Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 2:10
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
10. were gathered unto their fathers ] This expression (as here only in 2Ki 22:20 = 2Ch 34:28), and the commoner ‘was gathered unto his people’ (P), referred originally to the family sepulchre; then to the shadowy life of Sheol, the Underworld; finally it was used as a euphemism for death.
which knew not the Lord ] in the sense in which the previous generation had known Him, by personal experience of His work, see Jdg 2:7. According to this writer the death of Joshua marked a cleavage between the age of faith and the age of deterioration; the prophets Hosea (Jdg 9:10 ff.) and Ezekiel (16) take an even gloomier view.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All that generation – i. e. the main body of those who were grown-up men at the time of the conquest of Canaan.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Which knew not the Lord; which had no experimental nor serious and affectionate knowledge of God, nor of his works.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers,…. Were dead and buried, that is, the greatest part of those that were contemporaries with the elders that outlived Joshua; for they might not be all dead, at least not all that came out of Egypt, and still less all that came into the land of Canaan; for, according to the computation of Ben Gersom, the time of Joshua and the elders were but twenty seven years; and there were no more than sixty seven years from their coming out of Egypt to this time; and no doubt there were men living of eighty years of age and more, but these might be but few:
and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord; so as to love, fear, serve, and worship him; did not own him to be the one only living and true God, otherwise they must know him nationally, being educated in the true religion:
nor yet the works which he had done for Israel; some of them, as before observed, might have seen the works and wonders of the Lord for Israel, at their first coming out of Egypt; though not being wise, as the above writer observes, it had no effect upon them, to keep them from doing evil in the sight of God; and they all of them had been informed of them, and many had seen, and must have had personal knowledge of what was done for them at their coming into the land of Canaan; but not a practical knowledge, or such as had any influence upon them, to preserve them from idolatry.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) Gathered unto their fathers.See 2Ki. 22:20, and for similar phrases, Gen. 15:15; 1Ki. 1:21; Act. 13:36, &c. Another common phrase is. gathered unto his people (Gen. 15:8, &c.); and sleep with fathers (Deu. 31:16), &c.
Which knew not the Lord.They proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord (Jer. 9:3; comp. Tit. 1:16).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Another generation which knew not the Lord That is, had no experience of his miracles, no proper respect for his law, nor love for his person and service. The new generation, by their indifference and indisposition to the effort requisite to sift testimony and apply its full force to their minds, wherein was their peculiar probation, fell into a culpable unbelief. The transition from that low faith grounded on the senses, to that higher faith grounded on testimony, is always a critical period.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Continued Failure of The People Summarised With respect to the Days That Were Coming – His Attempts To Woo Them By Deliverance – And Their Continual Backsliding ( Jdg 2:10-23 ).
Jdg 2:10
‘ And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them, who did not know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.’
Thus ‘the elders that outlived Joshua’ were the elders of his generation. There were not two faithful generations. And they all died and were buried in their family tombs.
“And there arose another generation after them, who did not know Yahweh, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.” They did not know Him in the sense that they had not experienced His powerful saving works and activity on behalf of His people. They did not know of Him as the One Who would be what He would be, the One ‘Who was there’ (the meaning of ‘Yahweh’). They knew of Him, they believed in His covenant, they looked to Him for help, but they had not had personal experience of His miraculous, powerful, saving acts, just as Moses had said of the patriarchs that the name of Yahweh was not ‘known’ to them (Exo 6:3), for they too had not experienced His powerful, saving acts, only looking forward to them as a future expectation when He would fulfil His promises to them. ‘Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed’ (Joh 20:29).
The message for Christians is that we cannot depend on the blessings of past days as a barometer of our situation. The only test is our living response to God today. Without that the glories of the past are irrelevant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 2:10. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers The sacred writer means evidently to speak not only of those of the Israelites who had seen the works of God in Egypt, and in the wilderness, but those also who had seen the Jordan crossed over with dry feet, the walls of Jericho overthrown with the sound of the trumpet, the sun stopped at the command of Joshua, &c.; prodigies, the impression of which had powerfully attached them to the service of the Lord, and with them bound to him their cotemporaries. The generation immediately following that of Joshua was of quite another character than the foregoing. Solely occupied with the care of settling themselves, of building houses, planting vineyards, and improving their estates, these new Israelites were little, if at all, engaged in the care of knowing the Lord, or studying his religion. Not having been eye-witnesses of the wonders which the great God had wrought to deliver the nation, or to facilitate its conquest of the land of Canaan, they paid them but a superficial attention. We see them without scruple form the closest connections with the Canaanites, whom they had orders to destroy. In the midst of peace, prosperity intoxicated their hearts. It is commonly thus: the Greeks and Romans, each in their turn, fatally experienced the like. Happy the people who are never reduced to the disgraceful necessity of applying to themselves the words of the famous Latin poet: the evils we suffer are the fruit of a long peace! Juven. Sat. 6: ver. 2:293.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
Ver. 10. And there arose another generation. ] Things grow worse for most part, every age than other: –
“ Aeras parentum peior avis tulit
Nos nequiores, mox datura
Progeniem vitiosiorem. ” – Hor.
Which knew not the Lord, ] i.e., Knew him not effectually and
experimentally. As our Saviour knew no sin – that is, he did none; so
men know not the Lord to any purpose, that obey him not; Eli’s sons,
for instance.
a Od. vi. lib. iii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
knew not. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause). App-6. Put for obeyed not or cared not for.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am cir, 2590, bc cir, 1414, An, Ex, Is, cir, 77, gathered. Gen 15:15, Gen 25:8, Gen 25:17, Gen 49:33, Num 27:13, Deu 31:16, 2Sa 7:12, Act 13:36
knew not: Exo 5:2, 1Sa 2:12, 1Ch 28:9, Job 21:14, Psa 92:5, Psa 92:6, Isa 5:12, Jer 9:3, Jer 22:16, Jer 31:34, Gal 4:8, Gal 4:9, 2Th 1:8, Tit 1:16
Reciprocal: Num 20:24 – gathered Num 31:2 – gathered Jdg 3:1 – as had not Job 18:21 – knoweth Psa 78:10 – General Luk 20:32 – died
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 2:10. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers Not only those who had beheld the wonderful works of God in Egypt, and in the wilderness, but those also who had seen Jordan dried up, the walls of Jericho fall down, the sun stand still at the word of Joshua, and their enemies overwhelmed with hail-stones, &c., which had created such impressions in their hearts, that they generally continued in the service of God while they lived, and kept others in obedience to him. Another generation, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel Which had no serious and affectionate knowledge of God or of his works.