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Chapter 2 is out of chronological order, this event occurred shortly before Joshua died. The events of Chapter 1 occurred after the death of Joshua. This chapter describes the growing indifference to the Lord and His commandments.
Here God sends them a "Heavenly Being", not a prophet or judge but a messenger with a warning to the people of Israel. Note he came to Gilgal. Why Gilgal? This place represented the origin of many of God's favors to Israel in Canaan. It was their first encampment in the Promise Land. From Gilgal he came to Shiloh, the location of the Tabernacle. It became "nick named" Bochim, because of the appearance of the heavenly messenger. For some reason, the tribes of Israel were gathered there.
Note the message: It was a warning. They had been commanded upon entering Canaan that they were to destroy all of its inhabitants and their religious altars. They had not done this and because they had disobeyed, God was no longer going to drive out the Canaanites. They were to remain and be as a "thorn in the flesh" to Israel. The message hit home. The people lifted up their voice unto the Lord and wept. Then Joshua sent the people home and they continued to serve the Lord as long as Joshua lived and the Elders who knew Joshua, lived.
This chapter records for us again the death of Joshua at the age of 110, and his burial at Tim-nath-serah, in Ephraim. With the death of Joshua, "The people did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim." Baalim was the worship of pagan gods. There were at least 11 of these gods. The following are a few of them:
| Baal | lord |
| Baal-gad | lord of good fortune |
| Baal-meon | lord of the dwelling |
| Baal-zephon | lord of the darkness |
This is a record of the start of Baal worship in Israel. It continued for approx. 600 years until King Josiah in 609 B.C. burned the idols and sent the ashes to Bethel. Ashtaroth, another pagan god, was the "Lady of the Sea". She was also a pagan goddess who was widely worshipped in the Middle East. Her name appears 40 times in the Old Testament. As the result of this worship of pagan gods, God delivered Israel into the hands of their enemies. Each time they repented, God would send a Judge to lead them out of bondage and each time they would sin again.
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