Judges 3:1-6

3. God’s purposes with Israel 3:1-6

The purposes for which God allowed the Canaanites to live among the Israelites were four. He wanted to punish Israel for her apostasy (Judges 2:3), and He wanted to test the Israelites’ faithfulness to and love for Himself (Judges 2:22; Judges 3:4). He also wanted to give the new generation of Israelites experience in warfare (Judges 3:2), namely, how to conduct war (by depending on Yahweh), not just how to fight. Furthermore, God allowed some Canaanites to remain in the land so it would not become wild before the Israelites could subdue it completely (Deuteronomy 7:20-24).

Even though the Israelites had defeated some of the Canaanites in various battles during Joshua’s day, significant groups within the Canaanite tribes remained in the land (Judges 3:3; Judges 3:5). [Note: See Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, map 68, p. 50, for a map that illustrates the limits of Israelite control.] The Sidonians (Judges 3:3) were the Phoenicians, Sidon being Phoenicia’s chief port until about 1100 B.C. when Tyre began to eclipse it. [Note: The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Sidon," by D. J. Wiseman; Wolf, p. 396.] These enemies (Judges 3:5) represented the whole of Canaan: the Philistines on the southwest, the Sidonians on the northwest, the Hivites on the northeast, and the Canaanites on the southeast. The Israelites then proceeded to marry them and worship with them (Judges 3:6). From "the people served the Lord" (Judges 2:7) they had degenerated to the point that they "served their gods" (Judges 3:6).

"In these two verses [5-6] the narrator announces the theme of the book: the Canaanization of Israelite society." [Note: Block, Judges . . ., p. 141.]

"The Israelites descended three steps in their cultural accommodation to paganism: (a) they lived among the Canaanites, (b) they intermarried with them, and (c) they served their gods. Each step is a natural one leading on to the next." [Note: Lindsey, p. 384.]

"The book of Judges ends in chaos, and the monarchy led both kingdoms to destruction. The lesson? Self-assertion and idolatry produce deadly consequences. From this perspective, the book of Judges is, like all the books of the Former and Latter Prophets, a call to covenant loyalty-a call to repent of self-assertion and idolatry and a call to honor, worship, and serve God alone." [Note: McCann, p. 39.]