Judges 2:3

_WHEREFORE 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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-5 It was the great Angel of the covenant, the Word, the Son of God, who spake with Divine authority as Jehovah, and now called them to account for their disobedience. God sets forth what he had done for Israel, and what he had promised. Those who throw off communion with God, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, know not what they do now, and will have nothing to say for themselves in the day of account shortly. They must expect to suffer for this their folly. Those deceive themselves who expect advantages from friendship with God's enemies. God often makes men's sin their punishment; and thorns and snares are in the way of the froward, who will walk contrary to God. The people wept, crying out against their own folly and ingratitude. They trembled at the word, and not without cause. It is a wonder sinners can ever read the Bible with dry eyes. Had they kept clos...

Verse Judges 2:3. _I WILL NOT DRIVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU_] Their transgressions, and breach of the covenant, were the reasons why they were not put in entire possession of the promised land. See note at the end of this chapter. _Clarke "_Judges 2:23_"_....

“WHEREFORE I ALSO SAID” - Rather because ye have done the things mentioned in Judges 2:2, “I have now said (i. e. I now protest and declare) that I will not drive them out from before you” (compare Judges 19:29). And it was the annonncement of this resolution by the Angel that caused the people to weep. The word thorns in this verse is supplied by the King James Version from the similar passage in Joshua (see the marginal reference). Other versions adopt a different reading of the original text, and prefer the sense “they shall be to you for adversaries” (compare the last words of Numbers 33:55)....

EXPOSITION It is often extremely difficult to make out the _sequence_ of a Hebrew narrative, the narrator going back and travelling over the same ground in respect _of time _which he had already traversed, in order to introduce some circumstances which had been omitted (see Judges 7:25, note, and Judges 7:4, note). This appears to be the ease With this section. The mention of Gilgal in Judges 2:1 seems to point distinctly to the early time of the entrance into Canaan under Joshua, because it was quite in the beginning of the Israelite occupation that the camp was at Gilgal, and it was there that the angel of the Lord spake to Joshua (Jos

WHEREFORE I ALSO SAID,.... Supposing, or on condition of their being guilty of the above things, which was foreseen they would: I WILL NOT DRIVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU; the seven nations of the Canaanites entirely, and which accounts for the various instances related in the preceding chapter; where it is observed, that they could not, or did not, drive the old inhabitants out of such and such places, because they sinned against the Lord, and he forsook them, and would not assist them in their enterprises, or them to their sloth and indolence: BUT THEY SHALL BE [AS THORNS] IN YOUR SIDES: very troublesome and afflicting, see Numbers 33:55; or for straits, as the Septuagint, or be such as would bring them into tribulation, and distress them, as the Targum; so they often did: AND THEIR GODS SHALL BE A SNARE UNTO YOU; which they suffe

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

JUDGES 1:1 TO JUDGES 2:5. THE CONQUESTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE ISRAELITES IN WESTERN PALESTINE. From this introduction, which is one of the most valuable parts of early Hebrew history, we learn that the various tribes invaded the land either singly or in small groups; that they had failures as well as successes; that in many instances they did not destroy the older population, but settled peacefully among them; and that, in particular, the larger cities of Canaan, as well as the fertile valleys and the Maritime Plain, remained in the possession of the Canaanites. The conquests of Judah were separated from those of Joseph by a belt of walled cities with Jerusalem in its centre. Another line of strongholds, extending from Bethshan near the Jordan to Dor on the sea coast, shut up Ephraim and Manasseh in the central highland

BE AS THORNS IN YOUR SIDES. Some codices read "be adversaries to you". Compare Numbers 33:55.Joshua 23:13....

Judges 2:1-5. _The angel of Jehovah moves from Gilgal; he rebukes Israel's unfaithfulness. Origin of Bochim_ This section connects with ch. 1. The going up of the Angel of Jehovah from Gilgal to Beth-el marks the close of the period of invasion (Judges 2:1 a); the settlement of the tribes in Canaan involves a transference of the sanctuary (Judges 2:5 b); the intervening verses (1b 5a) connect the preceding narrative with the History of the Judges (Judges 2:6 to Judges 16:31). The latter verses were probably composed by the post-exilic editor who introduced ch. 1 into its