God leaves nations to test Israel

This section comes in the opening overview of Judges that explains the repeating pattern that will fill the book. Earlier in the chapter, Israel’s generations shift after Joshua’s death, and the people turn away; Yahweh then responds by allowing trouble and raising deliverers. These verses serve as a key explanation for why hostile nations keep appearing in later stories: their continued presence is not presented as an accident, but as part of the situation Yahweh allows after Israel breaks covenant. It also links forward to the narrative cycles that follow in Judges.

The setting is early Israel in the land after the initial conquest period associated with Joshua, when different peoples still occupied many towns, valleys, and fortified areas. Israel existed as a loose tribal coalition without a centralized monarchy, often living near and among other groups with their own local power structures. Travel routes, farmland, and city strongholds made complete control difficult, so leftover enclaves were a normal feature of the landscape. The passage reflects an era where ongoing proximity to surrounding peoples created repeated pressures and conflicts.

Shared ground

Judges 2:20–23 explains why hostile peoples remain in the land after Joshua. The text’s explicit claims are that Israel broke Yahweh’s covenant and “did not listen,” and that Yahweh responded by no longer driving out the remaining nations (v. 20–21). The narrator then presents those nations’ continued presence as something Yahweh “left” in place (v. 23).

A second explicit claim is purpose: Yahweh says he will leave these nations “to test” Israel (v. 22). The test is framed around whether Israel will keep “the way of Yahweh” as an ongoing pattern of life (“walk in it”), like “their fathers” did.

Where interpretation differs

Some readers take “test” to mean a moral examination that reveals what Israel is already like: the nations function as a proving ground that exposes loyalty or disloyalty.

Others take “test” to include discipline: leaving the nations is not only to reveal Israel’s direction but also to train, correct, or press Israel back toward covenant faithfulness. On this reading, “test” has a sharpening effect, not just a measuring one.

Another difference is how absolute Yahweh’s “I will no longer drive out” is (v. 21). Some read it as a firm cessation of conquest help. Others read it as a change of method or timing, especially in light of v. 23 (“not quickly”), which can sound like delay rather than total refusal.

Why the disagreement exists

The passage itself uses short, overlapping statements: “will no longer drive out” (v. 21) alongside “did not drive them out quickly” (v. 23). Those can be read either as complementary (he has stopped) or as qualifying (he will not do it in the expected swift way). Also, the word “test” can describe either checking loyalty or using hardship to shape loyalty, and v. 22 does not spell out which nuances are intended.

What this passage clearly contributes

This unit ties Israel’s continuing struggles with surrounding peoples to covenant unfaithfulness, not to chance. It portrays Yahweh as actively governing Israel’s historical situation: the remaining nations are both consequence (because Israel did not listen) and instrument (a test of whether Israel will keep Yahweh’s way). It also sets up Judges’ later pattern: pressures from remaining nations are part of the book’s explanation for recurring conflict and repeated failures.