The Histories · Old Testament

Judges 2

A new generation and the recurring pattern of the judges

General context

The Lord's angel comes from Gilgal to Bochim and recalls the exodus and covenant. Israel is accused of disobeying the commands to make no agreements with the land's inhabitants and to tear down their altars. The announced consequence is that those peoples will remain and their gods become a snare. The people weep and sacrifice. The narrative then recalls Joshua's dismissal of the tribes, Israel's service during his and the surviving elders' lives, his death at 110 and burial, and the passing of that generation. Another generation arises without knowing the Lord or his works for Israel. The account describes a recurring pattern: Israel serves other gods, the Lord gives it over to enemies, judges are raised to deliver it, and after a judge dies the people return to worse conduct. The Lord's response to their groaning explains the rescues. Remaining nations are also presented as a test of whether Israel will keep his way.

Cited passages: Judges 2:1, Judges 2:2, Judges 2:3, Judges 2:4, Judges 2:5, Judges 2:6, Judges 2:7, Judges 2:8, Judges 2:9, Judges 2:10, Judges 2:11, Judges 2:12, Judges 2:13, Judges 2:14, Judges 2:15, Judges 2:16, Judges 2:17, Judges 2:18, Judges 2:19, Judges 2:20, Judges 2:21, Judges 2:22, Judges 2:23

Judges 2 (KJV)

¹And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

²And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

³Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

⁴And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.

⁶And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

⁷And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.

⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:

¹²And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.

¹³And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁵Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

¹⁶Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

¹⁷And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.

¹⁸And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

¹⁹And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

²⁰And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;

²¹I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:

²²That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

²³Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The angel's rebuke connects the continuing inhabitants with covenant disobedience, giving a theological explanation beyond the military and settlement details of chapter 1. Bochim is named in the scene of the people's weeping. Verses 6–10 look back to Joshua and his generation after the book has already opened following his death; they do not narrate a second death. His burial place is Timnath-heres here, whereas Joshua 24 gives Timnath-serah. The chapter's judges are described as deliverers from enemies, not only officials deciding disputes. KJV and ASV say the Lord repented because of the people's groaning; BBE describes him as moved by their cries of grief. That statement should not be replaced with an unreported claim that the people had repented.

Cited passages: Judges 2:1, Judges 2:2, Judges 2:3, Judges 2:4, Judges 2:5, Judges 2:6, Judges 2:7, Judges 2:8, Judges 2:9, Judges 2:10, Judges 2:14, Judges 2:15, Judges 2:16, Judges 2:17, Judges 2:18, Judges 2:19, Judges 2:20, Judges 2:21, Judges 2:22, Judges 2:23, Joshua 24:29, Joshua 24:30, Joshua 24:31

Literary context

The angel's covenant accusation is followed by a backward look at the generation that knew the Lord's works. The account then moves from a particular generation to a repeated pattern of abandonment, distress, rescue and renewed corruption. The contrast between the Lord's compassion during a judge's life and the people's return after the judge's death makes these rescues temporary. The closing test of obedience prepares the reader for the individual stories that follow.

Key moments

The covenant rebuke (Judges 2:2). The angel asks why Israel has not obeyed the commands concerning the land's inhabitants and altars.
A generation that does not know (Judges 2:10). The narrator introduces a generation that does not know the Lord or his works for Israel.
Judges are raised to deliver (Judges 2:16). The Lord raises judges who rescue Israel from those plundering it.
The return after a judge's death (Judges 2:19). The people are described as returning to conduct worse than their fathers'.

For reflection

The passing generation is followed by people who do not know the works recalled in the account. What is needed for a community's memory to remain more than a set of names and places?

People in this chapter

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