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Judges 3 · a question people ask

Why did the LORD leave nations in the land?

In the text

The chapter gives its own reasons. They were left "to test Israel by them" (3:1), "to know whether they would listen to the LORD’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses" (3:4). And "only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who knew nothing of it before" (3:2). In chapter 2 the LORD gives the reason behind it: "Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice" (2:20), "I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them; that by them I may test Israel, to see if they will keep the LORD’s way to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not" (2:21-22). Joshua had warned of it: "know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight" (Joshua 23:13). The next two verses tell what Israel did among them (3:5-6).

The verses

“The LORD’s anger burned against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice, I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them; that by them I may test Israel, to see if they will keep the LORD’s way to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not.””
Judges 2:20-22 · World English Bible
“know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.”
Joshua 23:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Judges 3

Judges 3: The LORD raised up a savior

Israel's first cry to the LORD in Judges comes in chapter 3, and both times they cry, "the LORD raised up a savior" (3:9, 3:15): Othniel, on whom the LORD's Spirit came, and Ehud, a left-handed man of Benjamin, the tribe whose name Strong's gives as "son of (the) right hand".

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions