Skip to Content

Commentary Search

25 matching verse commentaries

Judges 2

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

INTRODUCTION TO Judges 2 This chapter gives an account of an angel of the Lord appearing and rebuking the children of Israel for their present misconduct, Judges 2:1; of their good behaviour under Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, Judges 2:6; and of their idolatries they fell into afterwards, which greatly provoked the Lord to anger,...

Judges 2:1

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim,.... The Targum calls him a prophet (y); and the Jewish commentators in general interpret it of Phinehas (z); and that a man is meant is given into by others, because he is said to come from a certain place in Canaan, and not from heaven, and spoke in a public congregation, and is not said to...

Judges 2

Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry

In this chapter we have, I. A particular message which God sent to Israel by an angel, and the impression it made upon them, ver. 1-5. II. A general idea of the state of Israel during the government of the judges, in which observe, 1. Their adherence to God while Joshua and the elders lived, ver. 6-10. 2. Their revolt afterwards to idolatry, ver....

Judges 2:2

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land,.... This the Lord charged them not to do, when he covenanted with them, and assured them of bringing them into the land; and yet they had done it, as some instances in the preceding chapter show, which were the occasion of the angel's coming to them to rebuke them, see Deuteronomy 7:2;...

Judges 2:3

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

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...

Judges 2:4

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel,.... This being either one of the three solemn feasts, when all the males appeared at the tabernacle of the Lord; or else here was now a solemn convention of all the tribes to inquire of the Lord the reason why they were not able to drive out the...

Judges 2:5

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And they called the name of that place Bochim,.... Which signifies "weepers", from the general lamentation of the people, which before had another name; very probably it was Shiloh itself since all Israel was gathered together, the tabernacle being now at Shiloh, and also because sacrifices were offered up, as follows: and they sacrificed there...

Judges 2:6

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And when Joshua had let the people go,.... This is not to be connected with what goes before, as if that was done in Joshua's lifetime; for during that, as is after testified, the people of Israel served the Lord; whereas the angel, in the speech to them before related, charges them with disobeying the voice of the Lord, making leagues with the...

Judges 2:7

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. In Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, at the river Jordan, and in the land of Canaan; [See comments on Joshua 24:31]. The Jews (a) say, the elders died on the fifth...

Judges 2:9

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres,.... In Joshua 24:30; it is called Timnathserah, the letters of "serah" being here inverted, make "heres", which sometimes is used for the sun, Job 9:7; and therefore some observe, that the whole name signifies the figure of the sun, which the Jews say was put on his monument, in...

Judges 2:10

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers,.... Were dead and buried, that is, the greatest part of those that were contemporaries with the elders that outlived Joshua; for they might not be all dead, at least not all that came out of Egypt, and still less all that came into the land of Canaan; for, according to the computation...

Judges 2:11

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Openly and publicly, boldly and impudently, in the very face of God, and amidst all the good things they received from him, which were aggravating circumstances of their sins; what the evil was they did is next observed: and served Baalim; the idol Baal, as the Arabic version, of...

Judges 2:12

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers,.... The covenant God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their more immediate ancestors; his worship they forsook, neglected his tabernacle, and the service of it: which brought them out of the land of Egypt; out of wretched misery and bondage there, with an high hand, and...

Judges 2:13

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And they forsook the Lord,.... The worship of the Lord, as the Targum; this is repeated to observe the heinous sin they were guilty of, and how displeasing it was to God: and served Baal and Ashtaroth; two images, as the Arabic version adds; Baal, from whence Baalim, may signify the he deities of the Gentiles, as Jupiter, Hercules, c. and...

Judges 2:14

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... For the idolatries they were guilty of; it burned within him, it broke forth, and was poured out like fire on them, and consumed them; see Nahum 1:6; and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them; that rifled their houses, and plundered them of their goods and substance:...

Judges 2:15

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil,.... They prospered not in any business they undertook, or put their hands unto; or in any expedition they went upon, or when they went out to war, as Kimchi, Ben Melech, and Abarbinel explain the phrase: the battle went against them, because God was against them; his hand...

Judges 2:16

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges,.... Who are particularly mentioned by name, and their exploits recorded, in some following chapters, and from whom the book in general has its name: these were men that God raised up in an extraordinary manner, and spirited and qualified for the work he had to do by them; which was to deliver the people of...

Judges 2:17

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And yet they would not hearken unto their judges,.... Afterwards, or not always; but when they admonished them of their sins, and advised them to walk in the good ways of God, and serve him only; they turned a deaf ear to them, and went on in their own ways, which is a sad aggravation of their iniquities: but they went a whoring after their gods,...

Judges 2:18

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge,.... Every one of them that he raised up; as he stirred up their spirits for such service, to judge his people, and qualified them for it, he assisted and strengthened them, and abode by them, and succeeded them in whatsoever they engaged for the welfare of the people; the...