The Pulpit Commentary · Judges Capitolo 2

Verse 1. - An angel of the Lord. Rather, the angel of the Lord, i.e. the angel of his presence, whose message consequently is delivered as if the Lord himself were speaking (see Genesis 16:7, 9, 11, etc.). A good example of the difference between a message delivered by a prophet and one delivered by the angel of the Lord may be seen by comparing Judges 6:8 with Judges 6:11-16. Bochim, i.e. weepers (vers. 4, 5). The site is unknown, but it was probably near Shiloh. The phrase "came up" denotes that it was in the hill country.

Verse 3. - I said, i.e. I now declare to you my resolve. It was this that made the people weep. Thorns in your sides. This is not a translation of the Hebrew text, which only has "for sides," but a partial adaptation of Joshua 23:13, where the phrase is "scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes." Either the words for "scourges in" have fallen out of the text, or the word here rendered "sides" should be rendered, as some think, "enemies." A snare. See Judges 8:27, note.

Verse 5. - They sacrificed. A clear intimation that they were near Shiloh, where the tabernacle was.

Verse 6. - And when Joshua, etc. The same words as Joshua 22:6, marking the identity of time.

CHAPTER 2:7-13

Verse 7. - And the people served, etc. This verse is the epitome of the religious history of Israel from the time of the expostulation of the angel till the dying off of all those who had been elders in the time of Joshua. It probably includes some forty or fifty years from the entrance into Canaan, viz., about thirty years of Joshua's lifetime, and ten, fifteen, or twenty years after Joshua's death. The record of the people's continuance in the service of the Lord connects itself with the promise made by them in Joshua 24:21, 24. All the great works, etc. Scarcely those prior to the crossing of the Jordan, though some might remember some of the events in the wilderness when they were mere children (Numbers 14:31), but the victories in Canaan. Verses 7-9. - These three verses are identical with Joshua 24:29-31, except that the order is slightly varied.

Verse 8. - An hundred and ten years old. Caleb was eighty-five years old, he tells us (Joshua 14:10), when he went to take possession of Hebron, forty-five years after the spies had searched Canaan from Kadesh-Barnea, and consequently some time in the seventh year of the entrance into Canaan. Joshua was probably within a year or two his contemporary.

Verse 9. - Timnath-heres. Probably, though not certainly, the modern Tibneh, six miles from Jifna. It is called in Joshua 19:50 and Joshua 24:30 Timnath-serah, the letters of which are identical, but the order is inverted. Timnath-heres is probably the right form. It means "The portion of the Sun." We have Mount Heres in Judges 1:35, near Ajalon. Ir-shemesh (city of the sun) and Beth-shemesh (house of the sun) are other instances of places called from the sun. Some have supposed some connection between the name Timnath. heres, as Joshua's inheritance, and the miracle of the sun standing still upon Gibeon at the word of Joshua (Joshua 10:12, 13). The neighbourhood of Timnath-heres to Ajalon (Judges 1:35) may give some countenance to this. The hill Gaash is only elsewhere mentioned as the birthplace of Hiddai or Hurai (2 Samuel 23:30; 1 Chronicles 11:32), but the exact site is unknown.

Verse 10. - Which know not the Lord, etc. The memory of God's great works gradually faded away, and with this memory their influence upon the hearts of the people. The seductions of idolatry and the influence of heathen example were ever fresh and powerful. Had the people obeyed the voice of the Lord, the idolatry and the idolaters would have been out of the way. We may notice by the way the value to the Church of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in keeping alive a perpetual memory of Christ's precious death until his coming again.

Verse 12. - They forsook the Lord, etc. Here again there is a manifest allusion to Joshua 24:16, 17.

Verse 13. - Baal and Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth is the plural of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians (1 Kings 11:5, 33), just as Baalim (ver. 11) is the plural of Baal. The many images of Baal and Ashtoreth are, in the opinion of some, indicated by the plural; but others think that different modifications or impersonations of the god and goddess are indicated. Thus we read of Baal-berith, the god who presides over covenants; Baal-zebul, or Zebub, the god who presides over flies, who could either send or remove a plague of flies, and so on. "Baal (lord or master) was the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth (perhaps the star, the planet Venus) was their supreme female divinity. Baal and Ashtoreth are frequently coupled together. Many Phoenician names - Hannibal, Asdrubal, Adherbal, Belus, etc. - are derived from Baal."

CHAPTER 2:14-23

Verses 14, 15. - The anger of the Lord, etc. These verses contain an awful view of the wrath of God excited by wilful sin, and are a practical illustration of Exodus 20:5: "I am a jealous God." Compare Psalm 79:5, which shows how closely allied the notions of anger and jealousy are in Hebrew. He sold them. A forcible expression, implying the handing over of the people into the hands of their enemies, as if God had no more any property in them or concern about them; as if he said, "Ye are not my people, and I am not your God;" as if he said to the heathen, "Take them, and do as you will with them; they are yours, not mine" (see Leviticus 26. and Deuteronomy 28.). As the Lord had sworn, etc., showing that God fulfilled his threatenings as well as his promises.

Verse 16. - Raised up judges. Hence the name of this book, which recites the names and exploits of those whom God raised up to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. The title Judges (Hebrew, shophetim) is, as is well known, identical with the Carthagenian suffetes. Mark the riches of God's mercy.

Verse 22. - To walk therein. The Hebrew has in them. Probably for way we should read ways, as Deuteronomy 8:6; Deuteronomy 10:12, etc. This verse does not seem to be part of what the Lord said, but to be the comment of the writer. The A.V. - that through them I may prove - inserts an I which is not in the original. Ver. 22 depends upon ver. 23. The literal rendering is, For the sake of proving Israel, etc.... the Lord left those nations. The writer, after rehearsing the Lord's reason for not completing the extirpation of the nations after the death of Joshua, adds the further information why they had not been delivered into Joshua's hand in his lifetime (cf. Joshua 3:1, 4). In Exodus 23:29, 30; Deuteronomy 7:22, an additional reason is given for the gradual extirpation of the Canaanites - "lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee."