Judges 2:1

ISRAEL GETS THE BAD NEWS AT BOCHIM

This chapter and through Judges 3:6 are a continuation of the preface of Judges, and as Keil observed, all of this material may be considered as an absolute unity with the rest of the Book of Judges. There is no Deuteronomic introduction interpolated here into the main text! "The arguments against the unity of authorship in all three parts, the preface, the body of the work, and the appendices, will NOT bear examination."[1]

THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH SPEAKS TO ISRAEL (Judges 2:1-6)

"And the angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you: and ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of Jehovah spoke these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto Jehovah."

"The angel of Jehovah" (Judges 2:1). "This is the expression used in the O.T. to denote God Himself in His manifestation to men."[2] "The phrase is used about sixty times in the O.T. to designate the Angel of God's Presence, and in all cases where a message is delivered (as here), He does it as if God Himself were speaking."[3] Here, this supernatural Character uses the first person singular, declaring that, "I made you to go up out of Egypt." Only God could say a thing like that!

"From Gilgal to Bochim" (Judges 2:1). Gilgal, located about a mile and half northeast of Jericho, was the first location of the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle after Israel crossed the Jordan. That was also the first headquarters of Joshua. The statement here that the angel of Jehovah "went up" from Gilgal to Bochim seems also to indicate that the tabernacle and everything else associated with the official religion of Israel had, at the time of this episode, been transferred to Bochim.

"Bochim" (Judges 2:1). This was the name which the children of Israel gave to this second location of the tabernacle, a name which was certainly given after the event here related, which means that this was not the name of the place prior to that event. Now Judges relates in Judges 20:26 that a subsequent location of the tabernacle was at Bethel, that passage also being one that stressed the "weeping" of the children of Israel. Also, there was very near Bethel "the weeping tree" where Deborah, the beloved nurse of Rebekah was buried (Genesis 35:8).[4] These facts, coupled with the Septuagint (LXX) account of this episode, which reads, "And the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bethel,"[5] appear to this writer as a strong indication that the place which Israel named "Bochim," "which means `weepers,'"[6] might very well have been Bethel, or at least, a place very near there. The mention in Judges 2:5 that, "They sacrificed there unto Jehovah," positively identifies the place as one of the locations of the tabernacle, for Israel was NOT authorized to offer sacrifices anywhere else.

"Ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land ... ye shall break down their altars" (Judges 2:2). These are the two provisions of the sacred covenant between God and Israel that had been extensively violated by God's people, and the Angel of Jehovah here reminded the people of this shameful lapse on their part, demanding to know, "Why have ye done this" (Judges 2:2)? No reply on the part of Israel was forthcoming; their thundering SILENCE was a tacit admission of their guilt.

"I will not drive them out before you" (Judges 2:3). This was God's announcement of the punishment of the Chosen People for their disobedience. The nations of the Canaanites would remain in the Promised Land along with the Chosen People. There would be many occasions when Israel would suffer for this, and the licentious orgies of the pagan worship associated with the Canaanite deities would, in time, through its sensual appeal seduce the people away from the worship of the God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

There can be no wonder that the fountains of the tears of Israel, when they heard this tragic word, provided a new name for an ancient city.