Judges 1-2

CHAPTER 1:
        Chapter 1 serves as a bridge between the death of Joshua and the period of time in which Israel had no single leader such as Moses and Joshua. The book of Judges is so named because Israel was ruled by many different judges for a few generations before the coronation of Saul as the first king. Chapter 1 is also a prologue, setting the stage for what was to follow. One of the reasons Israel was plagued by so many enemies and the need for the judges to save them was because they failed to obey God and completely drive out the foreign nations around them, particularly those in the northern parts of the promised land. As predicted by Moses and Joshua, this resulted in Israel falling into the sins of idolatry and immorality which, in turn, brought upon them God’s wrath and judgment.
 
            Verses 1-7: The term “Canaanites” is generally used here in the OT to refer to all the heathen peoples inhabiting the promised land before Israel’s arrival. The Israelites are ready to resume their campaign of conquest, and they ask of God who shall be the first to go fight the Canaanites? (v.1) The LORD confirms that the tribe of Judah will lead the battle, and He also confirms that He has already given them the victory. (v.2) Because part of Simeon’s land is within the land allotted to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 19:1) the elders of Judah ask their brethren from Simeon to join them in their battle against the Canaanites and the Perizzites. (v.3) Simeon, of course, readily agrees and, as God had promised, the victory is theirs. The Israelite army slew ten thousand men that day. (v.4)
            Adoni-bezek is the king of the army that Israel fought against, and though he flees from the battle he’s quickly found and captured. (v.5-6) In the ANE at this time it was custom to cut off the thumbs and big toes of one’s prisoner, especially the kings, as a form of great humiliation and punishment. Adoni-bezek admits that Israel’s action here is just because he had done the same thing to many of his enemies. (v.7) He also recognizes before his death that his defeat was at the hands of the God of Israel.
 
            Verses 8-20: Judah and Simeon continue their campaign northward. We know from verse 21 of this chapter as well as Joshua 15:63 that the city of Jerusalem was never fully captured and conquered by Israel. Therefore, the name Jerusalem in verse 8 doesn’t refer to that city but instead, according to the Moody Bible Commentary, refers to area west of Jerusalem, known today as Mount Zion, where there is a fortress of Canaanites. Next is the Canaanites dwelling in the forests and mountains near that same region (v.9), and then it’s on to Hebron, the city and land that was awarded to Caleb. (Joshua 15:13) After that is Debir. Verses 12-15 are a retelling of Joshua 15:16-19.
          Verse 16 is a reminder that the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, had accepted Moses’ invitation to join with Israel. (Exodus 3:1, 18:7-8, Numbers 10:29) Furthermore, the Kenites are mentioned later in the OT as being faithful to God despite the rest of the nation’s consistent disobedience. (Judges 4:11, 1 Samuel 15:6, 1 Chronicles 2:55)
        Verses 17-20 affirm that “…the LORD was with Judah…”. (v.19) They and Simeon successfully conquered Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron (v.18). The comment in verse 19 about the “chariots of iron” suggests one of two possibilities: Judah’s and Simeon’s faith in God’s ability to give them the victory began to wane by this point; or that God, for some divine purpose, did not give them complete victory. The former seems more likely given the account in the remainder of this chapter. Whatever the reason, the Israelites failed to completely drive out the Canaanites living in the valley of this region.
 
         Verses 22-26: Like Judah and Simeon, the two tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are successful in driving out the inhabitants of Beth-el. Like Rahab in the account of Jericho, one of the men of Beth-el is spared death when he assists the Israelite spies in conquering the city. (v.24-25) The region referred to in verse 26 that belongs to the Hittites is approximately where Syria is today.
 
           Verses 21, 27-36: Unlike their brethren in Judah, Simeon, Ephraim, and part of Manasseh, the remainder of the tribes fail to completely wipe out the Canaanites living in their allotted territories. God, through Moses and Joshua, had given the Israelites a clear and direct command: they were to utterly destroy all the nations of the promised land. They were to tear down the altars to the false gods, destroy the temples, and leave none of the heathen peoples alive. Failure to obey this directive would result in the Canaanites becoming “…snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes…”. (Joshua 23:13) Disobedience would result in God removing His divine providence from Israel, and they would no longer have the victory over their enemies.
            As these verses attest, that is exactly what happened. Instead of driving out the Canaanites, Israel subjugated them and made them slaves. This is what led to the era of the Judges for which this book is named.

CHAPTER 2:
         This chapter, in conjunction with chapter 1, serves as a prologue for this period of Israel’s history. The author is explaining how and why God’s chosen people fell from His grace and earned His divine wrath and judgment. It started with Israel’s failure to completely drive out the inhabitants of the promised land, as explained in chapter 1. Now, in this passage, the author expounds on the consequences of that first sin which Moses and Joshua warned the people would happen if they disobeyed God’s directive.
 
           Verses 1-10: The angel of the LORD in verse 1 is the preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. It’s not clear from these first five verses exactly when in the conquest narrative this scene took place, but it was probably after the initial campaign of conquest described in chapters 1-12 of Joshua. (v.6) Chapter 18 describes Joshua’s rebuke of the seven tribes that had yet to divide up their portion of the land and settle it. It’s very likely that this scene which opens Judges 2 took place about that time. The question at the end of verse 2 clearly implies that God’s directive to Israel has not been completed as originally instructed. The LORD once again warns His people that if they fail to obey His command to destroy the altars of the heathen and drive them out, then He will cease to give them the victory over their enemies. Instead they “…shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.” (v.3)
            Confronted with the sin of their disobedience, Israel immediately repents and offers up the proper sacrifices for atonement. (v.4) The name of the place, Bochim, means “weeping”. (v.5) As mentioned above, verse 6 indicates where in the conquest timeline the scene of the first 5 verses took place. Israel now departs Shiloh to complete the conquest, and this is probably also when the battles described in chapter 1 of Judges took place. But, as mentioned by the author at the end of that account, Israel still failed to completely drive out the Canaanites as ordered by God.
            The nation is faithful to God and to Joshua for the rest of his days as well as the remaining years of that generation that entered the promised land. (v.7-10) Unfortunately, that generation failed to properly teach their children the law of Moses and obedience to the God of their fathers because verse 10 makes it clear that their descendants “…knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.” Or, possibly, their children deliberately rebelled and turned away from God because of the failure of their fathers to utterly wipe out the heathen nations around them. Either way, the stage is now set for the cyclical pattern of disobedience, judgement, and repentance that takes up the rest of the book of Judges.
 
            Verses 11-19: This passage summarizes the detailed accounts that are given in the rest of this book. The author begins by describing how Israel turned away from the one, true God to serve the false gods known as Baalim. (v.11-13) That word is plural, indicating that while Baal is the central god of the Canaanite religion, there are also many other gods and goddesses associated with Baal. Exactly what God had warned His people would happen if they disobeyed happened. As a result, “…the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel…” (v.14), and he brings upon them judgement in the form of attacks from the heathen nations around them that they failed to drive out of the promised land. No matter what Israel does, God’s hand is “…against them for evil…” (v.15) as He had promised them would happen if they disobeyed.
            At the same time, however, the Lord’s mercy is evident in the form of judges which He arranges to deliver the people when they repent and turn back to Him. (v.16) But as soon as their enemies are defeated, Israel turns right back to their idolatry and apostasy, and the cycle repeats itself. (v.17-18) With each of the judges, God is with him/her, and it’s by His almighty hand that Israel is given the victory. (v.18) But as soon as the judge dies, Israel falls back into sin. (v.19)
 
            Verses 20-23: This closing passage describes God’s reason for not driving out the inhabitants of Canaan on behalf of His chosen people. That reason is twofold: 1) He uses the heathen nations to carry out His divine judgment against Israel for their sin as described in verses 14-15; and 2) as a way of proving Israel, testing them to see if they will adhere to His law and His statutes as given to them by Moses. (v.22) In the same way that God allows trials and temptations to come upon us believers today, He allows Israel’s enemies to vex them in order to draw them back to Him. (Judges 3:1, 4) And just as God allows us today to suffer the consequences of our own poor choices, so He allows Israel to suffer the consequences of their sins of disobedience, idolatry, pride, and immorality.