⚔️ Judges 2 — Key Summary: ๐ The Chapter That Shows the Result of Those Who Failed the Test
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In Judges 1, the inhabitants who remained among the tribes of Israel are recorded. Among them, special attention is given to those who did not obey God’s command and failed to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan.
⚔️ Key Summary of Judges 2
๐ The Result of Disobedience
Judges 2 clarifies the question raised in Chapter 1:
The Angel of the Lord delivers God’s message:
“You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land, and you shall break down their altars.” But you have not obeyed My voice. Therefore, I will not drive them out from before you; they will become thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you. (vv. 2–3)
๐ This warning had already been given several times in the Pentateuch and also during the time of Joshua.
Numbers 33:55
Deuteronomy 7:16
Joshua 23:13
๐ The People’s Reaction
After the Angel of the Lord rebuked them, the Israelites’ reaction is very interesting.
Whenever similar situations occurred, they repeatedly responded in almost the same way:
“The people raised their voices and wept.”
1. Numbers 11:4–10:
They wept because they had no meat.
2. Numbers 14:1:
After hearing the report of the spies — especially about the descendants of Anak — they wept aloud throughout the night.
3. Numbers 25:6:
When the plague came because of sexual immorality with the Moabite women and idolatry, they wept at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
4. Deuteronomy 1:45:
After the incident at Kadesh-barnea, they disobeyed the command, went up into the hill country, were defeated by the Amorites, and then returned and wept before the Lord.
๐ When someone dies, we can understand crying as an expression of sorrow over separation. But the Israelites cried when they were rebuked, cried when they were hungry...
Why did they cry so much?
It seems to show that, even at that time, the mentality of slaves who had lived in Egypt had not completely disappeared.
→ A slave may develop the habit of crying first out of fear of punishment before taking responsibility for his own mistake.
In a sense, their reaction seems to reveal more of the attitude of servants who fear punishment than that of people who take responsibility before God.
๐ The Bible also frequently gives a name to a place when recording an important event like this.
This time, the place was called “Bochim,” meaning “those who weep.”
๐ The Time When Israel Began to Disobey Came Precisely With the Change of Generations! ๐
When Israel obeyed God:
“And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.” (v. 7)
When disobedience began:
“And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (v. 10)
Then they began:
To abandon the Lord;
To serve Baal and Ashtaroth.
The Result of Disobedience:
The Lord gave them into the hands of raiders → and they were plundered;
They could no longer withstand their enemies;
Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring disaster upon them.
Disobedience Increased As the Generations Changed
When they were oppressed and afflicted by their enemies, they cried out to the Lord in great distress.
→ Then the Lord raised up judges to deliver them.
But...
They did not obey the judges either;
They followed other gods, committed spiritual adultery, and bowed down to them;
After the judge died, the people “turned back and became more corrupt than their fathers,” following other gods, serving them, bowing down to them, and refusing to give up their rebellious practices (v. 19).
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๐ Conclusion — 1
At the end of Judges 2, God explains why the peoples of Canaan had been left in the land during the time of Joshua.
๐ Verses 21–23 are easier to understand when read in reverse order. ๐
“I will not drive out any more before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.” (v. 21)
๐ Why?
“In order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” (v. 22)
And then:
“So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.” (v. 23)
→ Israel had entered the land of Canaan, conquered large territories through many battles, and received their inheritance.
However, God had a purpose in leaving some of these nations:
to test whether Israel would continue to walk in the way of the Lord, just as their ancestors had done.
๐ Conclusion — 2
๐ Going back one more verse, we come to verse 20, which records:
“Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice.” (v. 20)
✔️ They were a people who had broken the covenant and failed to obey God’s command!
✔️ The nations had been left in the land as a test... but in the end, Israel failed the test, and the covenant was broken. ๐
In this way, Judges 2 seems to reveal something important:
God left the nations in the land to test Israel, but Israel’s failure to obey God’s voice revealed the result of that test.
The problem was not the nations that remained.
The real problem was the heart of Israel, which failed to remain faithful to the covenant. ๐
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