Chapter 2

Chapter 2 starts with what I said about incomplete conquest at the end of 1.

An angel comes and tells them they have been incomplete.  It also tells them that God will no longer help them drive out these people, but that the natives will be a thorn in Israel's side from now on.  They name the place "Bochim".

So they could have had peace, had they done as they were told, and as God said he would be with them to complete.  But they got lazy, and instead of guaranteed peace, they are guaranteed constant problems, wars, brush wars, raids, and all the atrocities that can go with the hatred of the semi-conquered against their semi-conquerors.

Joshua dies at 110.  (weren't we told this in Joshua?  So some of this is a repeat.)  The way this is put together, it looks like the Judah/Simeon campaign, and even these others that failed to drive out all the people of Canaan, may have occurred prior to Joshua's death.  It might be a recounting, or maybe it is filling in those last 45 years or so of Joshua's time, when the conquest continued piecemeal? 

As time goes on, all the elders who were with Joshua, and had seen God's work, die off.  So does the whole generation involved in the conquest of Canaan.  A new generation arises, who have never seen the work God did directly for Israel.  Despite the teaching they must have had, as soon as the "old timers" who tell stories about what God did for them have all died off, then Israel starts to abandon the "rules" they were taught, to rebel, and to adopt the gods of those who remain in the land.  Perhaps it is easier to serve "non-gods and idols" because they really don't do you harm or good.  Serving the Living God requires obedience, and there is chastisement and blessing, and worship.  This is not something you can "play at", nor can you interpret events to suit you.  God makes sure of that.

This verse:

11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. [Jdg 2:11 ESV]

Israel begins to serve the Baals.  And the Ashtaroth.  God does what he said he would do.  He takes sides against them.  The surrounding people - who must have hated them anyway - get the upper hand, and begin to plunder them, and they become slaves and are sold by those nations around them. 

Verse 15 ends "...and they were in terrible distress."

From 16 to the end of the chapter seems like a summary of how things went in Israel for the next few hundred years.  They get into trouble, God gives them judges/deliverers, things go well while the judge is alive, but as soon as he dies, they go back to what got them into trouble in the first place, but each time they do even worse things than were done before the last judge was raised up.  They are in a downward cycle, each time moving further away from the covenant requirements.  This is going to go on for a long time.  God ultimately decides that some of the enemies will never be driven out, but will always be there to test Israel as to whether they will look to God, or to the Baals and other false gods when they are in need.

It is just sad to see how quickly they turned away.  Surely their parents told them about the things God had done for them.  Surely they knew.  But how many Godly parents have kids or grands that have turned away.  That do not follow their parent's teaching about God.