Judges 2:10–2:23
Sources
Reformed ConsensusReformation Study BibleGeneva Bible Notes (1599)John Trapp (1647)Matthew Poole (1685)John Gill (1748)Matthew Henry (1714)Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBarnes (1832)Cross-References (TSK)Reformed Consensus
The death of Joshua and his generation marks a catastrophic rupture in covenant memory, revealing what Calvin observed as the native blindness of the human heart: without faithful transmission of God's Word, each generation reverts to idolatry as naturally as water runs downhill. Israel's abandonment of Yahweh for the Baals was not mere cultural accommodation but a covenant-breaking adultery, drawing upon them the full weight of the curatorial curses of Deuteronomy, as the Lord in righteous anger handed His people over to plunderers — a judgment that was itself an act of holy love designed to expose their helplessness. Yet the recurring pattern of groaning, divinely-raised judges, and temporary deliverance displays what Matthew Henry called the "unexhausted patience" of God, who in sovereign mercy repeatedly interrupted the deserved sentence before Israel's apostasy hardened again the moment each deliverer died. The disturbing cycle — sin, servitude, supplication, salvation, sin again — strips away any optimism about human moral progress and teaches that external deliverance cannot cure an unregenerate heart; the judges were necessary but insufficient, pointing forward to the one Deliverer whose work would be permanent and inward. God's resolve to leave the remaining nations as a testing instrument (vv. 21–23) reminds the reader that providence works through pressure as well as rescue, conforming His people through adversity to a holiness they would never seek on their own terms.
Reformation Study Bible
who did not know the Lorp or the work that he had done for Israel. One generation was to declare God's wonders to the next (Deut. 4:9; 61-6). Later psalmists extol them (Ps. 44:1-3; 78:2-8). If God's people knew what He had done they would obey the commands of His covenant. But the leaders—heads of families, priests, and judges—failed to keep the covenant or to tell the next generation about God's mighty deeds, | These verses give the pattern for chs. 3-16. They show the sov- ereignty of God in history as He executes the judgment of the covenant. It was He who sold the people and fought against them, and it was He also who raised up the judges to deliver them. Idolatry was the sin on account of which God punished Israel. Wv. 11-19 are elaborated in 1 Sam. 12:9-11 and Ps, 106:34-46. | did what was evil. This refrain occurs at 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1. served the Baals. Israel's evil is summed up in their worship of false gods (v. 2 note). They chose Baal, the Canaanite storm god, and rejected the Lord, who had brought them through the Red Sea and was the true Lord of the storm, “Baals” is plural because Baal was worshiped differently. in each Canaanite locality. | Ashtaroth. These were the goddesses of fertility in the Canaanite pantheon. | he gave them over. See Deut. 28:48; 1 Sam. 12:9. Israel’s enemies and oppressors had no power over God's people unless God allowed it. Israel's conquest is now reversed, as people from outside Canaan (Arameans, Moabites, Midianites, Amalekites, and Philistines) oppress Israel, the new inhabitants of the land (3:8-12; 4:2; 6:1; 10:7; 13:1). | the hand of the Lorp was against them. The hand of the Lord was associated with the saving power of God (Ex. 3:20; 6:1; 13:3; Deut. 4:34). Now the same hand was turned against them in punishment. The Lord was faithful both to bless and to judge. When God rescues His people, He rescues them from their enemies as an act of grace. It is His own judg- ment that allows their enemies to prevail, and in rescuing them He must turn this judgment aside. | judges. The role of the judges was primarily to rescue the nation from its enemies (3:9, 15; 1 Sam. 12:11). | they whored after. Since the covenant agreement can be com- pared to marriage, harlotry is a standard metaphor for faithlessness and disobedience (8:33; Deut. 31:16; the Book of Hosea). | was moved to pity. The people’s groaning moved their God (Ex. 2:24; 6:5). | They did not drop, Neither their judges (v. 17) nor the memory of how they had been delivered was enough to make the people keep the covenant (v. 10). | left those nations. See Deut. 7:22-23; Josh. 13:1-7. This explains why there were still Canaanites during a period when Israel had been faithful (vv. 6-9). Vv. 20-22 and 3:1-4 provide a new reason for God's leaving the Canaanites, to test the hearts of the people.
Geneva Bible Notes (1599)
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
John Trapp (1647)
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And there arose another generation. — Things grow worse for most part, every age than other: - “ Aeras parentum peior avis tulit Nos nequiores, mox datura Progeniem vitiosiorem. ” - Hor. Od. vi. lib. iii. Which knew not the Lord, — i.e., Knew him not effectually and experimentally. As our Saviour knew no sin - that is, he did none; so men know not the Lord to any purpose, that obey him not; Eli’s sons, for instance.
Matthew Poole (1685)
Which knew not the Lord; which had no experimental nor serious and affectionate knowledge of God, nor of his works.
John Gill (1748)
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers,.... Were dead and buried, that is, the greatest part of those that were contemporaries with the elders that outlived Joshua; for they might not be all dead, at least not all that came out of Egypt, and still less all that came into the land of Canaan; for, according to the computation of Ben Gersom, the time of Joshua and the elders were but twenty seven years; and there were no more than sixty seven years from their coming out of Egypt to this time; and no doubt there were men living of eighty years of age and more, but these might be but few: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord; so as to love, fear, serve, and worship him; did not own him to be the one only living and true God, otherwise they must know him nationally, being educated in the true religion: nor yet the works which he had done for Israel; some of them, as before observed, might have seen the works and wonders of the Lord for Israel, at their first coming out of Egypt; though not being wise, as the above writer observes, it had no effect upon them, to keep them from doing evil in the sight of God; and they all of them had been informed of them, and many had seen, and must have had personal knowledge of what was done for them at their coming into the land of Canaan; but not a practical knowledge, or such as had any influence upon them, to preserve them from idolatry.
Matthew Henry (1714)
We have a general idea of the course of things in Israel, during the time of the Judges. The nation made themselves as mean and miserable by forsaking God, as they would have been great and happy if they had continued faithful to him. Their punishment answered to the evil they had done. They served the gods of the nations round about them, even the meanest, and God made them serve the princes of the nations round about them, even the meanest. Those who have found God true to his promises, may be sure that he will be as true to his threatenings. He might in justice have abandoned them, but he could not for pity do it. The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they became saviours. In the days of the greatest distress of the church, there shall be some whom God will find or make fit to help it. The Israelites were not thoroughly reformed; so mad were they upon their idols, and so obstinately bent to backslide. Thus those who have forsaken the good ways of God, which they have once known and professed, commonly grow most daring and desperate in sin, and have their hearts hardened. Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were spared, and so they were beaten with their own rod. Men cherish and indulge their corrupt appetites and passions; therefore God justly leaves them to themselves, under the power of their sins, which will be their ruin. God has told us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are not willing to believe it, until by making bold with temptation we find it true by sad experience. We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Let us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all our days.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6-10. And when Joshua had let the people go—This passage is a repetition of Jos 24:29-31. It was inserted here to give the reader the reasons which called forth so strong and severe a rebuke from the angel of the Lord. During the lifetime of the first occupiers, who retained a vivid recollection of all the miracles and judgments which they had witnessed in Egypt and the desert, the national character stood high for faith and piety. But, in course of time, a new race arose who were strangers to all the hallowed and solemnizing experience of their fathers, and too readily yielded to the corrupting influences of the idolatry that surrounded them.
Barnes (1832)
All that generation - i. e. the main body of those who were grown-up men at the time of the conquest of Canaan.
Cross-References (TSK)
Judges 2:9; Judges 2:11; Genesis 15:15; Genesis 25:8; Genesis 49:33; Numbers 27:13; Deuteronomy 31:16; 2Samuel 7:12; Acts 13:36; Exodus 5:2; 1Samuel 2:12; 1Chronicles 28:9; Job 21:14; Psalms 92:5; Isaiah 5:12; Jeremiah 9:3; Jeremiah 22:16; Jeremiah 31:34; Galatians 4:8; 2Thessalonians 1:8; Titus 1:16; Judges 2:1; Judges 2:6; Judges 2:14; Judges 2:20; Judges 2:8; Judges 2:7; Judges 1:6; Joshua 24:9; Joshua 24:7; Judges 1:25; Judges 2:21; Judges 18:22; Judges 3:20; Judges 3:29; Judges 7:14; Judges 5:30; Judges 16:14; Judges 6:13; Judges 20:10; Judges 2:10