Judges 2:18

_AND YET THEY WOULD NOT HEARKEN UNTO THEIR JUDGES BUT THEY WENT A WHORING AFTER OTHER GODS AND BOWED_ _ AND 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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

6-23 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...

Verse Judges 2:18. _THE LORD WAS WITH THE JUDGE_] God himself was king, and the judge was his representative. _IT REPENTED THE LORD_] He changed his purpose towards them: he purposed to destroy them _because of their sin_; they _repented_ and turned to him, and he _changed this purpose_. The purpose was to destroy them if they _did not repent_; when they _did repent_, his not destroying them was quite consistent with his purpose....

IT REPENTED THE LORD - Rather, “the Lord was moved with compassion,” or “was grieved,” “because of their groanings.” (Compare Judges 21:15.)...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 2:14, JUDGES 2:15 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 Psalms 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

AND WHEN THE LORD RAISED THEM UP JUDGES, THEN THE LORD WAS WITH THE JUDGE,.... Every one of them that he raised up; as he stirred up their spirits for such service, to judge his people, and qualified them for it, he assisted and strengthened them, and abode by them, and succeeded them in whatsoever they engaged for the welfare of the people; the Targum is, "the Word of the Lord was for the help of the judge:'' AND DELIVERED THEM OUT OF THE HANDS OF THEIR ENEMIES ALL THE DAYS OF THE JUDGE; so long as a judge lived, or continued to be their judge, they were protected by him, and preserved from falling into the hands of their enemies: FOR IT REPENTED THE LORD BECAUSE OF THEIR GROANINGS, BY REASON OF THEM THAT OPPRESSED THEM AND VEXED THEM; the Lord being merciful had compassion upon them, when they groaned under their oppressions, and cried unto him, then he received their prayer, as the...

JUDGES The judges were tribesmen in Israel upon whom the Lord laid the burden of Israel's apostate and oppressed state. They were the spiritual ancestors of the prophets; that is to say, men raised up of God, the theocratic King, to represent Him in the nation. They were patriots and religious reformers because national security and prosperity were inseparably connected with loyalty and obedience to Jehovah. Not one of the chosen deliverers had anything whereof to glory in the flesh. Othniel was but the son of the younger brother of Caleb; Ehud was a left-handed man and an assassin; Shamgar, a rustic with an ox-goad; Deborah, a woman; Gideon, of an obscure family in the smallest tribe, etc. Each of the classes mentioned in (1 Corinthians 1:27); (1 Corinthians 1:28) is

2. THE ANGEL AT BOCHIM AND THE HISTORY OF THE ENTIRE BOOK Chapter S 2:1-3:4 _ 1. The angel at Bochim (Judges 2:1)_ 2. Israel's obedience remembered (Judges 2:6) 3. Israel's strange gods (Judges 2:11) 4. Israel's history under the judges outlined (Judges 2:16) 5. The nations left to prove Israel (Judges 2:19; Judges 3:1) The opening event of this chapter is significant. The Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. This Angel is J

ALL THE DAYS, &C. This raises the question as to Deborah's call. See note on Judges 4:4....

_was with the judge_ as He had been with Moses and Joshua, Joshua 1:5. The Hebrew tense here shews that the verbs _was, saved_, denote frequentative acts in the past, _used to be, used to save_; similarly, _it repented the Lord_means _the Lord used to be moved to pity_. Not that Jehovah abandoned His fixed intention to punish, but His compassion was roused by the people's cries to mitigate His purpose. _oppressed … vexed_ The first word is used characteristically of Israel's oppressors, Judges 4:3; Judges 6:9; Judges 10:12; 1 Samuel 10:18; cf.