10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers ; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord , nor yet the work which He had done for Israel .
11 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals , 12 and they forsook the Lord , the God of their fathers , who had brought them out of the land of Egypt , and followed e other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger . 13 So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth . 14 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel , and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies . 15 Wherever e they went , the hand of the Lord was against them for evil , as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed . 16 Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges , for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord ; they did not do as their fathers.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 2:10-17
Commentary on Judges 2:6-23
(Read Judges 2:6-23)
We have a general idea of the course of things in Israel, during the time of the Judges. The nation made themselves as mean and miserable by forsaking God, as they would have been great and happy if they had continued faithful to him. Their punishment answered to the evil they had done. They served the gods of the nations round about them, even the meanest, and God made them serve the princes of the nations round about them, even the meanest. Those who have found God true to his promises, may be sure that he will be as true to his threatenings. He might in justice have abandoned them, but he could not for pity do it. The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they became saviours. In the days of the greatest distress of the church, there shall be some whom God will find or make fit to help it. The Israelites were not thoroughly reformed; so mad were they upon their idols, and so obstinately bent to backslide. Thus those who have forsaken the good ways of God, which they have once known and professed, commonly grow most daring and desperate in sin, and have their hearts hardened. Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were spared, and so they were beaten with their own rod. Men cherish and indulge their corrupt appetites and passions; therefore God justly leaves them to themselves, under the power of their sins, which will be their ruin. God has told us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are not willing to believe it, until by making bold with temptation we find it true by sad experience. We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Let us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all our days.