Judges 2:1-5 – Be sure to a start and end well

Who is this angel of the Lord that Judges 2:1 is referring to? Many refer to him as the obvious physical manifestation of Yahweh. He was not a prophet or a human messenger. Some refer him to Christophany, the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. In Joshua 5:13-15, he called himself the Captain of the host of the Lord. This angel of the Lord is said to have come up from Gilgal to Bochim. Gilgal was the place that they first camped when they came into the promised land. This was also where they were circumcised. And it was thus named because that was the place that their reproach of Egypt was rolled away. Here they renewed the celebration of the feast after some 38 years. Gilgal represents a renewed faith. In saying that the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal was by way of indicating that the same angel who appeared to them at Gilgal now came to them in Bochim. Where is Bochim? The specific location of this place is not clearly indicated. Bochim means the “weepers.” The place, wherever it was located, was called Bochim because the Israelites wept after hearing the sad message given by the angel of the Lord. The terms from Gilgal to Bochim was intended to indicate the decline of the spirituality of the Israelites. They had degenerated from the height of spirituality to depth of spiritual gloom and misery.  

The message the angel of the Lord gave was clear. He first reminded them of the goodness of God who had been gracious to them. It was He who had brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land. Here Israel was not dealing with any other gods but the Almighty God who powerfully and faithfully kept His promise. Secondly, He assured them that He was one who would never break the covenant He had made. He made known that He would be committed to doing what He had promised. Thirdly, He reminded Israel of their covenant obligation. He told the Israelites specifically that “as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.” The latter part of verse 2 suggests how they had broken God’s heart. They had disappointed Him by their failure to obey Him. Since disobedience would come with a consequence, God said to them, “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.” God said he would not drive the Canaanites from the land, secondly, those Canaanites will be thorns in their side. Israel would be harassed and oppressed by them. Thirdly, the gods of the Canaanites would be their snare. Unwittingly, they were set up to be baited and destroyed.

Verses 4-5 tell us that when they heard what the angel of the Lord said, they responded first by lifting up their voices and wept. Secondly, they named that place Bochim. And thirdly, they immediately sacrificed to the Lord. Apart from their crying, there was no indication that they took what was told them seriously. They did not make any effort to get the campaign going to drive out the Canaanites. Though convicted they did nothing to make amends for their disobedience. It was a sad day indeed. Their experience tells us how important it is to be obedient to God. Blatant disobedience to the Lord will lead us down a road where we will be left unprotected. The Lord wants to take us to higher heights of spiritual experience. What we do can accelerate the progress or retard it. We must begin with obedience, and then continue being obedient until the very end. It’s great to start with a lion’s roar but it would be foolishness to end with a mouse’s squeal. What a disaster that will be! Because we can lose all that we have gained!