Richter 2:22

The purpose of God in this resolution was "to prove Israel through them (the tribes that were not exterminated), whether they (the Israelites) would keep the way of the Lord to walk therein (cf. Deu 8:2), as their fathers did keep it, or not." נסּות למען is not dependent upon the verb עזב, as Studer supposes, which yields no fitting sense; nor can the clause be separated from the preceding one, as Bertheau suggests, and connected as a protasis with Jdg 2:23 (this would be a thoroughly unnatural construction, for which Isa 45:4 does not furnish any true parallel); but the clause is attached in the simplest possible manner to the main thought in Jdg 2:20, Jdg 2:21, that is to say, to the words "and He said" in Jdg 2:20 : Jehovah said, i.e., resolved, that He would not exterminate the remaining nations any further, to tempt Israel through them. The plural בּם, in the place of the singular בּהּ, which the foregoing דּרך requires, is to be regarded as a constructio ad sensum, i.e., to be attributed to the fact, that keeping the way of God really consists in observing the commandments of God, and that this was the thought which floated before the writer's mind. The thought expressed in this verse, that Jehovah would not exterminate the Canaanites before Israel any more, to try them whether they would keep His commandments, just as He had previously caused the people whom He brought out of Egypt to wander in the wilderness for forty years with the very same intention (Deu 8:2), is not at variance with the design of God, expressed in Exo 23:29-30, and Deu 7:22, not to exterminate the Canaanites all at once, lest the land should become waste, and the wild beasts multiply therein, nor yet with the motive assigned in Jdg 3:1-2. For the determination not to exterminate the Canaanit…

In this chapter we have, I. A particular message which God sent to Israel by an angel, and the impression it made upon them (Jdg 2:1-5). II. A general idea of the state of Israel during the government of the judges, in which observe, 1. Their adherence to God while Joshua and the elders lived (Jdg 2:6-10). 2. Their revolt afterwards to idolatry (Jdg 2:11-13). 3. God's displeasure against them, and his judgments upon them for it (Jdg 2:14, Jdg 2:15). 4. His pity towards them, shown in raising them up deliverers (Jdg 2:16-18). 5. Their relapse into idolatry after the judgment was over (Jdg 2:17-19). 6. The full stop God in anger put to their successes (Jdg 2:20-23). These are the contents, not only of this chapter, but of the whole book.