TEXT [Commentary]

B.   Fractured Covenant (2:6–3:6)

6 After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. 7 And the Israelites served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah[*] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.

11 The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12 They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD. 13 They abandoned the LORD to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. 14 This made the LORD burn with anger against Israel, so he handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them. 15 Every time Israel went out to battle, the LORD fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress.

16 Then the LORD raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. 17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commands.

18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the LORD took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

20 So the LORD burned with anger against Israel. He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, 21 I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. 22 I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the LORD as their ancestors did.” 23 That is why the LORD left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.

CHAPTER 3

1 These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. 2 He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. 3 These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4 These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses.

5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 6 and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.

NOTES

2:6 After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. In 2:6-9 the writer quotes Josh 24:28-31 with a change in order. In Joshua, the dismissal of the people (Josh 24:28) is followed by Joshua’s death and burial (Josh 24:29-30) and then by a notation that the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and the elders who outlived him (Josh 24:31). The author of Judges repeats the passage, but places the statement about the faithfulness of Israel directly after the dismissal. The shift creates a caesura that heightens the contrast between the era of faithfulness and the rise of the new, faithless generation.

2:7 those who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. In speaking of the previous generation’s experience of Yahweh’s mighty acts, the Joshua author used the term “knew” (“experienced” in NLT, Josh 24:31). The Judges author changed this to “had seen” to highlight the direct experience of the previous generation as witnesses. (On Judges’ literary dependence on Joshua, see references in note on 1:1.)

2:9 Timnath-serah. Lit., “Timnath-Heres” or “portion of the sun,” entailing a possible allusion to a solar deity. This is probably the correct place name, but the NLT alters it to match Josh 19:50 and Josh 24:30, which have “Timnath-serah,” which, if not a misspelling, might mean “portion of excess” (ABD 6.557-558).

2:10 another generation grew up. The Hebrew construction emphasizes “other”; the new generation was not merely subsequent, but different in character.

did not acknowledge the LORD. The NLT renders an important nuance of “know” (yada‘ [TH3045, ZH3359]). 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.

2:11 The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight. This expression becomes fundamental for a large section of the book, with variants (“again/still did evil” in 3:7, 11-12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). Israel’s evildoing forms the most consistent element of the so-called cyclical pattern of the book. Though specified as violating the first commandment in 3:7, this specification does not appear again until 10:6-18, leaving the reader to imagine what forms this evil took in the meantime. A review of the occurrences of “evil in Yahweh’s eyes” in the OT reveals numerous possibilities! The delaying of specific claims to idolatry (after the Othniel account) until 10:6-18 contributes to the sense that the later narratives paint a darker portrait of the nation than the earlier ones.

served the images of Baal. Lit., “served the Baals.” “Baal” can denote a plurality of gods, including a range of local variants on the Canaanite storm and fertility deity. While the Decalogue distinguishes between worshiping other gods and worshiping images, in the Canaanite context the distinction is moot.

2:13 Baal and . . . Ashtoreth. Baal is the storm god and the god of fertility in northwest Semitic religion. In the Ugaritic texts his consort is normally Anat, but Ashtoreth also appears as a consort of Baal, though less frequently. She is associated with Ishtar and the planet Venus, and in the OT with Sidon. A temple to Ashtoreth apparently stood in Beth-shan, where the Philistines exhibited Saul’s weapons after hanging his corpse on the city wall (1 Sam 31:8-13).

2:14 raiders. Heb., shosim [TH8154A, ZH9115] (also in 2:16); it could possibly refer to a category of groups in ancient Canaan, mentioned in Egyptian texts. The “Shasu” of the Egyptian texts were tribally organized “enclosed” nomadic pastoralists. They were fierce in battle, wielding axes and spears, and wore clothing resembling berets and kilts (Yadin 1963:1.230-233; Redford 1992:271-280; Drews 1993:183; R. Miller 2005:95-96; Rainey 2008). Egyptian texts portray them as rebellious, quarrelsome highwaymen, mercenaries, and brigands. Documentation places them throughout Palestine and on both sides of the Jordan. Interestingly, three Egyptian texts associate the Shasu with the name Yahweh (­Redford 1992:271-272). Their presence typifies the chaos that reigned not just in Palestine, but throughout the whole eastern Mediterranean following the cultural meltdown accompanying the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the first Iron Age.

2:16 the LORD raised up judges. The expression “raised up,” asserting the divine origin of the judges, appears subsequently in Judges only in connection with Othniel and Ehud (3:9, 15). This clearly connotes the author’s approval of these two judges, and leaves some question about the others. The sense of “judge” for the actions and actors in these stories is discussed in the Introduction. In comparison with the stories that follow, the absence from this passage of any reference to Israel’s outcry or repentance, or to the Spirit of Yahweh, is striking.

2:17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges. Note the friction between this claim and 2:18-19, which seems to imply that Israel did serve Yahweh during the judges’ lifetimes. This passage, however, makes no statement about the judges’ impact on the obedience of the people. Ambivalence about the actual religious effectiveness of these figures marks the book as a whole.

prostituted themselves. This expression uses the term zanah [TH2181, ZH2388], typically denoting adultery or prostitution, as an image for Israel’s apostasy. This idiom, rather common in the OT and so critical in this passage, ironically appears only seldom in the rest of the book to denote apostasy (cf. 8:27, 33) though the noun form “prostitute” appears (11:1; 16:1) along with a related verbal form denoting marital abandonment (19:2, but cf. note there).

by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commands.

2:18 the LORD took pity on his people. The writer predicates deliverance not on the outcry or repentance of the people, but appeals solely to Yahweh’s pity.

2:20 the LORD burned with anger against Israel. This outbreak of divine wrath is the second reported in this passage, suggesting a structure of two “sin-wrath” sequences, structuring the unit not as a “cycle” but as a linear slope from apostasy to wrath, leading to deliverance by judges, to which the Israelites responded with even worse rebellion, leading to a renewed divine wrath, issuing in the statements of 2:20b-23 and the state of affairs summarized in 3:1-4.

these people have violated my covenant. Explicit references to the Lord’s “covenant” (berith [TH1285, ZH1382]) with his people are rare in Judges (cf. 2:1-5). Direct divine speech to Israel as a whole, as opposed to speech mediated by an oracle (cf. 1:2-3; 20:18, 23, 27-28), angel (2:1-5), or prophet (6:7-10), appears only in 2:20-23 and 10:10-14, though it is not clear how these messages were conveyed to the Israelites. Both instances of direct divine speech are condemnations.

2:21 I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. The exact reasons given for nations remaining in the land after Joshua vary (cf. 3:1-5) and reflect the complexity of the process of the settlement and of Israel’s emerging national and religious awareness. A range of theological perceptions arose as Israel pondered the problem of its national and religious identity and boundaries.

2:22 to test Israel. The verb used here is identical to that in Gen 22:1, used of God’s testing Abraham by commanding the sacrifice of Isaac. These verses state that Yahweh chose to allow some of the nations to remain by design, specifically to see if Israel would be obedient. This stands in some tension with the idea that the nations remained solely because of Israel’s failure to drive them all out (cf. 1:19, 27, 31; 2:2-3). The text goes on to state that Yahweh intentionally limited Joshua’s success in order to test the next generation’s obedience. This theme returns in 3:4 after a digression in 3:1-3 that modifies this theme significantly.

3:1 to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. Here the term “test” connotes something different from 2:22 and carries a more pedagogical nuance. The present Israelites lacked the knowledge (NLT “experience”) of the “wars of Canaan” (by which the writer might be referring to the conquest but possibly also the ongoing wars of settlement).

3:2 He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. The syntax of the sentence in this passage is difficult for translators attempting to link its phrases together into a coherent whole. The Hebrew reads “only in order that the generations of the Israelites might know, to teach them war, only those who had not formerly known them.” Note this statement softens the punitive note of the previous words about the remaining nations.

3:3 the nations. The nations that follow largely resided outside the original area of Israelite settlement. The list loosely mirrors the list of lands yet to be taken in Josh 13:1-7. The Philistines settled in Gaza on the southern coast, which marked the southern boundary of Canaan in most Egyptian texts (ABD 6.17-18). Sidon was a port city of ancient Phoenicia on the northern coast that lay in the region assigned to the tribe of Asher (Josh 19:28), noted as unconquered in 1:31. Later, the Sidonians are said to have oppressed Israel (10:12), and Israel served the gods of Sidon, among others (10:6). The Sidonians typified peaceful, secure isolation to the Danite spies (18:7, 28). Lebo-hamath, Mount Lebanon, seems to denote the region between Mount Baal-hermon, the tallest peak in the region at over 10,000 feet (ABD 4:269-270) and Lebo-hamath. The latter literally means “the entrance of Hamath” and in several passages marks the upper limit of the Promised Land (Num 34:7-9; Josh 13:5; Ezek 47:16; ABD 3:36-37). Thus the author’s noting the presence of these people, particularly in the north, is somewhat puzzling, since these regions did not form the objective of the conquest. These northern points previously demarcated the boundary between the Egyptian and Hittite spheres of influence.

3:4 to test the Israelites. The author turns back to the theme noted in 3:1, that the remaining nations serve as a test of obedience, a function not identical to serving simply as punishment for failure.

3:5 lived among. The use of the phrase “lived among” harks back to 1:29-30, near the end of that chapter’s step-wise decline. Israel, intended to be triumphant, is reduced to an enclave among the nations over which they were to be victorious.

3:6 and they intermarried . . . and . . . served their gods. The writer in 3:5-6 summarizes the whole failure of Israel. They lived among the enemies, they intermarried among the enemies, and they capitulated and served their enemies’ gods.

COMMENTARY [Text]

As with 1:1, so also the second part of the prologue links back to the book of Joshua, recapitulating and reframing the report of Joshua’s death. This section also presents what is commonly taken to be the “Deuteronomistic” prologue to the hero narratives. Noth (1991:69-76) argued that the original form of the Deuteronomic History passed from the end of Joshua 23 directly to Judges 2:6, with Joshua 24 and Judges 1:1–2:5 being later interpolations, though not necessarily from the same hand. His literary analysis coheres whether or not 2:6–3:6 is considered “Deuteronomistic” in perspective. Joshua 24—Judges 3:6 greatly enlarges on and interprets the historical transition between Joshua and the era of apostasy between Joshua’s death and the rise of the monarchy. That 2:6–3:6 is Deuteronomistic seems doubtful, though it certainly does not contradict Deuteronomy’s perspective (see Introduction).

This section views Israel’s experience after Joshua’s death from the angle of religious faithfulness rather than from a military perspective. As in the preceding unit, Joshua’s death is made the turning point (2:6-9) at which Israel turns away from Yahweh, despite the efforts of the judges (2:10-19). The section then moves to a speech of divine anger in which Yahweh’s promises to drive out the nations are rescinded as Joshua had threatened (Josh 23:13) per the warnings of Moses (cf. Exod 34:12; Num 33:55; Deut 7:16), and the settlement as a victorious military operation is terminated (2:20–3:4). A summary of the entire opening section closes the first major unit of Judges (3:5-6).

Judges 2:6-9 quotes Joshua 24:28-31, but rearranges the sentences to identify Joshua’s death with Israel’s spiritual transition. The description asserts the effectiveness of Joshua and the “leaders [lit., elders] who outlived him” (the conquest generation) in eliciting Israel’s fidelity, a task at which later leaders failed. A standard is set by which later generations will be judged. By declaring that Joshua dismissed them “to take possession of the land” (2:6), the writer frankly accepts that the conquest did not complete this task. The conquest was about defeating the foe, breaking the back of the Late Bronze Age imperium, shattering the hegemony of Egypt exercised via its oppressive surrogates (the Canaanite city-state kings), ending the chaotic warring and looting of plunderers and pillagers, and creating an environment in which a new community could be formed. The book of Judges should have been the story of how Israel constructed that community as an alternative to both the preceding imperium and the barbarism that had blanketed Canaan in the form of the Sea Peoples, Apiru, Shasu, bedouin, and bandits. But such was not to be. Judges 2:10-13 declares the faithlessness of the generation after Joshua and the elders, which knew neither Yahweh nor his acts. This language, reminiscent of Pharaoh’s in Exodus 5, denotes not innocent ignorance, but intentional ignorance of Yahweh’s gracious salvation and self-disclosure.

Judges 2:11-19 is often understood as introducing the “cyclical” stories in 3:7–16:31, since many of the introductory and concluding phrases are brought together here. This, however, is not strictly accurate. A simple overview of 3:7–16:31 would need to emphasize the repeated character of the apostasies, oppressions, etc., as 2:18-19 does. Judges 2:11-13, on the other hand, speaks of a single doing evil in Yahweh’s eyes. The entire period is thus branded as a single, gigantic falling away. The “cycles” are part of one cycle. The sequence of verbs in 2:11b-13 identifies the violation of the first commandment as the essence of Israel’s evil. A chiastic bracket formed by the words “served (2:11b) . . . abandoned . . . abandoned . . . serve[d] (2:13)” encloses three verbs: “went after . . . worship[ed] . . . angered.” Though there are many ways that an Israelite might do evil in Yahweh’s eyes, all other evils descend from this first, fatal confusion.

Judges 2:14-15 describes the outworking of Yahweh’s wrath—his personal opposition to his people’s infidelity. Yahweh acted indirectly through historical forces to hand Israel over to its enemies. He left Israel impotent in defense (2:14b) and offense (2:15a). It could neither hold on to the land already taken, nor expand its possession. The fulfillment of the promise of the land was thus in immediate jeopardy. Apostate Israel could now count Yahweh himself among its foes.

Judges 2:16-19 describes the judges as God’s overture to unfaithful Israel. In contrast to the stories in 3:7–16:31, the judges are not said to be raised up in response to Israel’s cry, but are sent on divine initiative, an expression of divine compassion (2:16, 18). Verses 17-19 identify two problems with the judges: Verses 18-19 show a judge’s impact was limited to that judge’s lifetime. Moreover, 2:17 emphatically states—in tension with 2:18-19—that Israel did not even heed the judges during their lives, but “prostituted themselves.” This unusual term appears elsewhere in Judges only in 8:27-35, where it describes the Hebrews’ infatuation with the image made by Gideon. Verses 16-19 also fail to state explicitly that the judges actually elicited faithful service to Yahweh. Thus, 2:19b notes the judges had no effect on Israel’s penchant for treachery (a point emphasized by 2:17-19’s use of several terms found in 2:11-13).

In 2:20-23, Yahweh’s wrath breaks out afresh. This unit describes not a recurring cycle, but a process of decline: Apostasy led to oppression (2:11-15), and when Israel persisted in betrayal despite the judges (2:16-19), divine wrath reasserted itself. Here at last, Yahweh’s wrath finds expression not in inarticulate historical forces, but in a rare divine speech (see note on 2:20). In this indictment, as in 2:1-3, God accuses Israel of breaking covenant, which causes him to withdraw support in the conquest. This speech also makes explicit what 1:1–2:5 only implied: The nations remaining after Joshua would be a test for Israel.

Judges 3:1-4 concludes the second unit of the introduction, listing the nations Yahweh allowed to remain, and taking up the concept, implicit in 1:1–2:5 and explicit in 2:20-23, of Yahweh intentionally leaving some of Joshua’s enemies undefeated as a trial for Israel’s fidelity. The Hebrew nasah [TH5254, ZH5814], usually translated “tempt,” is better rendered “test” (NLT, NIV) or “try.” It connotes not so much incitement to evil as the attempt to discern the quality or suitability of something, as when David “tries” Saul’s armor (1 Sam 17:39). The list of remaining nations (3:3) is bracketed by statements specifying the nature of the test. Judges 3:1b-2 emphasizes the test’s beneficent, pedagogical intent. The nations remained so that a new generation might learn directly of Yahweh’s action for Israel in the “wars of Canaan.” In the context of the conquest, learning warfare meant instruction in total fidelity to Yahweh, total obedience to his instructions, and total confidence in his power. Verse 4 makes this explicit: The remaining enemies would challenge Israel to an obedience comparable to that of their faithful fathers. The new generation would have the chance to be like their faithful forebears, to experience God’s direct saving action in their own lifetime.

Verses 5-6 note three specific failures of Israel after the death of Joshua that summarize the sad outcome of Israel’s testing and give the essence of both major sections of the introduction (1:10–2:5 and 2:6–3:4). First, “lived among the Canaanites” (3:5; cf. 1:31-33) epitomizes Israel’s military failure, as 1:1–2:5 depicts. They failed the challenge of 3:1b-2. Second, intermarriage with the Canaanites (3:6) constitutes a cultural surrender that, though not specifically mentioned in 1:1–3:4, seems the logical outcome of the military failure and the making of covenants with the Canaanites (2:1-5). This is a clear expression of compromise and a failure of the test of 3:4. The element of intermarriage also probably foreshadows the career of Samson. Third, “served their gods” (3:6) well captures the invective of 2:6–3:4.

As a whole, 1:1–3:6 characterizes the entire period “after the death of Joshua” as one of increasing faithlessness and frustration. Judges 1:1–2:5 explores the tacit apostasy of compromise, while 2:6-23 delineates explicit apostasy and its debilitating impact on Israel’s mission. No easy relationship between sinfulness and failure, or faithfulness and success is presented. In 1:1–2:5 failure is sin; in 2:6-23 failure results from sin. In 3:1-6, the failures of a past generation provide a challenge and opportunity to the next. Both introductory units emphasize in advance that Israel will not stop sinning. The judges, even when successful in deliverance, still ultimately fail in eliciting covenant fidelity. This introduction (1:1–3:6) reveals that Israel’s problem is not inadequate power but vacillating character. The report of the ultimate failure of the judges (2:16-19; 3:5-6) and its acclaim of Judah (1:1-18) hint at Judah, and possibly its most famous tribesman, David, as the true channel for realizing God’s promise. More importantly, the introduction teaches that even while living in the land, Israel could abort its mission. To live in Canaan, without serving Yahweh, was to cease to be truly “Israel.” Holding God’s gift (the land) without faithfully holding to God himself is a doomed travesty. Centuries later, the exiled Judeans who preserved the book of Judges discovered the crucial converse of this principle: A community keeping faith with Yahweh, even outside the land, constitutes the true Israel.