Judges 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The angel of the LORD comes to Bochim and charges Israel with making agreements with the people of the land instead of tearing down their altars, and says that those nations will stay as thorns in their sides and their gods as a trap. The chapter then records Joshua's death and burial, and the rise of a generation that did not know the LORD or what he had done for Israel. It lays out the pattern that runs through the rest of the book: Israel serves other gods, the LORD hands them over to enemies, he raises up a judge who rescues them while that judge lives, and after the judge dies they turn back and grow worse. It closes with the LORD's word that he will not drive out the nations Joshua left, so that through them he may test whether Israel will keep his way.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • A messenger of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim.
   • The messenger of the LORD said that he brought the people up out of Egypt.
   • The messenger of the LORD said that he brought them into the land he had sworn to their fathers.
   • The messenger of the LORD said that he had declared he would never break his covenant with them.
2. 2:2
   • The messenger of the LORD said they were to make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land.
   • The messenger of the LORD said they were to tear down the altars of the inhabitants of the land.
   • The messenger of the LORD said they had not obeyed his voice.
   • The messenger of the LORD asked them what it was that they had done.
3. 2:3
   • The messenger of the LORD said he had also declared that he would not drive the inhabitants out from before them.
   • The messenger of the LORD said the inhabitants would be at their sides against them; the phrase is elliptical and can mean either adversaries or thorns in their sides.
   • The messenger of the LORD said the gods of the inhabitants would be a snare to them.
4. 2:4
   • The messenger of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel.
   • When he had spoken, the people lifted up their voice.
   • The people wept.
5. 2:5
   • They called the name of that place Bochim.
   • They sacrificed there to the LORD.
6. 2:6
   • Joshua sent the people away.
   • The children of Israel each went to his own inheritance.
   • They went to take possession of the land.
7. 2:7
   • The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua.
   • The people served the LORD all the days of the elders who lived on after Joshua.
   • Those elders had seen all the great work of the LORD.
   • The LORD had done that great work for Israel.
8. 2:8
   • Joshua the son of Nun died.
   • Joshua was the servant of the LORD.
   • Joshua was one hundred and ten years old when he died.
9. 2:9
   • They buried Joshua within the territory of his inheritance.
   • They buried him at Timnath-heres.
   • Timnath-heres is in the hill country of Ephraim.
   • The burial place was north of Mount Gaash.
10. 2:10
    • All that generation were also gathered to their fathers.
    • Another generation arose after them.
    • That generation did not know the LORD.
    • That generation did not know the work the LORD had done for Israel.
11. 2:11
    • The children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
    • The children of Israel served the Baals.
12. 2:12
    • They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers.
    • The LORD had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
    • They went after other gods.
    • Those gods were from the gods of the peoples around them.
    • They bowed down to those gods.
    • They provoked the LORD to anger.
13. 2:13
    • They forsook the LORD.
    • They served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
14. 2:14
    • The anger of the LORD burned against Israel.
    • The LORD gave them into the hand of plunderers.
    • The plunderers plundered them.
    • The LORD sold them into the hand of their enemies all around.
    • They could no longer stand before their enemies.
15. 2:15
    • Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm.
    • This was as the LORD had spoken.
    • This was as the LORD had sworn to them.
    • They were greatly distressed.
16. 2:16
    • The LORD raised up judges.
    • The judges saved them from the hand of those who plundered them.
17. 2:17
    • They did not listen to their judges.
    • They prostituted themselves after other gods.
    • They bowed down to those gods.
    • They turned aside quickly from the way their fathers had walked in.
    • Their fathers had walked in obedience to the commandments of the LORD.
    • They themselves did not do so.
18. 2:18
    • Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge.
    • The LORD saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of that judge.
    • The LORD relented because of their groaning.
    • Their groaning was caused by those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19. 2:19
    • When the judge died, they turned back.
    • They acted more corruptly than their fathers.
    • They went after other gods.
    • They served those gods.
    • They bowed down to those gods.
    • They did not let go of any of their practices.
    • They did not let go of their stubborn way.
20. 2:20
    • The anger of the LORD burned against Israel.
    • The LORD said that this nation had transgressed his covenant.
    • The LORD had commanded that covenant to their fathers.
    • The LORD said they had not listened to his voice.
21. 2:21
    • The LORD said he would no longer drive out any nation from before them.
    • These were the nations Joshua left when he died.
22. 2:22
    • The purpose was to test Israel by those nations.
    • The test was whether they would keep the way of the LORD by walking in it, as their fathers kept it, or not.
23. 2:23
    • The LORD left those nations in place.
    • He did not drive them out quickly.
    • He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1

"The angel of the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "the LORD's messenger"; in these stories such a messenger speaks in the first person as God himself, and the text does not always distinguish the two. Gilgal was Israel's first camp west of the Jordan after crossing into the land, and had served as their base during the conquest. "Your fathers" means their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promise of the land was originally sworn. A covenant (the KJV word, rendered "agreement" here) was a formal binding pact of the kind kings made with subject peoples: it laid down obligations on both sides and was sealed with oaths.

2:2

"League" in 1611 English meant a treaty or alliance, not a sporting association. Treaties between peoples in this period were sworn in the names of both sides' gods and often sealed by intermarriage, so a treaty with the local population carried religious ties with it. An altar was a raised stone platform on which animals and other offerings were burned for a god; tearing one down was the standard way of shutting a shrine.

2:3

"A snare" is a hunter's trap, a hidden noose or net for catching birds and small animals. The image is of something that looks harmless until it closes on you.

2:5

Bochim means "weepers" or "the weeping ones" in Hebrew. The name is given because of what has just happened in verse 4; the pun is invisible in English. The site is not otherwise known.

2:6

The narrative now steps back in time. Verses 6–10 repeat, almost word for word, the closing paragraph of the book of Joshua (Joshua 24:28–31), restarting the story from before Joshua's death in order to explain how the situation described in verses 11 onward came about. "Inheritance" is the standard term for the portion of land assigned to each tribe and clan when the country was divided up; it was meant to stay in the family permanently rather than being bought and sold.

2:7

The "elders" were the senior heads of families and clans, who together held authority in a community; it was a recognized position of leadership, not just a description of age.

2:8

"Servant of the LORD" is a title of honor that had belonged to Moses; giving it to Joshua marks him as Moses' genuine successor. The figure of 110 years also carries weight: in Egypt, where Israel's story had just been, 110 was the traditional ideal lifespan, the number used to say a life had been complete and blessed.

2:9

The hill country of Ephraim is the central highland ridge north of Jerusalem. Joshua 24:30 gives the name of the burial place as Timnath-serah rather than Timnath-heres, the same two consonants in a different order, an ancient variation in the text that scholars have not resolved.

2:10

"Gathered unto their fathers" is a standard Hebrew way of saying someone died, and reflects the actual practice of burial: bodies were laid in a family tomb, and the bones later moved to a common pile with those of earlier generations. "Knew not the LORD" here means they had no first-hand experience of what he had done, not that they had never heard of him.

2:11

Baal was the Canaanite storm and fertility god, believed to send the rain that made crops grow. His name means "lord," "master" or "owner." The plural "Baalim" ("the Baals") refers to the many local versions of him worshiped at individual towns and shrines, each with its own title.

2:13

Ashtoreth (plural Ashtaroth) is the goddess also known as Astarte or Ishtar, associated with love, fertility and war. The vowels in the Hebrew form appear to have been deliberately altered by scribes to match the word bosheth, "shame", so the name as written is an insult rather than the goddess's real title.

2:14

"He sold them" is an idiom drawn from the slave market: to sell someone is to transfer control over them to a new owner. "Spoilers" in 1611 English means plunderers or raiders, those who strip a defeated people of their goods.

2:15

"The hand of the LORD" is a standard Hebrew image for God's power in action, the way we speak of something being in someone's hands. "For evil" here means "to bring harm or disaster", not moral wrongdoing.

2:16

The Hebrew word translated "judge" (shophet) covers far more than deciding court cases. These figures were leaders raised up in a crisis who rallied the tribes, fought off invaders, and then governed, closer to a war chief than to a magistrate. The related verb in verse 18 can mean "rescue" or "put things right" as much as "try a case."

2:17

"Went a whoring after other gods" translates a Hebrew verb for sexual unfaithfulness. The relationship between the LORD and Israel is regularly pictured as a marriage, so worship of other gods is described as adultery or prostitution. The image was also pointed because Canaanite fertility worship involved sexual rites.

2:18

"It repented the LORD" uses "repent" in its older English sense of being moved, relenting or changing course, not confessing sin. The Hebrew verb suggests being stirred to pity or grief. "Vexed" in 1611 English meant to crush or oppress, far stronger than the modern sense of mild annoyance.

2:19

Verses 11 to 19 set out, in summary form, the pattern that the rest of the book will follow story by story: Israel abandons the LORD, enemies oppress them, they groan under it, a judge rescues them, and once that judge dies the cycle restarts, each time from a worse position. Read this chapter as the map for everything that comes after it.

2:20

"Transgressed" means stepped across, that is, broke the terms of the agreement. "Hearkened" means listened, with the sense of listening and then obeying.

2:21

"Nations" here means other groups of people. They already lived in the land before Israel came.

2:22

"Prove" in 1611 English means to test or put to the proof, as metal is tested for purity, the same sense preserved in the phrase "the exception proves the rule."

2:23

The chapter ends with the pattern that the rest of the book will follow episode by episode: the people turn away, an enemy oppresses them, they cry out, a judge is raised up, and after his death the cycle begins again.