ISRAEL'S FAILURE, GOD'S MERCY
A. From Gilgal to Bochim
1. (Judges 2:1-3) The Angel of the LORD preaches to Israel
Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers: and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land: you shall tear down the altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.'"
The angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal: The Hebrew is "the malach of YHWH". Malach does NOT mean angel; it means messenger. It is only in certain contexts in which it is taken to mean that the messenger is an angel, a spirit being.
In many places in the Bible, we come across this term. Jewish scholars and rabbis insist that this is actually a HUMAN messenger, a prophet that is being referred to. And that is one way around the problem that Christianity also struggles with about he identity of "the angel of the LORD". The problem is what or who is the angel (the malach) or the LORD? Here in Judges 2:1. Many of the greatest Hebrew sages say that this is simply a human prophet who has journeyed from Gilgal to deliver a message from God. They assume this because if it is a spirit being, then one has the spirit being speaking in the first person "I". And if that is the case, then it is hard to deny that the spirit being is identifying himself as God. That is not something Judaism accounts for. However, it is common for a prophet to speak the actual words from God, like reading a prepared speaking using the first person "I". The difference is that the prophet ALWAYS prefaces those words with some form of, "this is a message from God". And this is not the case here.
Christianity, on the other hand, has adopted the concept of the Trinity, whereby God can manifest Himself as God in as many as three forms. Therefore, to have a spirit being speak as "I, the LORD" and yet not necessarily be identified as God the Father still leaves two other choices: the Holy Spirit and the Son (Jesus). With this doctrine of the Trinity the only argument becomes which of the Trinity is the angel of the LORD. The usual answer is the Son.
Even if we have a nice selection of three different square pegs in the Trinity, we are still trying to pound them into a round hole called the angel of the LORD. I believe that while in the era of Jesus, we indeed saw recorded primarily the workings of the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son (all are one, God), I am skeptical that these are the ONLY possible manifestations of the LORD. There is nothing Scripturally that says God is three in one and ONLY three in one. There is the Shekinah that is spoken of that does not fit the description of any of those three. There is the angel of the LORD that presents another variation. We have the physical apparition that appeared to Abraham and spoke and ate with him. There is another physical being which wrestled with Jacob.
Wherever you fall in this debate, there is no doubt that the angel of the LORD is a spirit being and not a man. In the long run, we are better off to accept that the angel of the LORD is a direct manifestation of YHWH (LORD) and be satisfied to leave it there rather than trying to rationalize it with any doctrine, Jewish or Christian. When it comes to the spirit world, we are so limited in our insight, ability to comprehend and to find words of this physical world to describe and illustrate the spiritual.
Bochim: The angel of the LORD then proceeds to speak to the people of Israel at a place identified as Bochim. We do not know where this place is and in reality, Bochim is not a proper name or title. It simply means weepers, as in people crying. In a couple verses we will see weeping is Israel's collective reaction to the words spoken by the angel of the LORD.
I brought you up out of Egypt: The first thing the angel of the LORD does is to remind Israel of God's great love and faithfulness to them. He has rescued them from Egypt and then brought them to the land He promised Abraham. He has fought ahead of Israel and won, and now Israel can rest in their own land. Yet, they are not completely at rest because they did not fully follow God's commands to rid the land of the Canaanites. Still, the LORD says despite this disobedience, He is not going to break the covenant He made with Israel. God implies that Israel deserves the covenant to be revoked; however, because of His own holy nature, He will not do it. Israel can walk away from the covenant, disassociate themselves from the covenant and therefore not be under the covenant; however, the covenant still remains intact.
It is God's general pattern to remind us of His great love and faithfulness to us before calling us to obedience or confronting our sin. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and we can only really obey Him as we walk in His love and abide in His covenant with us.
I will never break My covenant with you: What did God just say? He said, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER will I break My covenant with you, Israel. He did NOT say if you break the covenant then I will break the covenant. He did NOT say that under the right circumstances, He will break the covenant. Compare Matthew 5:17-18:
"Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as the smallest letter or a stroke will pass from the Torah--not until everything that must happen has happened."
God says that He will not break the covenant, and later Jesus says He will not break the covenant. The angel of the LORD brings the good news to Israel that despite the difficulties and chastisement from God that may be coming their way, Israel's covenant with God will NEVER be broken. The covenant spoken of here is the Covenant of Moses.
Make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land: We are reminded here that the Covenant of Moses is conditional. The condition is that Israel must remain faithful and obedient to God if they expect to have fruitfulness and rest in Canaan. That faithfulness and obedience was generally wrapped up in the LORD'S demands that Israel makes no covenants (peace treaties and political agreements) with the Canaanites. Additionally, Israel should destroy all the pagan idol and places of worship which covered the land.
But you have not obeyed Me: Next, the LORD points His finger at Israel and says, "You have not what I have asked of you." In other words, the LORD accuses Israel of blatantly not doing the very things He said were mandatory and would have dire consequences if Israel did not obey.
I will not drive them out before you: After the accusation (and conviction), God issues His judgment upon them. Whereas when Joshua was alive, God lead the battles and ensured the victories. Now, He says He is backing away; Israel will be on their own.
As Christians, we find ourselves wanting God to fight our battles for us. We want Him to do the work of maturing us as Christians. We want to wake up one morning and certain sins would be gone. Sometimes God does grant us such miraculous deliverance, and we praise Him for it. However, it is more common for Him to require our partnership with Him in the process of Christian growth. Our partnership with God is important because it shows that our heart is where His heart it. It shows that we are truly growing close to God.
They will become as thorns in your sides: God's punishment to Israel for their disobedience was not a surprise. The announcement that the Canaanites would remain as problems to the nation was promised beforehand to Israel if they would not faithfully drive out the Canaanites. "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell" (Numbers 33:55).
2. (Judges 2:4-6) The people respond with weeping and sorrow
When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the LORD. When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.
The people lifted up their voices and wept: Israel's response to this startling revelation and judgment was that they wept bitter tears and began wailing loudly at what they had done. They lamented what this would mean for their present and future. This is why the place was given the name Bochim, the place of weepers.
This emotional response of the people was very hopeful. With all the weeping and wailing, there was reason to believe that God's word had a deep impact upon them; they were on their way to a genuine revival of God's work among them.
Sadly, this was not the case. The subsequent record in the Book of Judges shows that this initial reaction of sorrow and repentance did not mature into a real, lasting repentance. Real repentance shows itself in action, not necessarily in weeping. We can be sorry about the consequences of our sin whiteout being sorry about the sin itself. One can weep outwardly and show repentance without ever inwardly repenting. This is the LORD challenges Israel in Joel 2:13: "So rend your hearts and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness."
There they sacrificed to the LORD: Israel did the right thing here. Any awareness of sin should drive us to God's appointed sacrifice. In their day that meant sin offerings of bulls and rams. In our day, we should remember God's sacrifice for us on the cross--Jesus.
When Joshua had dismissed the people: This shows that Judges chapter 2 begins as retrospect, looking back to the days before the death of Joshua, which was described in Judges 1:1. This hopeful response to the Angel of the LORD started when Joshua was still alive.
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