Chapter 2

2:1  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

angel

See note. (See Scofield "Hebrews 1:4") .

2:9  And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

Timmathheres

Timnathserah. Joshua 19:50 .

2:13  And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

Ashtaroth

Ashtaroth, plural of Ashtoreth 1 Kings 11:5 were figures of Ashtoreth the Phoenician goddess (the Astarte of the Greeks), which were worshipped as idols during times of spiritual declension in Israel. ; Judges 10:6 ; 1 Samuel 7:3 1 Samuel 7:4 ; 12:10 ; 31:10 ; 1 Kings 11:5 1 Kings 11:33 ; 2 Kings 23:13 . Jeremiah refers Jeremiah 44:18 Jeremiah 44:19 to Ashtoreth as the "queen of heaven."

2:18  And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

judges

The judges were tribesmen in Israel upon whom the Lord laid the burden of Israel's apostate and oppressed state. They were the spiritual ancestors of the prophets; that is to say, men raised up of God, the theocratic King, to represent Him in the nation. They were patriots and religious reformers because national security and prosperity were inseparably connected with loyalty and obedience to Jehovah. Not one of the chosen deliverers had anything whereof to glory in the flesh. Othniel was but the son of the younger brother of Caleb; Ehud was a left-handed man and an assassin; Shamgar, a rustic with an ox-goad; Deborah, a woman; Gideon, of an obscure family in the smallest tribe, etc. Each of the classes mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:27 1 Corinthians 1:28 is illustrated among the judges.

repented

(See Scofield "Zechariah 8:14") .