Judges 2 - Continuing the setup

Judges 2

And the Mal'ak of YHWH went up from Gilgal to Bocim. He said, “I carried you out from Egypt. I brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers. I said, 'Do not break my covenant with you!' You did not make a covenant with the dwellers of this land. Tear down their altars! Will you not obey me? What is this that you have done? Did I say, 'Do not drive them out from before you?' They would be at your side and their gods would be your snare.”

When the Mal'ak of YHWH had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted their voices and wept. They called the name of this place “Bocim” and they sacrificed there to YHWH. Joshua sent the people away. The Israelites went each to his estate to possess the land. The people served YHWH all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders which survived after the days of Joshua, who had seen all the great deeds of YHWH which he had done for Israel.

Joshua, son of Nun, servant of YHWH, died when he was 110 years old. They buried him within the boundary of his estate, in Timnat-Heres, on Mt Efraim, north of My Ga'ash. All of that generation also were gathered to their fathers.

But another generation after them arose which did not know YHWH or the deeds which had been done for Israel.

The Israelites would do what was evil to YHWH: they would serve the Ba'als. They would forsake YHWH, the god of their fathers, the one who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They would go after other gods, ones from the gods of the people who surrounded them. They would prostrate themselves to them and vex YHWH. They would forsake YHWH: they would serve Ba'al and the asherahs.

YHWH would be angry with Israel. He would give them over to bandits and they would plunder them. He would sell them into the hand of their enemies which surrounded them. They would not be able even to stand before their enemies. Every time they would go out, the hand of YHWH would be on them for ill, as YHWH had spoken and as YHWH had sworn to them: He would troubled them much.

But, YHWH would establish judges and they would deliver them from the hands of their bandits.

But they would not heed their judges, but would lust after other gods and prostrate themselves to them. They would turn quickly aside from the way which their fathers had gone. Obey the commands of YHWH: this they would not do.

So YHWH would raise up judges for them. YHWH would be with the judge and he would deliver them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. Thus, YHWH would console them from their groaning, from before their distress and their oppression.

And when the judge died, they would turn and would abandon their fathers to go after other gods, to serve them and to prostrate themselves to them. They would not fall away from their deeds or their harsh way.

YHWH would be angry with Israel. He would say, “Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I had commanded to their fathers, they did not obey me. Thus, I will not dispossess any before them from the nations which Joshua left when he died.”

Thus [they would be] a test of Israel, whether they would keep the way of YHWH, to go in them as their fathers kept, or not. So YHWH had left these nations, had not dispossessed them from the mountain, and had not given them into the hand of Joshua.

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The aspect of this entire chapter is unmarked. It could be rendered in a simple past throughout, however due to the lack of specifics, I would argue that this is supposed to be the setup of the structure that each store which follows will use. Thus, this is less an actual narrative and more of a genre definition.

 Another issue is the end quotation. There is no clear marker other than YHWH's name being used in the last two verses. Normally, we would not have someone speaking in the 3rd person, however YHWH/God does this on occasion in other places, so we cannot discount the possibility that the end of this section is one long quotation. This would alter the aspect of the last couple sentences.

Finally, it is odd that a Mal'ak (Messenger or Angel) starts this discussion and at the end we have YHWH speaking directly. It could be a composite text, as there is some repetition, but that is not conclusive. It could also be simply more poetic speech. 

This chapter leaves us with more or less the needed setup for the stories of the Judges which follow. How well each one aligns with this genre-structure will be interesting to see.