Judges 2

did not acknowledge the Lord. The NLT renders an important nuance of “know” (yada’ [3045, 3359]). The term can denote mere cognition, but typically implies a deeper engagement of the knower with the known, as in recognizing a friend or relative, or coming to care deeply about something. It also has a political nuance derived from treaties and oaths, suggesting acknowledgment of the claims and authority of one’s superior to the exclusion of others.

Lawson G. Stone, “Judges,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, ed. Philip W. Comfort, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2012), 229.

EXPOSITION Ver. 7.—And the people served, &c. 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 Josh. 24:21, 24. All the great works, &c. 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 (Numb. 14:31), but the victories in Canaan. Vers. 7–9.—These three verses are identical with Josh. 24:29–31, except that the order is slightly varied. Ver. 8.—An hundred and ten years old. Caleb was eighty-five years old, he tells us (Josh. 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. Ver. 9.—Timnath-heres. Probably, though not certainly, the modern Tibneh, six miles from Jifna. It is called in Josh. 19:50 and 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 ch. 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 suns standing still upon Gibeon at the word of Joshua (Josh. 10:12, 13). The neighbourhood of Timnath-heres to Ajalon (ch. 1:35) may give some countenance to this. The hill Gaash is only elsewhere mentioned as the birthplace of Hiddai or Hurai (2 Sam. 23:30; 1 Chron. 11:32), but the exact site is unknown. Ver. 10.—Which knew not the Lord, &c. 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. Ver. 12.—They forsook the Lord, &c. Here again there is a manifest allusion to Josh. 24:16, 17. Ver. 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; Baalzebul, 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 Phœnician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth (perhaps the star, the planet Venus) was their supreme female divinity. Baal and Ashtoreth are frequently coupled together. Many Phœnician names—Hannibal, Asdrubal, Adherbal, Belus, &c.—are derived from Baal.”

HOMILETICS Vers. 7–13.—Influence. Joshua holds a distinguished place among the worthies of the Old Testament. As the faithful minister of Moses, as the servant of God, as the bold and believing spy, as the successor of Moses, as the captain of the hosts of Israel, as the conqueror of Canaan, as the type of the Lord Jesus, whose name he bore, he stands in at least the second rank of the great men of the sacred history. But in nothing is he more conspicuously great than in the influence which he exercised upon others by his authority and example. We learn in this section that his weight and influence with the Israelitish nation was such that for a period of not much less than half a century it sufficed to keep the fickle people steadfast in their allegiance to the God of their fathers. By his own influence while he lived, and after his death, by the influence of those whom he had trained during his lifetime, the contagion of idolatry was checked, and the service of God maintained. It is not all great men who have this faculty of influencing others, but it is a most invaluable one. I. The qualities which seem necessary to give it are—(1) Force of character. There must be a firm and steady will, moving always in the orbit of duty, and propelled by inflexible principle, in those who are to influence others. (2) There must be also a quick discernment, a sound judgment which makes few or no mistakes, and a high range of morals and of intellect. (3) There must be a lofty courage to cope with difficulties without flinching, to inspire confidence, and to break down obstacles. (4) There must be unselfishness, and a noble, generous purpose soaring high above petty worldly objects, so as to provoke no rivalries and to excite no suspicions. (5) There must be the qualities which attach men—kindness, geniality of disposition, fairness, considerateness, love; and the qualities which excite admiration, and make it a pleasure and an honour to follow him that has them. (6) There must be an absence of vanity and self-conceit and love of praise, and a genuine simplicity of aim. (7) And above all, to make a man’s influence strong and lasting, there must be in him the true fear and love of God, and the conscious endeavour to promote his glory in everything. Joshua seems to have possessed all these in a high degree, and his influence was in proportion. That he not only possessed but actively exerted this influence for good we see by his address to the people recorded in Josh. 24. And this perhaps should make us add, (8) as one more quality necessary in those who are to influence others largely, that moral courage which makes a man speak out boldly what he knows to be true for the express purpose of persuading and guiding others. II. While, however, influence on the scale in which Joshua exercised it can be possessed by few, every Christian man or woman, whatever may be their station, can and ought to be exercising a healthy influence in their own immediate circle. The light of a genuine Christian life is a light which will make itself seen wherever it shines. In the home, be it palace or cottage, in the village street, in the town court, in the shop, in the factory, in the camp, in the ship, in the social circle, be it humble or be it exalted, be it rude or be it refined, be it unlettered or be it literary and scientific, the influence of a pure, humble, vigorous, devout Christian life must be felt. It must be a power wherever it is. The object of these remarks is to stimulate the reader to desire and to endeavour to exercise such an influence for good, and to supply a motive for checking any action, or course of action, which may weaken or impede such influence. An outbreak of temper, a single grasping or unscrupulous action, a single step in the path of selfishness, or uncharitable disregard of another’s feelings or interests, may undo the effect of many good words and good works. A conscientious desire to influence others for their good and for God’s glory will supply a strong motive for watchful care to give offence in nothing. III. But this section supplies an important caution to those who are influenced When Joshua and the elders were dead, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They had no selbsta¬ndigkeit, no independent strength, no power to stand firm by themselves. Their religion, their good conduct, depended upon another. He was the buttress that supported them; when the buttress was taken away they fell. Hence the caution not to trust in mere influence, but to look well to the foundations of our own faith. The influence of another man is no substitute for a converted heart, and for soundness in faith and love. St. Paul well knew the difference in some of his followers when he was present and when he was absent, and so would have their faith stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It behoves us all to take care of our real principles of action, to examine ourselves, to prove our own selves, whether we be in the faith, whether Christ be really formed in us, whether we are seeking only to please those who have influence over us, or to please God. Else that may happen to us which happened to the Israelites, our upright Christian walks will last as long as we have the support of the good and strong, and no longer. We shall serve the Lord for a while only, and end by serving Baalim and Ashtaroth. The sober Christian life will be exchanged for folly and dissipation, and the pure creed degenerate into superstition or unbelief.

H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., Judges, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 21–22.