Commentary - Judges 2:16-23

Bird's-eye view

The book of Judges is not a straight line of progress like the book of Joshua. Joshua is about conquest and victory under a faithful leader. Judges is a book of cycles, a nauseating spiritual carousel. The pattern is stark and is laid out for us plainly in this passage: sin, oppression, crying out, deliverance, and then back to sin again, often worse than before. This section, Judges 2:16-23, serves as the interpretive key for the entire book. It explains the spiritual dynamics that are at play in the stories of Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and the rest. It is a grim diagnosis of the unfaithfulness of Israel, the astonishing mercy of God, and the unyielding hardness of the human heart apart from grace.

Here we see the fundamental problem that the law could not solve. Israel had the covenant, the commandments, and the promises. But they lacked the heart to obey. God, in His sovereignty, orchestrates this entire historical cycle to teach them, and us, this very lesson. The deliverance He provides through the judges is a temporary grace, a foreshadowing of the final Judge and Deliverer who would not just rescue His people from external enemies, but would deal with the treacherous heart of man once and for all. This passage is a clear demonstration of why Israel needed a king, and not just any king, but the King, Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Judges

This passage is the theological hinge of the book. Chapter 1 detailed the incomplete conquest, a failure of obedience from the start. The beginning of chapter 2 records the angel of Yahweh rebuking the people at Bochim for this very failure, resulting in a great weeping that ultimately produced no lasting repentance. What follows, and what is summarized in our text, is the result of that initial compromise. Because they would not drive the Canaanites out, the Canaanites' gods became a snare to them, just as God warned.

This section (2:16-23) therefore establishes the pattern that will be repeated throughout the rest of the book. It is a divine commentary on the subsequent narratives. When we read about Gideon's fleece, or Samson's dalliances, we are to read them through the lens provided here. This is not just a collection of heroic tales; it is a divinely inspired account of a covenant people spiraling into anarchy because "there was no king in Israel" and "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 16 Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

Right after we are told that Yahweh sold them into the hands of their enemies (v. 14), we are told that Yahweh raised up deliverers. This is the first thing to note. The same God who judges sin is the God who is extraordinarily merciful to people who manifestly do not deserve it. The deliverance does not originate with the people. They do not organize a resistance movement and then ask God to bless it. No, the initiative is entirely God's. He raised up judges. These were charismatically appointed saviors, men and women empowered by God's Spirit for a specific task of deliverance. Their salvation was a gift, a pure act of grace in the midst of deserved judgment. This is the gospel pattern in miniature. While we were yet sinners, God sent a deliverer.

v. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges either, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh; they did not do as their fathers.

The grace was given, but it was not received with a faithful heart. The problem was not a lack of leadership; the problem was a rebellious spirit. They would not listen to the very men God had sent to save them. The language used is potent: they "played the harlot." Idolatry is not a mere intellectual mistake; it is spiritual adultery. It is a violation of the covenant relationship, which the Bible frequently compares to a marriage. Yahweh was their husband, but they chased after other lovers, the false gods of the Canaanites. This was a quick departure. The slide into apostasy is never slow and stately; it is a rapid descent. They abandoned the path of their fathers, the generation that had seen God's works and had served Him. The memory of God's faithfulness was short, and their appetite for sin was long.

v. 18 Now when Yahweh raised up judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and suppressed them.

Here we see the heart of God. He is not a distant, impassive deity. He was moved to pity. The word for groaning here indicates a deep, painful cry under immense pressure. Their pain, which was a direct result of their own sin, still moved the heart of their God. And so, He acted. Yahweh was with the judge. This is the key to their success. The judge was not a superhero in his own right; he was an instrument in the hand of God. The deliverance lasted only as long as the judge lived, because the judge was the vessel of God's temporary, intervening grace. This is a central reality. God's pity is not sentimental; it is covenantal. He had made promises to them, and even in their sin, He was moved to act on their behalf, not because they deserved it, but because He is a merciful God.

v. 19 But it happened when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

This is the third fundamental reality of this book: the sinfulness and ingratitude of the heart of man. The moment the restraining grace, embodied in the judge, was removed, the people snapped back to their default setting. And notice, it was not just a return to the old ways, but a descent into something worse. They acted more corruptly than their fathers. Sin is a progressive disease. Each cycle of rebellion took them further from God. Their idolatry was not a passing fancy; it was their "practices" and their "stubborn ways." This is the picture of total depravity. It is not that they were as bad as they could possibly be at all times, but that sin had corrupted every part of them, and their natural inclination, apart from divine restraint, was always downward.

v. 20 So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has trespassed against My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

God's pity does not negate His holiness. His anger is not a petty human tantrum; it is the settled, righteous opposition of a holy God to sin. The basis for His anger is clearly stated: they "trespassed against My covenant." This was not about breaking some arbitrary rules. This was about violating a sacred, binding relationship that God Himself had initiated. They had promised allegiance, and they had broken that promise repeatedly. They had not listened to His voice. The covenant was spoken, revealed, and clear. Their disobedience was not from ignorance but from willfulness.

v. 21 I also will no longer dispossess before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,

Here is the consequence, the outworking of God's anger. God's judgment often takes the form of giving us over to the very things we have chosen over Him. They wanted to be like the nations, so God left the nations among them. The incomplete conquest, which began as their failure (Judges 1), now becomes God's ordained policy. He withdraws His conquering power. He will no longer fight for them in this way. This is a terrifying judgment. The very things that were meant to be driven out now become permanent thorns in their side.

v. 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.”

God's judgments are never without purpose. He is not vindictive; He is redemptive, even in His wrath. The remaining nations now have a new function. They are a test. The word here means to prove or to try. God is putting Israel's profession of faith to the test. Will they, in the face of constant temptation, choose to be faithful? Or will they capitulate? The test is designed to reveal what is truly in their hearts. Of course, God already knows what is in their hearts. The test is for their sake, to show them their own weakness and their desperate need for a savior who can provide more than just temporary military deliverance.

v. 23 So Yahweh allowed those nations to rest, not dispossessing them quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

This final verse summarizes the divine strategy. God "allowed" them to remain. The Hebrew can mean He left them or abandoned them in place. The failure was not on Joshua's part. God had not failed to give them into Joshua's hand. Rather, God, in His sovereign plan, determined not to drive them out all at once. This was a deliberate, providential decision. The presence of these pagan nations was not an accident of history. It was a tool in the hands of a sovereign God to accomplish His purposes, chief of which was to demonstrate to Israel their own covenant-breaking hearts, and to prepare the way for the true Judge and King who would one day come and win the final victory.

Application

The cycle of sin in Judges is the story of humanity in a nutshell. We are prone to wander, Lord, we feel it. We are just like Israel. God blesses us, and we forget Him. He delivers us, and we quickly find new idols to serve, whether they are made of wood and stone or of money, approval, and comfort. This passage should cause us to despair of our own ability to remain faithful. Our hearts are just as stubborn, our ways just as corrupt.

But the story does not end there. God's pity for His groaning people is a central theme. And that pity did not exhaust itself on the temporary judges of Israel. The ultimate expression of that pity was sending His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the final Judge who does not simply die, allowing us to relapse into sin. He died and rose again, breaking the power of sin and death forever. He deals with our "stubborn ways" not by overlooking them, but by nailing them to His cross and giving us a new heart and a new spirit.

The nations were left to test Israel. And in our lives, God leaves "thorns" and temptations to test us, to drive us out of our self-reliance and to cast us wholly upon Him. The Christian life is a life of continual repentance and faith, turning from our idols to the living God. The book of Judges, in all its grimness, should make us profoundly grateful for the finality of Christ's work. The cycle is broken. In Him, there is not a temporary peace, but an everlasting one.