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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Judges 3:1 - 3:6
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The Nations Which Remained
v. 1. Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, to test their faithfulness to Him, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan, the younger generation which enjoyed the fruits of conquest, but did not estimate aright the greatness of the dangers endured by the fathers, and therefore did not sufficiently value the help of God;
v. 2. only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, give them an idea, make them realize the great cost of the boon of freedom and material wealth which they were enjoying, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof, the final object being that they might learn humility and submission to the Law;
v. 3. namely, five lords of the Philistines, those of the five city-states Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, Jos_13:3, and all the Canaanites, chiefly along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan Valley, and the Sidonians, the Phenicians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon, in the southern Anti-Lebanon, west of Damascus, unto the entering in of Hamath, in the valley of the Orontes.
v. 4. And they, these heathen nations, were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. By being oppressed by their enemies and thereupon delivered by the Lord through the medium of wars, Israel was both to be tested and strengthened in obedience to the Lord.
v. 5. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, all of whom they permitted to live in their midst, making no serious effort to drive them out.
v. 6. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, thus entering into the most intimate social relationship with them, and served their gods, the natural consequence of breaking down the barriers which the Lord had erected by His prohibition, Exo_34:16-23; Deu_7:3-4. That is almost invariably the progress of apostasy: friendship with the world, marriages with infidels, rejection of the Lord.