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Judges 2:1–5
“So it was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept. Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD” (Judg. 2:4–5).
God does not fail to notice the disobedience of His people in their failure to eradicate the Canaanites and in letting them remain in their midst. God had warned the people through Joshua not to let this happen (Josh. 23:11–13), but they quickly had forgotten his words. Therefore, God comes Himself in the form of “the Angel of the LORD” to deliver essentially the same message. This Angel is a perplexing figure. Appearing throughout the Old Testament, He sometimes seems to be God Himself (Gen. 22:11–22), while at other times He seems to be a separate being (Ex. 23:20). In any case, the word angel means “messenger,” and this Angel comes with a message that very clearly is the word of God Himself to “all the children of Israel.”
Speaking through the Angel, God reminds the people of what He has done for them (“ ‘I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land’ ”) and what He has promised them (“ ‘I will never break my covenant with you’ ”). But then He reminds them that He communicated certain expectations to them (“ ‘You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars’ ”). Then, terrifyingly, He turns prosecutor and levels His charge (“ ‘You have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?’ ”). Finally, He reminds them that He warned them of the consequences of such behavior. Tolerating the Canaanites will mean that their victories will cease, they will face continual troubles, and they will have to endure constant temptations to sin.
The Israelites respond to this indictment by weeping and making sacrifices to God. The weeping may point to the sorrow of repentance. And yet, Matthew Henry writes, “They wept, but we do not find that they reformed, that they went home and destroyed all the remains of idolatry … among them.” Also, the sacrifices may be acts of worship rendered in recognition of God’s right to command them. And yet, unless this place they name Bochim (“weeping”) is Shiloh, where rests the tent of meeting and the altar of the Lord, they may be making sacrifices as illegal and improper as any that the eastern tribes could have made on their memorial altar (Josh. 22:10–23). Thus, it is possible that an apparent act of worship may instead be an act of disobedience, yet another symptom of Israel’s drift away from covenant faithfulness.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Did the Israelites essentially ignore God’s indictment? It appears they did. But do we not have the same propensity? We can come to the Word of God, see its indictment of our sin, then walk away, forgetting what we have seen (James 1:22–25). Pray earnestly that God would make you a doer of His Word, not a hearer only.
for further study
- Matthew 7:21–27
- John 14:21
- Romans 2:13