Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 2:3

Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be [as thorns] in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

3. Wherefore I also said ] Moreover also I said; perhaps referring to the warning in Jos 23:13 D, Num 33:55 P, from which latter place the expressions in this verse appear to be borrowed. Others translate ‘and I have also said,’ a present, resolve in antithesis to the past promise ‘And I said, I will never break’ etc. in Jdg 2:1 b; but the antithesis is hardly to be extracted from the Hebr.

they shall be as thorns in your sides ] Supplying ‘as thorns’ from Num 33:55, to make sense; cf. Jos 23:13 ‘thorns in your eyes’; the word ‘as thorns’ may have been omitted here by accident. Instead of ‘they shall be sides (!) unto you’ ( iddim) the Vulgate and Targ. have ‘they shall be adversaries’ ( arim); the LXX, taking arim as = aroth, render ‘straits,’ ‘distresses,’ so Vet. Ital. in angustias, in pressura: these are probably only conjectures. It has been proposed to pronounce iddim ‘sides’ as addim, and give it the sense of the Assyrian addu ‘a net, trap’; this would make a good parallel to ‘snare’ at the end of the verse; but the Assyr. form is not quite certain (? zaddu).

their gods a snare unto you ] Cf. Exo 23:33; Exo 34:12; Deu 7:16; Jos 23:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Wherefore I also said – Rather because ye have done the things mentioned in Jdg 2:2, I have now said (i. e. I now protest and declare) that I will not drive them out from before you (compare Jdg 19:29). And it was the annonncement of this resolution by the Angel that caused the people to weep.

The word thorns in this verse is supplied by the King James Version from the similar passage in Joshua (see the marginal reference). Other versions adopt a different reading of the original text, and prefer the sense they shall be to you for adversaries (compare the last words of Num 33:55).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. I will not drive them out from before you] Their transgressions, and breach of the covenant, were the reasons why they were not put in entire possession of the promised land. See note at the end of this chapter. Clarke “Jdg 2:23“.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I also said with myself; I have now taken up this peremptory resolution.

Thorns in your sides: See Poole “Num 33:55“; See Poole “Jos 23:13“.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Wherefore I also said,…. Supposing, or on condition of their being guilty of the above things, which was foreseen they would:

I will not drive them out from before you; the seven nations of the Canaanites entirely, and which accounts for the various instances related in the preceding chapter; where it is observed, that they could not, or did not, drive the old inhabitants out of such and such places, because they sinned against the Lord, and he forsook them, and would not assist them in their enterprises, or them to their sloth and indolence:

but they shall be [as thorns] in your sides: very troublesome and afflicting, see Nu 33:55; or for straits, as the Septuagint, or be such as would bring them into tribulation, and distress them, as the Targum; so they often did:

and their gods shall be a snare unto you; which they suffered to continue, and did not destroy them, as they ought to have done; they would be, as they proved, ensnaring to them, and whereby they were drawn to forsake the worship of the true God, and bow down to them, as we read in some following verses.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“ And I also have said to you: ” these words point to the threat already expressed in Num 33:55; Jos 23:13, in the event of their not fulfilling the command of God, which threat the Lord would now fulfil. From the passages mentioned, we may also explain the expression , they shall be in your sides, i.e., thorns in your sides. is an abbreviated expression for in Num 33:55, so that there is no necessity for the conjecture that it stands for . The last clause of Jdg 2:3 is formed after Exo 23:33.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(3) Wherefore I also said.Rather, And now I have said.

I will not drive them out.The withdrawal of the conditional promises in Exo. 23:31.

They shall be as thorns in your sides.The Hebrew is, they shall be to you for sides. The words as thorns are conjecturally supplied from Num. 33:55. In Jos. 23:13 we have scourges in your sides. The LXX. render for pressures, and the Vulgate that you may have enemies. The Hebrew word for sides is tsiddim, and would differ little from tsarim (nets), which is the conjecture of R. Jonas; and this root is found in the verb, and they shall vex you, in Num. 33:55. Whether we adopt this reading, or tsinnim (thorns), or suppose that a word has dropped out, the general sense is the same.

Their gods shall be a snare unto you.See Jdg. 2:12-13; Psa. 106:36.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Wherefore I also said By the lips of Moses (Num 33:55) and of Joshua (Jos 23:12-13) the declaration was made that if they clave unto the remnant of the nations, and had social and commercial intercourse with them. God would not drive out these nations. They had received a fair warning.

As thorns These words are not found in the Hebrew of this passage, but are here supplied by our translators from Num 33:55, and Jos 23:13. Literally this text reads, They shall be to you to sides; but it is to be regarded as an abbreviation of the proverb, They shall be for thorns to your sides. “The figure is taken from rural life. Israel has acted like a slothful gardener. He has not thoroughly destroyed the thorns and thistles of his fields. The consequence will be that sowing and planting and other field labours will soon be rendered painful by the presence of spiteful thorns. The influence of habitual intercourse will make the Canaanites stinging weeds and snares for Israel.” Cassel.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments