Judges 2:6 - Meaning and Application

This part begins by repeating what we already learned about the people’s good condition under Joshua, and about his death and burial (Joshua 24:29-30). It is repeated here to prepare for the sad account that follows, which shows how they fell into sin and rebellion. The angel had warned that the Canaanites and their idols would trap Israel, and the historian now shows that this warning came true.

First, we see Israel’s happy settlement in Canaan. Joshua divided the land among them and then sent each tribe, and indeed each person, to his own inheritance in peace (Judges 2:6). He did not simply release them, he sent them off, no doubt with his blessing as well. They moved from wandering to settled life, and from hardship to comfort.

Second, they kept faith and reverence for God while Joshua was alive (Judges 2:7). They had made good resolutions when they entered their possessions, and for a time they held to them. Good rulers helped them by setting a good example, teaching them, and holding back open sin. They also still remembered the great works God had done when he brought them into Canaan. Those who had seen those wonders had enough sense to trust what they had seen and to serve the God who had acted so powerfully for them, but later generations, who had not seen those things, did not believe.

Third, Joshua’s death and burial dealt a serious blow to religion among the people (Judges 2:8-9). Still, they honored him at his death and buried him in Timnath-heres, though Joshua 24 calls the place Timnath-serah. The word Heres means “sun,” and some Jewish writers said a sun image was set on his grave to remember the day the sun stood still at his command. But that seems doubtful, since such an image could easily have led people toward sun worship, which would dishonor God.

Fourth, a new generation rose up (Judges 2:10). In a few years, the former generation passed away, and their good teaching and example passed away with them. Then came another generation of Israelites who cared so little for religion that, in a real sense, they did not know the Lord. They did not know him as he had revealed himself, because if they had, they would not have abandoned him. They were absorbed in the world, in work, comfort, and pleasure, so they were easily drawn to false gods and their shameful practices.

This gives us the general pattern of Israel’s life during the time of the judges, and the same sad cycle appears again and again. Israel abandoned the God of Israel and gave the worship that belonged to him alone to the worthless gods of Canaan. Heaven should be shocked at this, and earth should marvel at it (Jeremiah 2:11-12). What other nation, so well provided for and so well taught, ever traded its God, such a God, for lifeless wood and stone that could do neither good nor harm?

The text describes their sin more closely in Judges 2:11-13. In general, they did evil, and nothing could be more evil, because it angered God and harmed themselves. It was done in the sight of the Lord, who sees all evil, but especially takes notice when people choose other gods. They forsook the Lord (Judges 2:12-13). They had been joined to him by covenant, but now they turned away from him as an unfaithful wife leaves her husband. The Chaldee paraphrase says they forsook the worship of the Lord, and that is true, because whoever abandons God’s worship in effect abandons God himself. Their guilt was greater because he was the God of their fathers, so they had been born into his house and were under obligation to serve him. He was also the God who brought them out of Egypt and broke their chains, which gave them another strong reason to honor him.

When they left the one true God, they did not become atheists. They did not say there is no God. Instead, they followed other gods. A little sense of God remained in human nature, but corrupt nature showed itself by multiplying gods and following custom instead of truth in religion. Israel had been chosen and set apart above all other peoples, yet they were untrue to their own privileges and preferred the gods of the nations around them. They bowed to Baal and Ashtaroth, male and female idols, as if they were honoring sun and moon, or Jupiter and Juno. Baalim means “lords,” and Ashtaroth means “blessed ones,” both in the plural, because when they abandoned Jehovah, who is one, they took up many gods and many lords. Whatever they chose as their gods, they served and bowed down to them, giving them honor and asking them for help.

This provoked the God of Israel to anger, and he gave them into the hands of their enemies (Judges 2:14-15). He was angry because he is a jealous God and guards the honor of his own name. The way he punished their turning away was to let the very people who tempted them become their oppressors. By abandoning God, they made themselves as low and miserable as they would have been great and happy if they had stayed faithful.

The first change was that victory turned against them. After they forsook God, whenever they went to war, they were defeated as surely as they had once been victorious. Before, enemies could not stand before them because the Lord was with them. When they began to grow cold in religion, God withdrew his favor, stopped their advance, and no longer drove out their enemies (Judges 2:3). Then, when they had fully turned to idolatry, war went directly against them, and they could no longer stand before their enemies. God was willing to give success to people who had never known or claimed him rather than to those who had once belonged to him but had now left him. Everywhere they went, they could see that God himself had become their enemy and fought against them (Isaiah 63:10).

Whoever wanted could spoil them, and whoever wanted could oppress them. God handed them over to their enemies. He did more than simply give them up, as we might sell something that is ours. He did it for a serious reason, so that he might show his honor as a jealous God, one who would not spare even his own special people when they provoked him. He sold them like insolvent debtors are sold (Matthew 18:25), and used their sufferings to make some sort of payment for the insult their turning away had brought on his glory.

Notice how their punishment matched what they had done. They served the gods of the nations around them, even the lowest and most worthless, and God made them serve the princes of the nations around them, even the lowest and most worthless. Whoever keeps bad company with fools is justly made a fool of by them. Their punishment also matched what God had already said. The hand of heaven turned against them, just as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn (Judges 2:15). This points back to the covenant, where God set before them both blessing and life, and curse and death. Those who have found God faithful to his promises can be sure he will be faithful to his warnings too.

Still, the God of endless mercy took pity on them in their misery, even though they had brought it on themselves by their own sin and foolishness, and he delivered them. Their trouble was the result of their sin and the carrying out of God’s word, yet in time they were rescued from it (Judges 2:16-18). The reason for their rescue came entirely from God’s pity and tender compassion. The change was not in them first, but in him. It is not said that the Lord was moved because of their sins, for many of them remained unreformed. Rather, it says the Lord was moved because of their groaning. They groaned more under the weight of suffering than under the weight of sin. They deserved to perish forever under his curse, yet this was still the time of his patience and their testing, so he did not stir up all his wrath. Justice could have left them to ruin, but pity would not let him do it.

God did not send angels from heaven to save them, and he did not bring in a foreign power to help them. Instead, he raised up judges from among themselves, whenever the need arose. These were men whom God specially prepared and called for that work, which was to reform Israel and rescue it, and he gave great success to their efforts. The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they became deliverers. Even in the worst days of decay and trouble in the church, God will still find or raise up people who can set things right. We should also recognize God in the timely rise of useful men for public service. He gives them wisdom and courage and moves their hearts to act and take risks. All who are a blessing to their country should be seen as gifts from God. Whom God calls, he will also support by his presence. Whom he raises up, he will be with. And the judges of a land are its saviors.

Yet the corrupt Israelites were not truly and fully reformed, even by their judges (Judges 2:17-19). While the judges were still with them and working to bring reform, some would not listen. At that very time they ran after other gods, like unfaithful spouses. They had been joined to God, but they broke that marriage covenant and went after those false gods. Idolatry is spiritual adultery, so vile, shameful, and treacherous is it, and people addicted to it are very hard to bring back.

Some who began to improve during times of reform quickly turned back again and became as bad as ever. They turned away from the good path their godly ancestors had walked and had pointed out to them. They soon slipped out from under the power of both their fathers’ good example and their own good upbringing. Wicked children of godly parents often do this, and they will have much to answer for. When the judge died, they saw the dam that had held back the flood of idolatry as removed, and then evil rushed in again with greater force. The next generation seemed even worse for the reform efforts that had been made. They became more corrupt than their fathers, and tried to outdo them in multiplying false gods and inventing shameful and impious forms of worship, almost as a protest against those who had tried to reform them. They would not let go of any of their own evil practices. They were not ashamed of the most disgusting idol worship, nor tired of the most barbaric acts. They would not even lessen their stubborn course by a single step. Those who leave the good ways of God, once known and professed, usually become bolder and more desperate in sin, with harder hearts.

Because of this, God still kept the rod over them. Their sin was that they spared the Canaanites, in contempt of the covenant God had made with them and the commands he had given them (Judges 2:20). Their punishment was that the Canaanites were spared, so they were beaten with their own rod. Not all the Canaanites were given into Joshua’s hand while he lived (Judges 2:23). Our Lord Jesus, though he has defeated rulers and powers, did not complete his victory at once. We do not yet see all things put under him. Some remains of Satan’s power are still in the church, just as some Canaanites remained in the land. But our Joshua lives forever, and on the great day he will finish his conquest.

After Joshua died, little was done for a long time against the Canaanites. Israel grew used to them and made room for them, and so God would not drive them out any more (Judges 2:21). If they wanted such people living among them, let them have them and see the result. God chose their delusions (Isaiah 66:4). In the same way, when people feed their own corrupt desires and passions, instead of putting them to death, they prepare for them and give them room. Then God justly leaves them under the power of their sins, which will destroy them. In that way, their doom is of their own making.

These remaining Canaanites were left to test Israel (Judges 2:22), to see whether they would keep the way of the Lord or not. It was not so God could learn about them, but so they could learn about themselves. The test was whether they could resist the temptation to idolatry that the Canaanites would place before them. God had already told them they could not (Deuteronomy 7:4), but they thought they could. So God let the test come, and in the trial it was clear that the tempters’ charm was much stronger than they were.

God has told us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are slow to believe it. We often learn it only by testing ourselves against temptation and finding, to our sorrow, that it is true by painful experience.

The question is also whether they would use the troubles caused by the people who were left in the land. Those remaining nations would bring many hardships. Would Israel let those troubles convict them of sin, humble them, reform them, and drive them back to God and their duty? Would these constant alarms keep them in reverent fear and make them afraid to provoke God?