Judges 2
2 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
The Angel of the Lord is a divine appearance. Some may equate this an an appearance by a Prophet, for the Greek word used for angel also means messenger. Could this be a Christophany (an Old Testament appearance of Jesus)? It could very well be Jesus for a number of reasons:
God has never been seen by human eyes (Exodus 33:20).
The Angel of the Lord claimed divinity. No angel claims divinity (Rev. 22:8-9).
He personally called Israel into obedience (Judges 2:2).
4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
The angel of the Lord also calls the people to repentance, just as Jesus did in His earthly ministry.
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Joshua was a great servant of God. His example shone across Israel and the people followed that example. And even after Joshua was gone, his example continued through the elders who lived past Joshua. It is a great example of laying a Godly foundation and living on that steady foundation.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
This is the central theme of the Book of Judges. It explains a cycle we will see over and over again. Most chapters in this book will begin with “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord…”. It is important to understand the cycle, for this is the cycle that God prefers, one that will continue up and into the book of 1 Samuel, until Israel demands a king for themselves. This is the cycle:
Israel falls out of alignment with God (Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord)
Israel is oppressed by an outside force
Israel realizes their sin and cries out to God
God sends a Judge
But first, why would God prefer this cycle? Because it creates dependence on God. The Israelites must come to an understanding of their sin and willfully come back to God.
It is also important to note that a “judge” is not how we typically think of a Judge. A judge is a man (or in one case, a woman), who rises out of Israel to defeat the oppressive force and bring Israel back into an alignment with God during their lifetime.
We will also see that the Judges that come from Israel aren’t all perfect Godly people. The first batch we will study are pretty good, but as the story continues, you’ll notice a trend that gets progressively worse. Once we get to Samson, who is the final Judge in this book, we begin to see that Israel’s trust is represented in the subsequent Judges. And even though the cycle is repetitive, the stories are not. Each one gives us a new depth of understanding about how God operates.
20 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
And we see God’s true motive: Israel has not listened to Him, so the people left in the lands, these snares to Israel, will be kept there to test the strength of the people. God’s hand is no longer with Israel to drive out these destructive forces. They will remain to see if Israel will succumb to sin or walk with God.
2 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’”
The Angel of the Lord is a divine appearance. Some may equate this an an appearance by a Prophet, for the Greek word used for angel also means messenger. Could this be a Christophany (an Old Testament appearance of Jesus)? It could very well be Jesus for a number of reasons:
God has never been seen by human eyes (Exodus 33:20).
The Angel of the Lord claimed divinity. No angel claims divinity (Rev. 22:8-9).
He personally called Israel into obedience (Judges 2:2).
4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
The angel of the Lord also calls the people to repentance, just as Jesus did in His earthly ministry.
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Joshua was a great servant of God. His example shone across Israel and the people followed that example. And even after Joshua was gone, his example continued through the elders who lived past Joshua. It is a great example of laying a Godly foundation and living on that steady foundation.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
This is the central theme of the Book of Judges. It explains a cycle we will see over and over again. Most chapters in this book will begin with “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord…”. It is important to understand the cycle, for this is the cycle that God prefers, one that will continue up and into the book of 1 Samuel, until Israel demands a king for themselves. This is the cycle:
Israel falls out of alignment with God (Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord)
Israel is oppressed by an outside force
Israel realizes their sin and cries out to God
God sends a Judge
But first, why would God prefer this cycle? Because it creates dependence on God. The Israelites must come to an understanding of their sin and willfully come back to God.
It is also important to note that a “judge” is not how we typically think of a Judge. A judge is a man (or in one case, a woman), who rises out of Israel to defeat the oppressive force and bring Israel back into an alignment with God during their lifetime.
We will also see that the Judges that come from Israel aren’t all perfect Godly people. The first batch we will study are pretty good, but as the story continues, you’ll notice a trend that gets progressively worse. Once we get to Samson, who is the final Judge in this book, we begin to see that Israel’s trust is represented in the subsequent Judges. And even though the cycle is repetitive, the stories are not. Each one gives us a new depth of understanding about how God operates.
20 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.
And we see God’s true motive: Israel has not listened to Him, so the people left in the lands, these snares to Israel, will be kept there to test the strength of the people. God’s hand is no longer with Israel to drive out these destructive forces. They will remain to see if Israel will succumb to sin or walk with God.