notice small "l", plural, i.e. lords], male Phoenician and Canaanitish deity, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female deity. Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. The attractiveness of this worship to Israel undoubtedly grew out of its licentious character. The religion of the Ancient British Islands much resembled this ancient worship of Baal, and may have been derived from it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel, Isa.46:1, or Belus, as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form):
12: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers (religion is not a gradual evolution to what is higher, but a declension to what is lower. See Josh.24:14), Which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
13: And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth (the special evil of Canaanite nations. Name derived from the Ashêroth [see Ex. 34:13]. The Ashtêroth was idolatry of the most revolting form of immorality under the guise of religion. All virtue surrendered. The "going a whoring" is more than a figure of speech". See Ex. 34:13. Deut. 7:5; 12:3; 16:21. Note all 11 occ. of Ashtêroth [11= disorder, disorganization]: Deut. 1:4. Josh. 9:10; 12:4; 13:12,31. Judg. 2:13; 10:6. 1 Sam. 7:3,4; 12:10; 31:10).
14: And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,
and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies (6 oppressors and servitudes named: Judg. 3:8,12; 4:2; 6:1; 10:7; 13:1. #6 = weakness of man, evils of Satan, manifestation of sin).
15: To which place soever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for bad (or breaking up, tumult), as the Lord had said, and according as the Lord had sworn to them (cp.Lev. 26. Deut. 28): and they were greatly distressed.
v y 16-. Rulers raised up.
z -16. Deliverance.
a 17. Apostasy.
y 18-. Rulers raised up.
z -18. Deliverance.
a 19. Apostasy.16: Nevertheless the Lord raised up rulers (this word gives the name of the Book = one who puts right what was wrong),
which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them (= saved. Six deliverances; 3:9,15; 4:23; 8:28; 11:33; 16:30).
17: And yet they would not listen to their rulers, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves to them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
18: And when the Lord raised them up rulers,
then the Lord was with the ruler, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the ruler (this raises the question as to Deborah's call. See 4:4): for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
19: And it came to pass, when the ruler was dead (cp. 3:12), that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
20: And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said,
x b¹ -20,21. Non-expulsion.
c¹ 2:22. Trial.
b² 2:23. Non-expulsion.
c¹ 3:1,2. Trial.
b³ 3:3. Non-expulsion.
c³ 3:4. Trial.
“Because that this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to My voice;
21: I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:
22: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it (i.e. In Yahaveh's way), as their fathers did keep it, or not.”
23: Therefore the Lord left those nations, without dispossessing them hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua.