Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • KJT • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (1) To prove Israel.—The verb here used is the same as in Judges 2:22 and Judges 3:4, but, as R. Tanchum observes, it is used in a slightly different sense, meaning “to train them.” Symmachus renders it askēsai.As many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan.—This expression clearly implies the generation after that of Joshua. “The wars of Canaan” are equivalent to “the wars of the Lord,” and refer to the struggles of the actual conquest. Jdg 3:1. Now these are the nations, &c. — The sacred historian having declared, in general, that God did not judge it proper to drive out all the Canaanites, because he intended to try the fidelity and zeal of his people in his service, proceeds now to enumerate the particular nations which remained unsubdued. As many as had not known all the wars of Canaan — That is, such as were born since the conclusion of the wars, or were but infants during their continuance, and therefore had no experience of them, nor of God’s extraordinary power and providence manifested therein.3:1-7 As the Israelites were a type of the church on earth, they were not to be idle and slothful. The Lord was pleased to try them by the remains of the devoted nations they spared. Temptations and trials detect the wickedness of the hearts of sinners; and strengthen he graces of believers in their daily conflict with Satan, sin, and this evil world. They must live in this world, but they are not of it, and are forbidden to conform to it. This marks the difference between the followers of Christ and mere professors. The friendship of the world is more fatal than its enmity; the latter can only kill the body, but the former murders many precious souls.Even as many of Israel ... - These words show that the writer has especially in view the generation which came to man's estate immediately after the close of the wars with the Canaanites Joshua 23:1. Compare Judges 2:10. CHAPTER 3Jud 3:1-4. Nations Left to Prove Israel. 1. these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel—This was the special design of these nations being left, and it evinces the direct influence of the theocracy under which the Israelites were placed. These nations were left for a double purpose: in the first instance, to be instrumental, by their inroads, in promoting the moral and spiritual discipline of the Israelites; and also to subserve the design of making them acquainted with war, in order that the young, more especially, who were total strangers to it, might learn the use of weapons and the art of wielding them.The nations left to prove Israel mentioned, Judges 3:1-4. The Israelites marrying their daughters, and serving their gods, they are delivered up to the king of Mesopotamia; are rescued by Othniel, Judges 3:5-11. Continuing to do evil, they are again punished and oppressed by the king of the Moabites; are rescued by Ehud: ten thousand Moabites are slain, Judges 3:12-30. They are afterwards delivered from the Philistines by Shamgar, Judges 3:31. even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as not to have knowledge of them, at least not able to bear arms at that time. Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the {a} wars of Canaan;(a) Which were achieved by the hand of God, and not by the power of man. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) Jdg 3:1-3 explain why Jehovah left these nations (Jdg 2:23); it was merely to teach succeeding generations of Israelites the practice of war (Jdg 3:2 in the main). The idea is obviously an ancient one, and belongs to the same historical stand-point as ch. 1. This nucleus has been adapted (Jdg 3:1) and commented on (Jdg 3:2 in part, Jdg 3:3) by later hands, which it is difficult to specify more exactly. The editorial process has left the text of Jdg 3:2 confused and overloaded.these are the nations] i.e. those mentioned in Jdg 3:3. Instead of the Lord left the LXX. cod. A has Joshua left, as in Jdg 2:21, but the verb here is different. to prove Israel] goes back to the thought of Jdg 2:22. The proof was necessary for the generations after Joshua who ‘had not known’ all the great work of Jehovah, Jdg 2:7 note.Verse 1. - Now these are the nations, etc. We are now told in detail what was stated in general in Judges 2:22, 23, after the common method of Hebrew narrative. To prove Israel. This word to prove is used here in a somewhat different sense from that which it bears in ver. 4 and in Judges 2:22. In those passages it is used of their moral probation, of proving or testing their faith and obedience; but here it is rather in the sense of "to exercise" or "to accustom them," to train them to war. A considerable period of rest had followed Joshua's conquest, during which the younger Israelites had no experience of war; but if they were to keep their hold of Canaan, it was needful that the warlike spirit should be kept up in their breasts. "And when the Lord raised them up judges, and was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge (i.e., as long as the judge was living), because the Lord had compassion upon their sighing, by reason of them that oppressed them, and vexed them (דּחק only occurs again as a verb in Joel 2:8): it came to pass when the judge was dead, that they returned and acted more corruptly than their fathers," i.e., they turned again to idolatry even more grievously than their fathers had done under the previous judges. "They did not let fall from their deeds," i.e., they did not cease from their evil deeds, and "from their stiff-necked way." קשׁה, hard, is to be understood as in Exodus 32:9 and Exodus 33:3, where Israel is called a hard-necked people which did not bend under obedience to the commandments of God. 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