Israel’s Disobedience
1 Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: Ex. 20:2; Judg. 6:8, 9"I led you up from Egypt and Deut. 1:8brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and Gen. 17:7, 8; Lev. 26:42, 44; Deut. 7:9; Ps. 89:34I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And Ex. 23:32; Deut. 7:2you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; Ex. 34:12, 13; Deut. 12:3you shall tear down their altars.’ Ps. 106:34But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be Num. 33:55; Josh. 23:13thorns in your side, and Judg. 3:6their gods shall be a Ex. 23:33; Deut. 7:16; Ps. 106:36snare to you.’ " 4 So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5 Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord. 6 And when Josh. 22:6; 24:28–31Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
Death of Joshua
7 Josh. 24:31So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Now Josh. 24:29Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died whenhewas one hundred and ten years old. 9 Josh. 24:30And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Josh. 19:49, 50Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who Ex. 5:2; 1 Sam. 2:12; Gal. 4:8; (Titus 1:16)did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11 Then the children of Israel did Judg. 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they Deut. 31:16; Judg. 8:33; 10:6forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed Deut. 6:14other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they Ex. 20:5bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the LordJudg. 10:6; Ps. 106:36and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 Deut. 31:17; Judg. 3:8; Ps. 106:40–42And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He 2 Kin. 17:20delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and Is. 50:1He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they Lev. 26:37; Josh. 7:12, 13could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had Lev. 26:14–26; Deut. 28:15–68sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
16 Nevertheless, Judg. 3:9, 10, 15; Ps. 106:43–45the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they Ex. 34:15played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, Josh. 1:5the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; Gen. 6:6for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 19 And it came to pass, Judg. 3:12when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
20 Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, "Because this nation has (Josh. 23:16)transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua Josh. 23:4, 5, 13left when he died, 22 so Judg. 3:1, 4that through them I may Deut. 8:2, 16; 13:3test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not." 23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.