48443 matching verse commentaries
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,...
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when the judge was dead,.... Any one of them, the first and so all succeeding ones: [that] they returned; to their evil ways and idolatrous practices, from which they reformed, and for which they showed outward repentance during the life of the judge; but he dying, they returned again to them: and corrupted [themselves] more...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... As at first, so whenever they fell into idolatry; see Judges 2:14; and he said, because this people have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers; made at Sinai, in which they were enjoined to have no other gods before him: and have not hearkened to my voice; in his commands,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I also henceforth will not drive out and from before them,.... At least not as yet, not very soon nor hastily, as in Judges 2:23; of the nations which Joshua left when he died; that is, unsubdued; which was owing either to the infirmities of old age coming upon him, which made him incapable of engaging further in war with the Canaanites; or to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That through them I may prove Israel,.... Afflict them by them, and so prove or try them, their faith and patience, which are tried by afflictions; and such were the Canaanites to them, as afflictions and temptations are to the spiritual Israel of God; or rather, whether they would keep in the ways of God, or walk in those the Canaanites did, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore the Lord left these nations, without driving them out hastily,.... Left them unsubdued, or suffered them to continue among the Israelites, and did not drive them out as he could have done; which was permitted, either that it might be seen and known whether Israel would give into the idolatry of these nations or not, Judges 2:22; of which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Judges 3 This chapter gives an account of the nations left in Canaan to prove Israel, and who became a snare unto them, Judges 3:1; and of the servitude of Israel under the king of Mesopotamia for their sins, from which they were delivered by Othniel, Judges 3:8; and of their subjection to the Moabites, from which they were freed...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now these [are] the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them,.... Which are later mentioned, Judges 3:3; [even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter, I. A general account of Israel's enemies is premised, and of the mischief they did them, ver. 1-7. II. A particular account of the brave exploits done by the first three of the judges. 1. Othniel, whom God raised up to fight Israel's battles, and plead their cause against the king of Mesopotamia, ver. 8-11. 2. Ehud, who was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know and teach them war,.... That is, the following nations were left in the land, that the young generations of Israel might by their wars and conflicts with them learn the art of war, and be inured to martial discipline; which, if none had been left to engage with, they had been ignorant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Namely], five lords of the Philistines,.... The places they were lords of were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; see Joshua 13:3; three of these, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, had been taken from them by Judah, since the death of Joshua, Jude 1:18; but they soon recovered them again, perhaps by the help of the other two. The Philistines were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they were to prove Israel by them,.... They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God: to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses; even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,.... As if they had been only sojourners with them, and not conquerors of them; and dwelt by sufferance, and not as proprietors and owners; such were their sloth and indolence, and such the advantage the inhabitants of the land got over them through it, and through their compliances with them;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons,.... The Israelites intermarried with the inhabitants of the land, contrary to the express command of God, Deuteronomy 7:3; whereby they confounded their families, debased their blood, and were ensnared into idolatry, as follows: perhaps to these unlawful...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Both by marrying with Heathens, and worshipping their gods: and forgot the Lord their God; as if they had never heard of him, or known him, their Maker and Preserver, who had done so many great and good things for them: and served Baalim, and the groves; of Baalim, see Judges 2:11;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... Because of their idolatry; see Judges 2:14; and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; or Aramnaharaim; that is, Syria, between the two rivers, which were Tigris and Euphrates; hence the Greek name of this place is as here called Mesopotamia. Josephus (l)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... Towards the close of the eight years' bondage, as it may be supposed, groaning under the oppressive taxes laid upon them, and the bondage they were brought into: and the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel; he heard their cry, and sent them a saviour, whose spirit he stirred...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,.... Moved him to engage in this work of delivering Israel, inspired him with courage, and filled him with every needful gift, qualifying him for it; the Targum interprets it the spirit of prophecy; it seems father to be the spirit of counsel and courage, of strength and fortitude of body and mind: and he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the land had rest forty years,.... As it should seem from the time of this deliverance; though, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, the eight years' servitude are to be included in them; and Bishop Usher (r) reckons these forty years from the rest first settled in the land by Joshua; but the former sense seems best: and Othniel the son of...