Judges 2:20

Anger of the Lord. The passage is intended to portray God’s hatred of sin. The anger is not that of impulse, but expressive rather of God’s abhorrence of evil, an abhorrence that has its foundation in the holiness of His character. Man’s anger is a fire, burning with impulsive and selfish passion; God’s anger springs from eternal principles of righteousness and benevolence. If God is infinitely good and holy, and if He knows the full misery that sin has brought into His creation, with what other sentiment can He regard sin than that of hatred and indignation that will ultimately doom it to annihilation? In the meantime, God is seeking to save the sinner lest he too be consumed in the purifying fires (Eze. 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9).

Transgressed my covenant. God’s displeasure was not without cause. The fact that the people had taken part in and agreed to the covenant made at Sinai imposed on them obligations that were tantamount to commands. The specific obligation they were so flagrantly ignoring was that which forbade the worship of any other god.