Judges 2:23

Taking this verse as the conclusion of Judges 2:20, the emphasis falls on hastily, i.e. during Joshua's life-time; the nations were not destroyed all at once, because Jehovah wished to test the fidelity of the succeeding generations. But this adds little to the thought of Judges 2:20; and the last half of the verse takes us back to Joshua's life-time, whereas Judges 2:7; Judges 2:21presuppose his death. The word left(not the word for leftin Judges 2:21) seems rather to connect with Judges 3:1, and most critics regard Judges 2:23 a as leading up to Judges 3:1-3, where the nations are left to teach Israel the art of war. If this is the case, Judges 2:23 a, like the nucleus of Judges 3:1-3, will belong to J, and form the close of ch. 1; these nations(not the nations in Judges 3:3) will then mean the nations alluded to in ch. 1. The last part of the verse is a harmonizing gloss.