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with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars: but ye have not hearkened unto my voice: 3. why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they

1 shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall 4. be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the

angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, 5. and wept. And they called the name of that place 2 Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

1 Some ancient versions have, shall be adversaries unto you.

2 That is, Weepers.

3. This previous warning may be found in Num. 33: 55; Josh. 23: 13, from the former of which the word thorns is to be supplied. Snare. A sudden means of destruction. Jehovah is thus described in Isa. 8: 14 f.

5. Bochim. Means " weepers." Nowhere else mentioned. According to our explanation it must be sought in the vicinity of Bethel. Near Bethel was a sacred tree, Allon-bacuth, “The oak of weeping," connected with the burial of Rebekah's nurse, Gen. 358. The valley of Baca, "Weeping," is mentioned in Ps. 84:6.

B. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN THE DAYS

6.

OF THE JUDGES, 2:6-16:31

I. INTRODUCTION, 2:6-3:6

Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the E 2:9 children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance

7. to possess the land. And the people served the LORD RD
all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders
that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of
8. the LORD, that he had wrought for Israel. And Joshua E2
the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an
9. hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in

the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the

2:6-3:6. This section opens with an account of the death of Joshua, and the conditions immediately following (vv. 6–10), parallel largely with Josh. 24: 28-31. These verses serve to connect the history of the Judges closely with that of the Book of Joshua. Then follows a general statement of the course of Israel's history, which consisted in periods of apostasy, oppression, deliverance through a judge, and the service of Jehovah during the judge's lifetime, repeated one after another (vv. II-19). This all served to explain why Jehovah had left nations in the land (vv. 20-23). A list of these nations also is given (3: 1−6).

6. Had sent the people away, etc. The conclusion of the great assembly at Shechem, where Joshua made his farewell address and the people promised to serve Jehovah, Josh. 24: 1-28.

7. The elders. The head men of clans and families. The term elder or old man is used because these were usually well advanced in years. The great work, etc. The wonders of the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan (cf. Deut. 11:2–5).

9. Timnath-heres. The same as Timnath-serah, Josh. 24:

hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain 10. of Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation

after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.

RD II. And the children of Israel did that which was evil in 12. the sight of the LORD, and served the Baalim: and

30; 19: 50, the modern Tibneh, about twelve and one-half miles east-northeast of Lydda. The mountain of Gaash is otherwise unknown. Cf. "the brooks of Gaash," 2 Sam. 23: 30; 1 Chron. 11:32.

10. That generation. The contemporaries of Joshua and the elders (v. 7). Knew not the Lord (Jehovah). I.e. by personal experience as Redeemer and Provider and Conqueror during the Exodus and Conquest. The work which he had wrought. See v. 7.

11-13. These verses are repetitious; so much so that they may represent the work of more than one writer. V. 13 is an appropriate continuation of v. 10.

II. The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. The recurring formula with which the history of each of the six great judges is introduced 3:7; 3:12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13: 1. Baalim. Baal (of which Baalim is the plural) was a general divine title, meaning primarily a possessor; a husband was a Baal of a wife; an eloquent man was a Baal of words. Any god might be called Baal. The term, judging from the proper names Ishbaal, Meribaal, Beeliada, Bealiah, and especially the statement in Hos. 2, in early times in Israel was applied to Jehovah. Later its use was restricted to other deities, especially the local gods of the Canaanites, and thus it became par excellence the title of a god worshipped in opposition to Jehovah; and for an Israelite to worship Baal or Baalim (the plural may be numerical or intensive) was an abhorrent apostasy. The temptation to this worship arose from the fact that baals were generally nature gods through whom abundant harvests or other good fortunes were supposed to come. Their worship also seems to have made few if any moral demands and furnished

they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down unto them: 13. and they provoked the LORD to anger. And they E forsook the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, RD and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer

sensual pleasures. A baal might have a distinct proper name or be known through a complement, usually that of a place, for example, Baal-hermon, i.e. Baal of Hermon. These latter names often became place names.

12. The Lord, the God of their fathers. Cf. Exod. 3:15 f.; 4:5; Deut. 1:11,21;4:1; 6:3; 12:1; 26:7; 27:3; 29:25; Josh. 18:3. Which brought them out of the land of Egypt. The basis of Jehovah's claim for Israel's obedience; thus the preface of the ten commandments (Exod. 20: 2; Deut. 5: 6) and of prophetic reproofs (Amos 3:1 f.). Ingratitude appears in Israel's sin (cf. Isa. 1:2; 5:4).

13. Baal. See on v. II. Ashtaroth, a plural, perhaps originally singular, since in Heb. the consonants might be the same. Astarte was a widely worshipped Semitic goddess (in Babylonia and Assyria Ishtar). In the Old Testament the name came to denote the female deity, since the Hebrew language has no proper word for goddess.

14-15. The punishment which always followed apostasy is here expressed in general terms. The specific ones are found in 3:8; 3: 12b-14; 4:2-3; 6: 1b-6; 10:7-9; 13: 1b.

14. Anger of the Lord was kindled. A very common Old Testament expression. Spoilers that spoiled them. The Hebrew root, to spoil, here used is somewhat unusual. It is borrowed in the Egyptian language to denote the nomadic and robber tribes of the desert of South Palestine. He sold. Cf. 3:8; 4:2; 10:7; also 1 Sam. 12:9.

15. stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were sore distressed. RP 16. And the LORD raised up judges, which saved them 17. out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they hearkened not unto their judges, for they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves down unto them: they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not

15. As the Lord had sworn. Two terrible lists of curses for disobedience are given in Deut. 28: 15-68; Lev. 26: 14-46.

16-19. Again we have repetitions. Vv. 18 f. are either a duplicate of vv. 16 f., or v. 17, which varies from v.19 in introducing disobedience of the judges, is an insertion. The representation in v. 19 that the disobedience followed the death of the judges agrees with the subsequent narratives. A possible exception, the worship of the image erected by Gideon (8:27), has been thought to have given rise to v. 17.

16. Judges. Deliverers, defenders. The writer is thinking of Othniel (?), Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. The root meaning is to secure one his right, hence generally to judge. Through judges Jehovah secured to the people of Israel their rights over against their enemies, and as rulers the judges secured to individuals their rights.

17. Hearkened not unto their judges. No case of direct disobedience to a judge is recorded in the Book of Judges. The disobedience to Samuel, in the people asking for a king, would be a case in point (1 Sam. 7:15; 8:6). But the writer probably had not that case or any similar one in mind, but meant that the rule of no judge effected a permanent reform. Went a whoring after other gods. Prostitution or adultery to describe the worship of foreign deities is very common in the prophets, and is derived from the thought of Jehovah being married to the