Jueces 2:6-23

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES, Judges 2:6-23.

This section, containing a general account of the period of the Judges, is naturally introduced by a connexion with the account of Joshua’s last labours and death, as recorded in Joshua 24:28-31. This introductory passage serves to show that while Joshua lived, and for some time after, the nation deserved no such rebuke as the Angel gave at Bochim, and hence this passage cannot be a direct continuation, chronologically, of the narrative which precedes, for here it is expressly declared that the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and of the elders that survived him. The reader must bear in mind that this book is not so much a history in the chronological order of events, as a series of historical paintings for the illustration of a few great principles of the Divine administration. The fidelity of Israel during the days of Joshua and the elders is here presented as a notable contrast to their apostasy from God in the days immediately ensuing. The record of this apostasy is necessary to prove the fulfilment of Jehovah’s words in the third verse. The enormity of their disobedience is enhanced by the consideration that it took place in the Promised Land, into which they had been introduced by the miraculous interposition of Jehovah.