(16) Nevertheless.--Rather, And.

The Lord raised up judges.--Acts 13:20; 1Samuel 12:10-11. This is the key-note to the book. (See Judges 3:10; Judges 4:4; Judges 10:2; Judges 12:7, &c.; 15:20.) The word for Judges is Shophetim. The ordinary verb "to judge," in Hebrew, is not Shaphat, but dayyan. Evidently their deliverers (comp. Deuteronomy 17:8-9; Psalm 2:10; Amos 2:3) are of higher rank than the mere tribe-magistrates mentioned in Exodus 18:26; Deuteronomy 1:16, &c. Artemidorus (Judges 2:14) says that to judge (Krinein) signified among the ancients "to govern." Of the judges in this book some--e.g., Tola, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon--are not said to have performed any warlike deeds. They may, however, have been warriors, like Jair, whose exploits are only preserved in tradition. Samuel, though not himself a fighter, yet roused the military courage of his people. They received no salary, imposed no tributes, made no laws, but merely exercised, for the deliverance of Israel, the personal ascendency conferred upon them by "the Spirit of God." Perhaps they find their nearest analogy in the Greek Aisymnetai (elective princes) or the Roman Dictators. The name is evidently the same as that of the Ph?nician Suffetes, who succeeded the kings and were the Doges of Tyre after its siege by Nebuchadnezzar. (Jos. 100 Ap. i. 21.) Livy tells us that the Suffetes of Carthage had a sort of consular power in the senate (Liv. 30:7; 28:57; 33:46; 34:61). So, too, in the Middle Ages, Spanish governors were called "judges," and this was the title of the chief officer of Sardinia. The judges of Israel, at any rate in their true ideal, were not only military deliverers (Judges 3:9), but also supporters of divine law and order (Genesis 18:25). The abeyance of normally constituted authority during this period is seen in the fact that one of the judges is the son of a "stranger" (Judges 11:2), another a woman (Judges 4:4), and not one of them (in this book) of priestly or splendid birth.

Verse 16. - Raised up judges. Hence the name of this book, which recites the names and exploits of those whom God raised up to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. The title Judges (Hebrew, shophetim) is, as is well known, identical with the Carthagenian suffetes. Mark the riches of God's mercy.

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.Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges,.... Who are particularly mentioned by name, and their exploits recorded, in some following chapters, and from whom the book in general has its name: these were men that God raised up in an extraordinary manner, and spirited and qualified for the work he had to do by them; which was to deliver the people of Israel out of the hands of their oppressors, and restore them to their privileges and liberties, and protect them in them, and administer justice to them; which was a wonderful instance of the goodness of God to them, notwithstanding their many provoking sins and transgressions:

which delivered them out of the hands of those that spoiled them; who took away their goods and cattle from them, and carried their persons captive: these were the instruments of recovering both again, just as Abraham brought again Lot and all his goods.