Old Testament · History

Judges chapter 2

The of Yahweh went up from to and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my with you,and you must not make a with the people living in this land. You must tear down their .’ But you haven’t listened to me. What have you done?So now I’m telling you: I will not drive them out ahead of you. They will become , and their gods will become a for you.”When the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people wept out loud.So they named that place , and they offered to Yahweh there.After Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites each went to claim their .The people Yahweh throughout Joshua’s lifetime and throughout the lifetime of the who outlived Joshua—those who had seen all the great things Yahweh had done for Israel.Joshua son of Nun, the , died at the age of one hundred and ten.They buried him in the territory of his allotted land at , in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.That entire generation was also . After them, another generation grew up who didn’t Yahweh and hadn’t seen what he had done for Israel.Then the Israelites did what was . They served the ,and Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They chased after other gods—the gods of the peoples around them—and to them. They provoked Yahweh to anger.They abandoned Yahweh and served Baal and the .Yahweh’s against Israel, and he to raiders who plundered them. He to their enemies all around them, and they could no longer stand and fight against their enemies.Everywhere they went, to bring disaster, just as Yahweh had warned them and sworn to them. They were in terrible .Then Yahweh raised up who them from the hands of those who were plundering them.But they wouldn’t even listen to their leaders. They to other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned away from the path their ancestors had walked—the path of obeying Yahweh’s commands. They didn’t follow it.Whenever Yahweh raised up a leader for them, Yahweh was with that leader and rescued them from their enemies throughout that leader’s lifetime. Yahweh by their under those who oppressed and crushed them.But when the leader died, the people went right back to their —even worse than their ancestors. They chased after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They refused to give up any of their practices or their .So Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel. He said, “Because this nation has I made with their ancestors and hasn’t listened to me,I will no longer ahead of them any of the nations that Joshua left behind when he died.I will use them to Israel and see whether or not they will keep to Yahweh’s and walk in it, as their ancestors did.”So Yahweh . He didn’t drive them out quickly, and he hadn’t handed them over to Joshua.