Judges: Chap 2: The Angel of the Lord brings weeping to Israel.

Title: Judges: Chap 2: The Angel of the Lord brings weeping to Israel.    

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

At some point in the history after the initial failures by the tribes of Israel in chap 1, the Angel of the Lord appears to announce to them their punishment for not following the commands.

 

JDG 2:1 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,

 

The angel of the Lord therefore appeared at Bochim, and declared to the Israelites, that because they had not obeyed the command of the Lord, to make no covenant with the Canaanites, the Lord would no more drive out these nations, but would cause them and their gods to become a snare to them. This is the consequence of their refusal to follow Jehovah’s mandates by faith.  

 

There are consequences that fall upon the believer who refuses to follow the Lord’s mandates. There has to be or there is no point or reason for commands.

 

If God guides us for our good then following that guidance must result in good. If good results from not following that guidance then the guidance itself is false, which in turn would make God false. Sheep need guidance. They need a Shepherd and when the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.

 

GAL 5:19-21

 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

In his most recent newsletter:

There is no sin a believer out of fellowship cannot commit. We deceive ourselves when we say, "One cannot be a believer and commit such a heinous sin." Every committable sin is within the reach of the carnal Christian. [Moses Onwubiko]

 

David, a man after God's own heart, plotted and executed the murder of Uriah.

 

From this divine revelation it is evident, on the one hand, that the failure to exterminate the Canaanites had its roots in the negligence of the tribes of Israel. The Son of God makes it abundantly clear that their suffering is due to their own decisions and not any injustice in God. They have only reaped what they have sown. On the other hand, what is clearly shown by the Lord is Israel’s attitude towards the Canaanites. They don’t think they’re all that bad. In other words, because they have not come to know the Lord they therefore do not know the true evil of evil.

 

To the one who does not know the Lord, the way of the Canaanite (world) doesn’t seem all that bad. Those who know the Lord see the grossness of evil.

 

 

When the tribes finally became strong enough to force the Canaanites to serve them, if they could make them serve then they definitely had the power to exterminate them, but they rather chose to live among them, make some money off them and enjoy the prestige of having Gentile slaves.

 

Whatever momentary pleasure may come from rejecting God's way, it will be forgotten in the immense pain of loss of the fruit of the Spirit.

 

David may have found momentary pleasure in taking Bathsheba into his bed, but the intensity of divine discipline coupled with the loss of living a life walking with God fully erased all memory of momentary passion fulfilled. Israel gained wealth from making Canaanites tributary. What good was that when they were overrun by other enemies or when they were in captivity?

 

At first the tribes were too weak in faith to take the cities and after God made them strong through an appointed judge, instead of driving the Canaanite out they enslaved them for their own benefit.

 

JDG 2:1 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,

 

Bochim = weeping. Its location remains unknown. Israel should have been weeping before the Lord brought His judgment to their eyes.

 

They should have been weeping over their lack of faith and repenting long before the Lord appeared. We can find ourselves weeping over our lack of faith only when we get caught. David in his reversionism only found repentance when God confronted him.

 

"came up from Gilgal" - referring to His last appearance to Joshua before the battle for Jericho at which point God gave the Promised Land into their hands.

 

Gilgal is mentioned, not to indicate that the Son of God traveled from one place to another, but to emphasize the changes that have occurred from that time until now. At Gilgal Israel was camped, they had followed the command of the Lord to circumcise the men and to celebrate the Passover. They were poised to take Jericho and one night while walking outside the camp and pondering how he was going to go about it, Joshua ran into who he thought was a stranger.

 

JOS 5:13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?"

 

JOS 5:14 And he said, "No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?"

 

JOS 5:15 And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

 

That this is not an angel is clear. An angel would have never allowed Joshua to bow down to him.

 

REV 19:10

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God.

 

Also, an angel have asked him to remove his sandals as He had asked Moses years before.

 

So we must ask ourselves, “What is the reason that the Lord is pictured as coming up from Gilgal?

 

What has occurred from Jericho until now? God had delivered the land into their possession and now they are flat out disobeying His mandate to fully drive out the Canaanites.

 

At Gilgal, God had given the land into Israel’s hands, Jericho being the greatest city. At Bochim God is judging them for unbelief.

 

Just as on that occasion, when Israel had just entered into the true covenant relation to the Lord by circumcision, and was preparing for the conquest of Canaan, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joshua as the prince of the army of Jehovah, to ensure him of the taking of Jericho; so here after the entrance of the tribes of Israel into their inheritances, when they were beginning to make peace with the remaining Canaanites, and instead of rooting them out were content to make them tributary, the angel of the Lord appeared to the people, to make known to all the children of Israel that by such intercourse with the Canaanites they had broken the covenant of the Lord, and to foretell the punishment which would follow this transgression of the covenant.

 

JDG 2:1 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,

 

JDG 2:2 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done?

 

JDG 2:3 "Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'"