1 The Angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bochim where the Israelites were gathered, and he said to them, “I made you go up from Egypt and brought you to the land I had promised your ancestors. I said to them, ‘Never will I break my covenant with you,
2 but you shall not make any covenant with the Ca naanites and shall destroy their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my command. Why did you not obey me?
3 Now, I will not drive out these nations before you. They shall be your op pressors and their gods shall be a trap for you.”
4 After the Angel of Yahweh had spoken, all the Israelites began to weep and cry.
5 For this reason, they named that place Bochim, which means “those who weep,” and they offered sacrifices to Yah weh.
6 When Joshua dismissed the Israe lites, each one of them went to his inheritance to occupy the land.
7 The people served Yahweh during the lifetime of Jo shua and of the leaders who outlived him, and who had witnessed all the great works of Yahweh for Israel.
8 Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of Moses, died at the age of one hundred and ten years.
9 They buried him at the boundary of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Ga ash.
10 That whole generation died and another one came, but they did not know Yahweh or what he had done for Israel.
Summary of the book: unfaithfulness and punishment
11 The Israelites treated Yahweh badly for they served the Baals in stead.
12 They abandoned Yahweh, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt, and served other gods, the gods of the neigh boring peo ples. They bowed before those gods and offended Yah weh.
13 When Yahweh saw that they had abandoned him to serve Baal and Ash taroth,
14 he became angry with his peo ple and gave them into the hands of plun derers who left them in misery. He himself sold them to their enemies who completely surrounded the Israelites, so that these Israelites could no longer withstand them.
15 When ever they felt strong for an offensive, Yahweh would turn against them and send evil upon them, as he had warned them and sworn to do. And this caused much distress and anguish for the Israelites.
16 Yahweh raised up “judges” (or liberators) who saved the Israelites from their exploiters.
17 But neither did they obey those “judges” for they still prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They soon left the way of their fathers who obeyed the commandments of Yah weh; they did not follow the way of their fathers.
18 When Yahweh made a judge ap pear among his people, Yahweh was with him and saved them from their enemies. That lasted as long as the judge lived, for Yahweh was moved to pity by the lament of his people who were oppressed and persecuted.
19 But when the judge died, they again became worse than their ancestors—worshiping and serving other gods. They would not re nounce their pagan practices and stubborn ways.
20 Yahweh was angry and he said, “These people broke the Covenant I made with their ancestors and they re fuse to obey me.
21 Well now, neither shall I drive out before them any of the nations left when Joshua died.
22 And I shall test the Israelites through those nations; then I shall know if they will finally follow my ways as their ancestors did.”
23 So Yahweh left those nations in their place and did not take the land immediately from them. This was also why he did not give them into the hands of Joshua.
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Comments Judges, Chapter 2
• 2.1 The “Angel of Yahweh” goes up from Gilgal, the first Israelite sanctuary in Palestine beside the Jordan, to Bethel. We know that using the expression Angel of Yahweh is a way of naming Yahweh himself, whom the author knows cannot be seen.
The sin consists in not having destroyed the culture and religion of the Canaanites. Let us think of these beginnings: the true faith is given to a few tribes who have neither chief nor organization, and who are surrounded by a more advanced but pagan culture. The temptation of idolatry was ever present. The Cana anite agriculturists practiced a very attractive religion which celebrated the forces of life and fecundity. They gathered together for rural feasts, assembling in the sacred woods and there had recourse to sacred prostitution to obtain rain and plentiful harvests from their gods, the Baals. It cost the Israelites something unaccustomed to such liberties, to refrain from joining their pagan neighbors in these celebrations.
This explains the affirmations of the author: all this pagan culture should be destroyed; on this point see the commentary of Joshua 6 which shocks us today.
• 11. Here begins a second introduction to the Book of Judges wherein, after recalling the death of Joshua (see Jos 24:31), the real causes of events that will transpire are given.
The first cause of Israel’s disaster, why they cannot drive out the Canaanites, is their infidelity to Yahweh. All of the Bible will say that for us as well the main cause of the misfortunes in our society is our unfaithfulness to God, even if it cannot be said without causing laughter even among believers.
The writer who later combined all these stories in a single book found a unifying thread which shed light on delays in the conquest and on the stages of liberation. He noted this sequence of events:
– the Israelites abandon Yahweh and fall into idolatry;
– because of this, Yahweh delivers them into the hands of their enemies;
– the Israelites acknowledge their errors and call on Yahweh;
– Yahweh then raises up a savior.
But once victory has been won, after a short period of peace the people forsake their mission once again. In this present world, there is no definitive liberation.
This text summarizes the lesson found through out the entire book and which we already read in Deuteronomy 4:1-31.
God always acts as an educator. Since Israel was still a very primitive people and could under stand only what was seen and felt, God dealt with them through material rewards and punishment.
They had abandoned Yahweh to serve Baal. Baal (this means: Lord) referred to any Canaanite god, especially to him who let the rain fall. The Asheroths were goddesses, particularly of the soil and of fertility.
So Yahweh raised up liberators. The chiefs or leaders who exercised authority for a time were called “judges” because, at that time, to judge a people and to govern meant one and the same thing (see Introduction).
Chapter 3 presents three of these Judges.