Judges 2 NEXT GENERATION
From beginning to end, Judges establishes Israel’s need for godly saviors and the need for God to provide them. In light of Joshua’s death, the question arises: Who will lead Israel in battle against the Canaanites? (1:1). Likewise, Judges ends with the refrain that there is no king in Israel (21:25).
Judah’s external success (Judg. 1:4–10, 11, 17), however, conceals compromise. The ongoing refrain that Israel’s tribes did not drive out the inhabitants of the land increases throughout the chapter (1:19, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31). Ultimately, this failure leads to the people of God living among Canaanites. Subsequently, Israel is negatively influenced, spiritually undermined, and militarily attacked (1:30–32; cf. 3:5–6). In the case of Dan, the tribe is actually pushed out of its inheritance (1:34).
External success may lead us to trust in our own strength and leave us unprepared for the subtle compromises that lead to divided loyalty. Initial disobedience provides the soil in which further unfaithfulness takes root.
The Angel of the Lord was not merely “an angel”; He was a theophany—an appearance of the second Person of the Trinity in visible and bodily form before the Incarnation. Prominent during the time of Moses (Ex. 3:2–15; Num. 22:22–35) and Joshua (Josh. 5:13–15), this divine manifestation also appeared during the period of the Judges to Gideon (Jud. 6:11–24) and to the parents of Samson (13:3–21). The Angel of the Lord was Deity for He was called Yahweh (e.g., Josh. 5:13–15; Jud. 6:11–24; Zech. 3) and God (e.g., Gen. 32:24–32; Ex. 3:4), and had divine attributes and prerogatives (cf. Gen. 16:13; 18:25; 48:16). Yet this Messenger of the Lord was also distinct from Yahweh, thus indicating a plurality of Persons within the Godhead (cf. Num. 20:16; Zech. 1:12–13). New Testament allusions suggest that the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ (cf. John 12:41; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 8:56; Heb. 11:26).
By their disobedience, the nation of Israel made it clear that they wanted the Canaanites to remain in the land. God let them have their way (Ps. 106:15), but He warned them of the tragic consequences. The nations in the land of Canaan would become thorns that would afflict Israel and traps that would ensnare them. Israel would look to the Canaanites for pleasures but would only experience pain; they would rejoice in their freedom only to see that freedom turn into their bondage.
They forgot what the Lord had done (vv. 6–10). At that point in Israel’s history, Joshua stood next to Moses as a great hero, and yet the new generation didn’t recognize who he was or what he had done. In his popular novel 1984, George Orwell wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Once they got in control of the present, both Hitler and Stalin rewrote past history so they could control future events; and for a time it worked. How important it is for each new generation to recognize and appreciate the great men and women who helped to build and protect their nation! It’s disturbing when “revisionist” historians debunk the heroes and heroines of the past and almost make them criminals.
2:11–13. Baals. The use of a plural form here does not indicate a large number of different Canaanite gods. Rather it refers to various local manifestations of the same storm and fertility god Baal. Gods were generally tied to local sites (high places, shrines, cities). This also seems to be the case with Yahweh (Bethel, Jerusalem and Shiloh are all associated with God’s name or presence)
Baal, which means “lord,” occurs as a divine name as early as the eighteenth century B.C. in Amorite personal names from Mari. Some would offer examples as early as the late third millennium. By the fourteenth century it was used by Egyptians to refer to the storm god. The name is also evident in texts from Alalakh, Amarna and Ugarit as the personal name of the storm god, Adad. Baal was a fertility deity and was a dying (winter) and rising (spring) god. In the mythology of Ugarit he is pictured in combat with Yamm (the sea) and Mot (death). His consorts are Anat and Astarte.
Ashtoreths. The plural form of Astarte, the consort of Baal within the Canaanite pantheon, is indicative of her appearance in various local manifestations. She was both a fertility goddess and a goddess of war. The singular form of the name only appears in 1Kings 11:5 and 2 Kings 23:13, where it refers to the chief goddess of the Phoenician city of Sidon. In fact there are several female deities who are mentioned as Baal’s consort (Anath, Ashtoreth, Asherah) in Ugaritic and Phoenician texts. Astarte’s popularity among the Canaanites may reflect a merging of these other goddesses into her person or simply a local preference. The cult of Astarte also appears in Egypt during the New Kingdom (perhaps due to greater contact with Canaan) and in Mesopotamia.
2:10. The new generation of Israelites that grew up after their faithful fathers died was distinguished by its faithlessness toward the Lord. That they knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel could imply a failure of the older generation to communicate God’s acts to them (cf. Deut. 6:7). But the word “knew” probably has the sense of “acknowledge” (cf. Prov. 3:6, where “know” is trans. “acknowledge”), thus indicating unbelief rather than ignorance. They rejected both the Lord’s grace toward them and their responsibilities toward Him. This led to the idolatrous practices cited in the verses that follow.
The sin of Israel was its worship of the Baals and Ashtoreths of the Canaanites. These were the male and female gods of the Canaanite religion (2:11–13). The religion of Canaan was a fertility cult known for its ritual prostitution. Therefore the author spoke of how Israel “prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them” (2:17).
The chastening of the LORD was Israel’s servitude to foreign nations. God responded to their repentance and supplication for deliverance by granting salvation through appointed judges. However, when the judge died, Israel repeated its idolatry; and the cycle of sin began again (2:14–19).
The LORD left the nations among Israel to punish them and to test Israel’s faith (2:20–22). This testing also meant Israel would learn the discipline of warfare (3:1–4). Because of Israel’s sin, the promise of rest and peace in the land was not realized (Josh 23:1). Ongoing warfare became the pattern for Israel’s existence.
The statement that Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (v. 11) is further defined as abandoning the Lord and pursing other gods (vv. 12–13). This evaluation occurs at the introduction to each major judge in the book (3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1), preparing us for the later evaluation of various tribes (1 Kings 14:22) and kings (1 Kings 11:6; 15:26, 34; 16:25; 22:52; 2 Kings 3:2; 8:18; etc.). It is the task of the former generation to tell the story of God’s work to later generations (Judg. 2:10; Ps. 78:4–8).
For God’s people today, this supremely means passing on the story of God’s greatest work—the gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3–4; 2 Tim. 2:1–2).
The church today doesn’t wield the sword (Rom. 13) and therefore it has no authority to eliminate people who disagree with the Christian faith. But we do have the obligation before God to maintain a separate walk so we won’t become defiled by those who disagree with us (2 Cor. 6:14–7:1). We must seek by prayer, witness, and loving persuasion to win those to Christ who as yet haven’t trusted Him.
The Jews eventually became so accustomed to the sinful ways of their pagan neighbors that those ways didn’t seem sinful any more. The Jews then became interested in how their neighbors worshiped, until finally Israel started to live like their enemies and imitate their ways. For believers today, the first step away from the Lord is “friendship with the world” (James 4:4, NKJV), which then leads to our being spotted by the world (1:27). The next step is to “love the world” (1 John 2:15) and gradually become “conformed to this world” (Rom. 12:2). This can lead to being “condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32), the kind of judgment that came to Lot (Gen. 19), Samson (Jdg. 16), and Saul (1 Sam. 15, 31).
and their godless religious system but also began to follow the enemy’s lifestyle themselves.
In His covenant, God promised to bless Israel if the people obeyed Him and to discipline them if they disobeyed Him (see Deut. 27–28). God is always faithful to His Word, whether in blessing us or chastening us; for in both, He displays His integrity and His love (Heb. 12:1–11). God would prefer to bestow the positive blessings of life that bring us enjoyment, but He doesn’t hesitate to remove those blessings if our suffering will motivate us to return to Him in repentance.
Astonishingly, God’s compassion for his people extends deeper than the failure of his people even when those failures are self-inflicted. The ultimate Judge and Savior, Jesus (Matt. 1:21), represents this grace in its ultimate form, interrupting the ongoing cycle of sin in the lives of his people throughout time and throughout the world. There is no sin, no failure, and no act of unfaithfulness that is beyond the reach of Christ’s redemptive love. Having received from God such undeserved assurances of forgiveness and reconciliation, we are now called to respond with wholehearted obedience to him and to extend his grace to others (2 Cor. 5:18–21).
judges. In English the term judge is used to describe an official who maintains justice within the established court system. The Hebrew term used in the context of this book describes an individual who maintains justice for the tribes of Israel. This justice comes in bringing protection from foreign oppressors. Maintaining international justice was often the role of the king. What made these judges unlike kings was that there was no formal process for assuming the office, nor could it be passed on to one’s heirs. There was no supporting administration, no standing army and no taxation to underwrite expenses. So while the actual function of the judge may have had much in common with the king, the judge did not enjoy most of the royal prerogatives. Just as a king also judged civil cases, the judges may have had some of that responsibility (see 4:5), but this would have been a minor role. The judges did not serve as heads of government in general but did have the authority to call out the armies of the tribes. Prior to the monarchy, no one from any one tribe would have been able to exercise such authority over another tribe. God was the only central authority. Therefore, when a judge successfully rallied the armies of several tribes, it was seen as the work of the Lord through that judge (see 6:34–35). Only the establishment of kingship assigned a permanent human central authority over the tribes.
five rulers of the Philistines. After the invasion of the Sea Peoples (c. 1200 B.C.), a group known as the Philistines settled along the Coastal Plain and in the Shephelah region of Canaan. Eventually five major city-states emerged: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron (Josh 13:2–3). Destruction levels found in excavations at Ashdod and Ashkelon indicate the overthrow of Egyptian garrisons about 1150 B.C. and the resettlement of the area by the Philistines. While their city-states and attendant villages were independent politically, they often functioned as a coalition in their dealings with Israel and other states (see 1 Sam 6:16; 29:1–5). At their height, the Philistine coalition expanded northward to Tell Qasile (on the coast at the Yarkon River) and east through the Jezreel Valley to Beth Shan. It is only the emergence of a strong monarchy under David and Solomon that eventually holds Philistine hegemony in check in the rest of Palestine.
The word “baal,” which can mean “lord” or “husband,” corresponds with the analogy of idolatry as spiritual adultery (cf. v. 17). “Baal” was the Canaanite name for the Syrian god Hadad, god of storms and wars. The plural “Baals” (be‘ālîm) suggests the many local varieties of the worship of Baal (cf. Baal Peor, Num. 25:3; Baal Gad, Josh. 11:17; Baal-Berith, Jud. 9:4; Baal-Zebub,2 Kings 1:2). In Canaan the goddess Ashtoreth was the consort of Baal, known in Syria as ‘Athtart and in Babylonia as Ishtar. (Cf. comments on a different goddess, Asherah, mentioned in Jud. 3:7.) Ashtoreth was the goddess of fertility. Baal worship involved the most debasing immorality imaginable.
This introductory summary of Israel’s “pattern” in the days of the Judges does not specifically mention the supplication of Israel by which “they cried out to the LORD” but this is a recurring part of the pattern in 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6–7; 10:10. The supplication may be implied in 2:18 in that “they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.”
2:16. This summary statement of deliverance attributes it to judges whom the LORD raised up to save Israel out of the hands of these raiders.
2:17. It is not clear whether verse 17 refers to continued idolatry even during the period of rest in each judge’s lifetime, or whether it views the period of the Judges as a whole, referring to the renewed spiral of disobedience after each judge’s demise. In either case, Israel’s sin is evident—they prostituted themselves to other gods and turned from the way … of obedience to the LORD‘s commands. Since the practices of those who worshiped the Canaanite fertility gods involved sexual prostitution, the phrase “prostituted themselves” was literal as well as figurative.
(The “fathers” of v. 17 seems to refer to the obedient generation of Joshua’s day, while the fathers of v. 19 refers to the preceding generation.)
The LORD allowed the Canaanite nations to remain in the land for four reasons: (1) He chose to punish Israel for her apostasy in turning to idolatry (2:2, 20–21; cf. Josh. 23:1–13). In identifying themselves with the peoples of the land through marriage and subsequent idolatry (cf. Jud. 3:6), the Israelites violated the covenant that the Lord gave their forefathers (cf. Josh. 23:16). Therefore, as God had promised (Josh. 23:4, 13), He would no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. (2) The Lord left the Canaanites in the land to test Israel’s faithfulness to Himself (Jud. 2:22; 3:4). This provided each generation with an opportunity to keep the way of the LORD (cf. “the way of obedience,” 2:17) or to continue in the rebellion of their immediate ancestors. (3) The Lord left the Canaanites in the land to give Israel experience in warfare (see comments on 3:2). (4) Another reason is stated in Deuteronomy 7:20–24—to prevent the land from becoming a wilderness before Israel’s population increased sufficiently to occupy the whole land.
that is, experience in the kind of “holy warfare” conducted during Joshua’s Conquest of the land. Thus “warfare” is probably not just “how to fight” but how to fight successfully, depending on the Lord to give the victory.
3:5–6. The Israelites descended three steps in their cultural accommodation to paganism: (a) they lived among the Canaanites, (b) they intermarried with them, and (c) they served their gods. Each step is a natural one leading on to the next. The resulting departure from the Lord has already been described several times in connection with their oppression by foreign raiders (2:11–19). (On the Canaanites and Hivites, see comments on 3:3; on the Hittites, see comments on 1:26; on the Amorites, see comments on 1:3; on the Perizzites, see comments on 1:4; and on the Jebusites, see comments on 1:21.)
They forsook what the Lord had said (vv. 11–13). Had they remembered Joshua, they would have known his “farewell speeches” given to the leaders and the people of Israel (Josh. 23–24). Had they known those speeches, they would have known the Law of Moses; for in his final messages, Joshua emphasized the covenant God had made with Israel and the responsibility Israel had to keep it. When you forget the Word of God, you are in danger of forsaking the God of the Word, which explains why Israel turned to the vile and vicious worship of Baal.
They failed to learn from what the Lord did (vv. 16–23). Whenever Israel turned away from the Lord to worship idols, He chastened them severely; and when in their misery they turned back to Him, He liberated them. But just as soon as they were free and their situation was comfortable again, Israel went right back into the same old sins. “And the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.… Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of …” is the oft-repeated statement that records the sad cyclical nature of Israel’s sins (3:7–8, see also v. 12; 4:1–4; 6:1; 10:6–7; 13:1). The people wasted their suffering. They didn’t learn the lessons God wanted them to learn and profit from His chastening.
The cycle of disobedience, discipline, despair, and deliverance is seen today whenever God’s people turn away from His Word and go their own way. If disobedience isn’t followed by divine discipline, then the person is not truly a child of God; for God chastens all of His children (Heb. 12:3–13). God has great compassion for His people, but He is angry at their sins.
they committed themselves to other gods, here referred to as the baʿălîm and the ʾaštārôt. The first expression derives from the word baʿal, which in its basic sense is a secular term meaning simply “lord, master, owner,” and in a first level of derived sense, “husband.”204 When applied to a god, it functions as a title, “divine lord, master” rather than a personal name and is used as an appellative for many gods in the ancient world. Baal occurs as a divine title more than seventy times in the Old Testament. Usually it refers to the storm/weather god, who in the Canaanite mythological literature goes by the name Hadad and several other titles: ʾalʾiyn bʿl, “the victor Baal”; rkb ʿrpt, “Rider of the Clouds”; bn dgn, “son of Dagan”; zbl bʿl ʾrṣ, “the prince lord of the earth”; bʿl ṣpn, “Baal of Zaphon.” In Canaanite mythology Baal was one of the seventy offspring of El and Asherah, along with his opposite, Mot, the god of death and the netherworld, and Yam, the god of the sea. When the plural form baʿălîm occurs, the reference is not to a multiplicity of gods but to numerous manifestations of the one weather god, on whose blessing the fertility of the land was thought to depend.
Hebrew ʿaštārôt represents a plural form of ʿaštart, commonly known as Astarte, who was worshiped widely as the goddess of love and war.211 In the Canaanite literature Anath usually functions as Baal’s consort. Astarte also appears as Baal’s spouse, however, which agrees with the broader ancient Near Eastern world reflected in the Old Testament. Like baʿălîm, the present plural form refers to the local manifestations of the deity. In the fertility cult of Canaan, Baal was represented by an upright stone (maṣṣēbâ); Astarte was portrayed by carved female figurines, with exaggerated breasts and prominent genitals. Together these two gods formed a powerful force in ancient Near Eastern spirituality. Israel’s abandonment of Yahweh may be attributable to an inability to conceive of Yahweh as the God of this land where Baal and Astarte ruled with apparent effectiveness. The newcomers had experienced Yahweh’s power in Egypt, at Mount Sinai, and in the desert; but once they crossed the Jordan, they found it easier to change allegiance to the gods of this land than to transfer to Yahweh the fertility functions of a territorial god.
Yahweh’s outraged reaction to Israel’s Canaanization was announced in passing in v. 12b. In vv. 14–20a the author describes his reaction in detail. While many dismiss this text as repetitious and clumsy, it is carefully constructed, being framed by identical declarations of divine anger: wayyiḥar ʾap yhwh bĕyiśrāʾēl, “the fury of Yahweh burned against Israel.” Significantly the subject of this entire subunit is Yahweh. The narrator hereby invites the reader to agonize with the betrayed covenant Lord over what to do with this faithless people.
The verbs used to describe their commitment to the gods of this land are instructive. First, whereas during the tenure of Joshua they had served (ʿābad) Yahweh (v. 7), now they directed the same activity toward the Baals and the Astartes. Second, if the negative aspect of their change of allegiance is described as abandoning Yahweh, the counterpart is “walking after other gods.” The expression hālak ʾaḥărê ʾĕlōhîm ʾăḥērîm, “walking after other gods,” derives fundamentally from the context of cultic processions in which the devotees of a divinity would follow the image of a deity carried by priests to and from places of religious celebration. Here it is used more generally of any expression of spiritual commitment. Third, they paid homage to the other gods. In popular thinking and practice today worship is often (if not generally) confused with exaltation, as in standing before God with hands raised in praise. However, the biblical notion of “worship” is quite the opposite. The verb hištaḥăwâ, from the root ḥwh/ḥyh, represents court language, denoting fundamentally the physical gesture of prostration before a superior. The gesture has been interpreted as a nonverbal equivalent to the declaration “May X live!” In this instance the posture of the Israelites, bowing down before foreign gods, expresses their subjection to them. Instead of being servants of Yahweh, like Joshua had been, they have become servants of these gods.
Like the previous segment, this section is introduced with a thesis statement: “The anger of the LORD burned against Israel.” Although modern readers may protest this image of God literally “and his nose burned” (wayyiḥar ʾappô), the expression of divine fury must be interpreted against the background of extravagant demonstrations of grace in the past. Yahweh is a passionate God; he cannot stand idly by while other divine competitors snatch his people from him. Nor can he passively accept his own people’s adulterous affairs with other gods. Yahweh’s expression of anger against his people is described in the form of two roughly parallel statements:
He gave them into the power of plunderers;
He sold them into the power of their enemies.
Who these plunderers/enemies were is not yet indicated, but the effect of their hostility is clear. In the first instance the plunderers did indeed fulfill the divine mission; in the second, Israel was no match for them—they could not stand. Verse 15 clarifies the meaning of the last phrase of v. 14. The shocking reality for Israel was that their real enemy was God.
he inflicted them with severe distress. Since neither of these two clauses, introduced by kaʾăšer, “just as,” occurs in this book, the antecedent must be found elsewhere, presumably in Deuteronomy. Some point to Deut 6:14–15, but the substantive and verbal links between this passage and Deut 31:16–21 render the latter a better candidate. This text speaks of the Israelites experiencing many rāʿôt wĕṣārôt, “disasters and difficulties,” because they prostitute themselves to foreign gods, forsake Yahweh, and break the covenant, thereby fueling the ire of Yahweh.
The Kindling of Divine Compassion (2:16–19). These verses divide further into two parts, vv. 16–17 and 18–19, arranged in an abab pattern. Each of these segments begins with the notice that Yahweh raised up governors for the Israelites and concludes with an observation on their response.
“because they acted like a prostitute [running] after other gods.” This metaphor is employed with great rhetorical force by the prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, but it is inspired ultimately by Yahweh’s warning to his people after the golden calf affair in Exod 34:15–16. There they were told to guard themselves against any covenants with the Canaanites or any tolerance of their gods once they arrive in the promised land, for Yahweh is a passionate (qinʾâ) God. This is an appropriate figure of speech to describe Israel’s behavior for two reasons. First, Yahweh’s covenant relationship with Israel is commonly portrayed in marital terms. His jealousy/passion is kindled whenever his people flirt with other gods.235 How much more so when they turn their backs on him and commit spiritual harlotry by attaching themselves to the gods of this land. Second, the gods competing with Yahweh for the allegiance of his people are lusty young fertility gods, who seduce the Israelites with promises of prosperity and security. Furthermore, in contrast to the lofty theology and the austere morality of Yahwism, the Canaanite religious system offered exciting and often erotic cult rituals.
This verse is crucial for interpreting the following narratives. Israel is depicted as increasingly Canaanized, spiralling downward into worse and worse apostasy. Accordingly, while the author recognizes a cyclical pattern in Israel’s premonarchic history, the common repetitive view of this period must be modified. Not only do the patterns of evil repeat themselves; the treacherous behavior of the Israelites intensifies, as illustrated in the following diagram:
When the psalmist reviewed the period of the Judges (Ps. 106:40–46), he concluded with a prayer that we need to pray today: “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise” (Ps. 106:47, NIV).