The Place of Weeping
Judges 2, verse 1. Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to the place of weeping, and to Bethel and to the house of Israel, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land I promised your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. Judges 2, verse 2. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; nor shall you worship their gods, but you will destroy their graven images and you shall tear down their altars.’ But you did not obey My voice, for you did these things. Judges 2, verse 3. Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you, and they shall become as snares, and their gods shall be a cause for stumbling for you.’” Judges 2, verse 4. When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. Judges 2, verse 5. And they called that place the Place of Weeping; and there they made a sacrifice to the Lord.
Death of Joshua
Judges 2, verse 6. And when Joshua had dismissed the people, each man went to his inheritance to take possession of his land. Judges 2, verse 7. So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who saw every great deed the Lord did for Israel. Judges 2, verse 8. Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at one hundred and ten years old. Judges 2, verse 9. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, on Mount Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. Judges 2, verse 10. And when all that generation were laid with their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work He had done for Israel.
Israel Follows False Gods
Judges 2, verse 11. Then the sons of Israel did evil before the Lord and served the Baals. Judges 2, verse 12. They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods from among the gods of the nations all around them, and they bowed down to them. They provoked the Lord to anger. Judges 2, verse 13. They forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Judges 2, verse 14. And the Lord was enraged with anger at Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers, who ravaged them and sold them into the hands of their enemies all around. As a result they could no longer stand before their enemies. Judges 2, verse 15. Whenever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn to them. He greatly distressed them. Judges 2, verse 16. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges and the Lord saved them from the hand of those who plundered them. Judges 2, verse 17. But even so, they would not listen to their judges, but instead they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. Judges 2, verse 18. And the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their groaning because of those who besieged them and harassed them. Judges 2, verse 19. And when the judge was dead, they went back to their former ways and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They did not reject their pursuits nor their stubborn ways. Judges 2, verse 20. Then the Lord was enraged with anger at Israel; and He said, “Because this nation set aside My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, Judges 2, verse 21. therefore I will not drive away from your presence any more of the men Joshua the son of Nun left in the land.” And the Lord left them, Judges 2, verse 22. to test Israel by them, to see whether they would keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them and keep them as their fathers did. Judges 2, verse 23. Therefore the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately; and He did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua.