2 And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done?
And when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them: Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons. For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly.
For the time has come for the judging, starting with the church of God; but if it makes a start with us, what will be the end of those who are not under the rule of God?
Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil. And hearing this, with signs of grief and pulling out the hair of my head and my chin, I took my seat on the earth deeply troubled.
Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark? And what agreement is there between Christ and the Evil One? or what part has one who has faith with one who has not? And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,
But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you. But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward. From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them: But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers. And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer. And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.
O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again? Is it possible for a virgin to put out of her memory her ornaments, or a bride her robes? but my people have put me out of their memories for unnumbered days. With what care are your ways ordered when you are looking for love! so ... your ways.
And now, what have you to do on the way to Egypt, to get your drink from the waters of the Nile? or what have you to do on the way to Assyria, to get your drink from the waters of the River?
They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said; But they were joined to the nations, learning their works. And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them: They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits, And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood. So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires. Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage.
Driving out nations before them, marking out the line of their heritage, and giving the people of Israel their tents for a resting-place. But they were bitter against the Most High God, testing him, and not keeping his laws; Their hearts were turned back and untrue like their fathers; they were turned to one side like a twisted bow. They made him angry with their high places; moving him to wrath with their images.
And now, O our God, what are we to say after this? for we have not kept your laws, Which you gave to your servants the prophets, saying, The land into which you are going, to take it for a heritage, is an unclean land, because of the evil lives of the peoples of the land and their disgusting ways, which have made the land unclean from end to end. So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or do anything for their peace or well-being for ever; so that you may be strong, living on the good of the land, and handing it on to your children for a heritage for ever. And after everything which has come on us because of our evil-doing and our great sin, and seeing that the punishment which you, O God, have given us, is less than the measure of our sins, and that you have kept from death those of us who are here;
And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has not been true to my agreement which I made with their fathers, and has not given ear to my voice;
But in the towns of these peoples whose land the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, let no living thing be kept from death: Give them up to the curse; the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has given you orders: So that you may not take them as your example and do all the disgusting things which they do in the worship of their gods, so sinning against the Lord your God.
You are to give up to the curse all those places where the nations, whom you are driving out, gave worship to their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green tree: Their altars and their pillars are to be broken down, and their holy trees burned with fire, and the images of their gods cut down; you are to take away their names out of that place.
The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God: And you may not take a disgusting thing into your house, and so become cursed with its curse: but keep yourselves from it, turning from it with fear and hate, for it is a cursed thing.
And you are to send destruction on all the peoples which the Lord your God gives into your hands; have no pity on them, and do not give worship to their gods; for that will be a cause of sin to you.
See that all the people of the land are forced out from before you, and put to destruction all their pictured stones, and all their metal images, and all their high places: And take the land for yourselves, for your resting-place: for to you I have given the land as your heritage.
But take care, and do not make any agreement with the people of the land where you are going, for it will be a cause of sin to you. But their altars are to be overturned and their pillars broken and their images cut down: For you are to be worshippers of no other god: for the Lord is a God who will not give his honour to another. So see that you make no agreement with the people of the land, and do not go after their gods, or take part in their offerings, or be guests at their feasts, Or take their daughters for your sons; for when their daughters give worship before their gods, they will make your sons take part with them.
And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them?
And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the earth.
And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 2
Commentary on Judges 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter we have,
Jdg 2:1-5
It was the privilege of Israel that they had not only a law in general sent them from heaven, once for all, to direct them into and keep them in the way of happiness, but that they had particular messages sent them from heaven, as there was occasion, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, when at any time they turned aside out of that way. Besides the written word which they had before them to read, they often heard a word behind them, saying, This is the way, Isa. 30:21. Here begins that way of God's dealing with them. When they would not hear Moses, let it be tried whether they will hear the prophets. In these verses we have a very awakening sermon that was preached to them when they began to cool in their religion.
Jdg 2:6-23
The beginning of this paragraph is only a repetition of what account we had before of the people's good character during the government of Joshua, and of his death and burial (Jos. 24:29, 30), which comes in here again only to make way for the following account, which this chapter gives, of their degeneracy and apostasy. The angel had foretold that the Canaanites and their idols would be a snare to Israel; now the historian undertakes to show that they were so, and, that this may appear the more clear, he looks back a little, and takes notice,
And so he comes to give us a general idea of the series of things in Israel during the time of the judges, the same repeated in the same order.