Judges 3:1 - Meaning and Application

We are told here what was left of the old inhabitants of Canaan. Some of them stayed together in united groups and were not broken up. These included the five rulers of the Philistines, that is, the leaders of Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron (1 Samuel 6:17). Three of those cities had been partly taken before (Judges 1:18), but it seems the Philistines, likely helped by the other two cities, later recovered them and held them together more firmly. They caused more trouble to Israel than any other people, especially later in the time of the judges, and they were not fully subdued until David’s day.

There was also a people called the Canaanites who held their ground with the Sidonians along the coast of the Great Sea. In the north, the Hivites held much of Mount Lebanon. That was a far-off area, and they may have had help from nearby nations. But beyond these larger groups, there were scattered remnants of the other nations all through the land, such as the Hittites and Amorites. Because Israel had foolishly tolerated them, they became many, bold, and hard to deal with. So it is said that the children of Israel lived among them, as if the right to the land still belonged to the Canaanites, and Israel were only there by their permission.

Now notice two things about these remaining peoples. First, God allowed them to stay for wise reasons. In the last chapter, this was shown as an act of God’s justice, since he left them there to discipline Israel. Here another side is shown, that it was also an act of wisdom. God left them so those who had not known the wars of Canaan might learn war (Judges 3:1-2). It was God’s will that Israel should become used to battle.

This was necessary because their land was rich and fruitful, full of good things. If they were never made to face hardship, they would easily grow soft, lazy, and luxurious. They could not always live in ease and abundance. They needed seasons of hardship, or even their soldiers would become weak and delicate, like people who can no longer bear any discomfort. That kind of softness destroys what is good and great, so God’s people must watch against it carefully.

It was also necessary because Israel lived in the middle of hostile nations. God’s people were surrounded by enemies on every side (Jeremiah 12:9). So they needed training, both to defend their borders and to prepare for future conquests, as God had promised. War is best learned by practice. It teaches military skill, but it also builds a soldier’s spirit. Israel needed to be raised up as soldiers, just as an island needs to raise up sailors.

In this way, the remaining Canaanites were like a training ground. By facing smaller dangers, Israel would be ready for greater ones. By running with foot soldiers, they would learn to compete with horses (Jeremiah 12:5). Israel was also a picture of the church in this world, which must fight its way toward final victory. Christ’s soldiers must endure hardship (2 Timothy 2:3). In the same way, sin is allowed to remain in the hearts even of true believers so they may learn to fight, keep on the whole armor of God, and stay watchful.

Bishop Patrick gives another possible sense of Judges 3:2. He thinks it may mean that Israel would learn what it is like to be left to themselves. Their fathers fought by God’s power. God had taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight. But now, since they had lost his favor, let them learn what it is to fight like ordinary men.

Second, Israel wickedly mixed themselves with those who remained. One reason God left these nations among them was to test Israel (Judges 3:4). That way, those who were true to the God of Israel would show their faith by resisting the pull toward idolatry, and those who were false would be exposed by giving in. In the Christian churches too, false teachings must arise so that the genuine believers may be made plain (1 Corinthians 11:19). Israel, when tested, failed badly.

First, they married the Canaanites (Judges 3:6), even though they could gain neither honor nor true benefit from those marriages. Such unions did not improve their bloodline or their property. Instead of helping, they damaged both. Second, these marriages led them into shared worship with the Canaanites. They served their gods (Judges 3:6), Baalim and the groves (Judges 3:7), meaning the idols worshiped in sacred groves of thick trees, which served as natural temples.

When the good join themselves too closely with the bad, there is more reason to fear the bad will corrupt the good than to hope the good will reform the bad. It is like setting a rotten pear beside a sound one. As they turned to other gods, they forgot the Lord their God. To please their new relatives, they kept talking about Baalim and the groves, and little by little they lost the memory of the true God. They forgot that he existed, and forgot the duties they owed him. Human memory is nowhere more unreliable than here, in forgetting God. When God is out of sight, he is often out of mind. And from that forgetfulness all the wickedness in the world begins: they have gone off the right path because they have forgotten the Lord their God.