Judges
Chapter 2
Penitential Liturgy
The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim, where the Israelites were gathered, and he said to them:
“I made you go up from Egypt and brought you to the land I had promised your ancestors. I said to them, ‘Never will I break my Covenant with you,
but you shall not make any Covenant with the Canaanites and shall destroy their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my command. Why did you not obey me?
Now, I will not drive out these nations before you. They shall be your oppressors, and their gods shall be a trap for you.”
After the angel of the Lord had spoken, all the Israelites began to weep and cry.
For this reason, they named that place Bochim, which means “those who weep,” and offered sacrifices to the Lord.
When Joshua dismissed the Israelites, each went to his inheritance to occupy the land.
The people served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and of the leaders who outlived him and who had witnessed all the great works of the Lord for Israel.
Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of Moses, died at the age of one hundred and ten years.
They buried him at the boundary of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
That whole generation died, and another one came, but they did not know the Lord or what he had done for Israel.
Great Introduction
The Israelites mistreated the Lord, for they served the Baals instead.
They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt, and served other gods, the gods of the neighboring peoples. They bowed before those gods and offended the Lord.
When the Lord saw that they had abandoned him to serve Baal and Ashtaroth,
he became angry with his people and gave them to plunderers who left them in misery. He sold them to their enemies, who surrounded the Israelites so that these Israelites could no longer withstand them.
Whenever they felt strong for an offensive, the Lord would turn against them and send evil upon them, as he had warned them and sworn to do. And this caused much distress and anguish for the Israelites.
The Lord raised “judges” (liberators) who saved the Israelites from their exploiters.
But neither did they obey those “judges,” for they still prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They soon left the way of their fathers, who obeyed the commandments of the Lord; they did not follow the way of their fathers.
When the Lord made a judge appear among his people, the Lord was with him and saved them from their enemies. That lasted as long as the judge lived, for the Lord was moved to pity by the lament of his oppressed and persecuted people.
But when the judge died, they again became worse than their ancestors—worshiping and serving other gods. They would not renounce their pagan practices and stubborn ways.
The Lord was angry and said, “These people broke the Covenant I made with their ancestors, and they refuse to obey me.
I will no longer drive out any nations that Joshua left before them when he died.
And I shall test the Israelites through those nations; then I shall know if they will finally follow my ways as their ancestors did.”
So the Lord left those nations in their place and did not immediately take the land from them. This is also why he did not give them to Joshua.
Commentaries
Penitential Liturgy.
The God of the Exodus sends his “messenger” to condemn the wickedness of the people of Israel. The angel of the Lord confirms the Lord’s promise. God has failed us! The Israelites have not learned from their mistakes and have made covenants with other gods. When the people hear the messenger’s sentence, they can do nothing but weep and mourn. The episode shows the entire community gathered together as at the beginning of the book, but for a different reason. They are assembled to hear their judgment. Israel turns to other gods; calamities strike them, and then they cry out and beg for the Lord’s presence, who, as always, responds in favor of his people.
Great Introduction.
The book of Judges powerfully and vividly depicts the human experience throughout history. We often reject the God of Life; things go badly for us, we complain, and sometimes we blame God for our tragedies. How do we relate to God after turning away from his presence? Do we cry? Do we lament? Do we recognize our wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness?
In earlier verses (2:14ff), the author reveals a God who is angry with his people. There is nothing else in the Bible that provokes God’s anger as much as idolatry and neglect of the poor. When people commit these sins, God acts decisively. However, the anger that God experiences does not last forever; it is fleeting (Ps 30:5). God never remains indifferent to the oppression of his people, even when the community is responsible for its tyranny. God can turn his anger into understanding and mercy toward the marginalized who cry out for justice.