Judges 2:21 Коментар

In this chapter we have, I. A particular message which God sent to Israel by an angel, and the impression it made upon them (Jdg 2:1-5). 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 (Jdg 2:6-10). 2. Their revolt afterwards to idolatry (Jdg 2:11-13). 3. God's displeasure against them, and his judgments upon them for it (Jdg 2:14, Jdg 2:15). 4. His pity towards them, shown in raising them up deliverers (Jdg 2:16-18). 5. Their relapse into idolatry after the judgment was over (Jdg 2:17-19). 6. The full stop God in anger put to their successes (Jdg 2:20-23). These are the contents, not only of this chapter, but of the whole book.

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, Jdg 2:1; of their good behaviour under Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, Jdg 2:6; and of their idolatries they fell into afterwards, which greatly provoked the Lord to anger, Jdg 2:11; and of the goodness of God to them nevertheless, in raising up judges to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, of which there are many instances in the following chapter, Jdg 2:16; and yet that how, upon the demise of such persons, they relapsed into idolatry which caused the anger of God to be hot against them, and to determine not to drive out the Canaanites utterly from them, but to leave them among them to try them, Jdg 2:19.

I also henceforth will not drive out and from before them,.... At least not as yet, not very soon nor hastily, as in Jdg 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 sloth and indolence of the people, being weary of war, and not caring to prosecute it; or to want of men to cultivate any more land, and people other cities, than what they were possessed of; and chiefly this was owing to the providence of God, who had an end to answer hereby, as follows.

Divine grace ever stirs up the will of human beings, not so as to protect and defend it in all things in such a way as to cause it not to fight by its own efforts against its spiritual adversaries, the victor over whom may set it down to God’s grace, and the vanquished to his own weakness, and thus learn that his hope is always not in his own courage but in the divine assistance and that he must ever fly to his Protector. And to prove this not by our own conjecture but by still clearer passages of holy Scripture let us consider what we read in Joshua the son of Nun: “The Lord,” it says, “left these nations and would not destroy them, that by them he might test Israel, whether they would keep the commandments of the Lord their God, and that they might learn to fight with their enemies.” And if we may illustrate the incomparable mercy of our Creator from something earthly, not as being equal in kindness but as an illustration of mercy: if a tender and anxious nurse carries an infant in her bosom for a long time in order sometime to teach it to walk, and first allows it to crawl, then supports it that by the aid of her right hand it may lean on its alternate steps, presently leaves it for a little and if she sees it tottering at all, catches hold of it and grabs at it when falling, when down picks it up, and either shields it from a fall or allows it to fall lightly, and sets it up again after a tumble, but when she has brought it up to boyhood or the strength of youth or early manhood, lays upon it some burdens or labors by which it may be not overwhelmed but exercised, and allows it to vie with those of its own age; how much more does the heavenly Father of all know whom to carry in the bosom of his grace, whom to train to virtue in his sight by the exercise of free will, and yet he helps him in his efforts, hears him when he calls, leaves him not when he seeks him, and sometimes snatches him from peril even without his knowing it.

Although all the nations in the surrounding country were subject to king David, still God did not allow the Jebusites to be destroyed entirely, as he himself says elsewhere: “I for my part will not clear away for them any more of the nations. Through them the Israelites were to be made to prove whether they would fear me.” For this reason the prophet said to David, “Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” That pagan king represented the people of the Gentiles. Notice, brothers, that no place in the land of the Jews was found worthy for the altar of the Lord to be built; but in the land of the Gentiles a place is chosen where the angel is seen and the altar of the Lord is built, and thus the wrath of the almighty Lord is appeased. Then already was prefigured the fact that in the hearts of the Jews no worthy place could be found to offer spiritual victims; the land of the Gentiles, that is, the conscience of Christians, is chosen as the place for the Lord’s temple.

AN ANGEL SENT TO REBUKE THE PEOPLE AT BOCHIM. (Jdg 2:1-10) an angel . . . came from Gilgal to Bochim--We are inclined to think, from the authoritative tone of his language, that he was the Angel of the Covenant (Exo 23:20; Jos 5:14); the same who appeared in human form and announced himself captain of the Lord's host. His coming from Gilgal had a peculiar significance, for there the Israelites made a solemn dedication of themselves to God on their entrance into the promised land [Jos 4:1-9]; and the memory of that religious engagement, which the angel's arrival from Gilgal awakened, gave emphatic force to his rebuke of their apostasy. Bochim--"the weepers," was a name bestowed evidently in allusion to this incident or the place, which was at or near Shiloh. I said, I will never break my covenant with you . . . but ye have not obeyed my voice--The burden of the angel's remonstrance was that God would inviolably keep His promise; but they, by their flagrant and repeated breaches of their covenant with Him, had forfeited all claim to the stipulated benefits. Having disobeyed the will of God by voluntarily courting the society of idolaters and placing themselves in the way of temptation, He left them to suffer the punishment of their misdeeds.