The Angel of Yahweh Questions Why They Have Been Disobedient And The People Make a Show of Repentance (Judges 2:1-5).
‘ And the Angel of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I made you to go up out of Egypt, and I have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land. You will break down their altars”.'
The Angel of Yahweh is previously spoken of in Genesis 16:7-14 and Genesis 22:11-18, both cases of crisis important in preserving children of Abraham. He then appeared in Exodus 3:2 as a flame of fire in a burning bush, with a view to delivery of Israel from Egypt and to Balaam the seer in Numbers 22:22-35, again with a view to the delivery of Israel, this time from Moab. Thus His appearance always had deliverance in mind. In all cases it is clear that He spoke with the voice of God.
The reference to Gilgal may well specifically have in mind the appearance to Joshua there of the captain of Yahweh's host (Joshua 5:10-15). There too the coming deliverance was in mind and He spoke as Yahweh. Thus ‘came up from Gilgal to Bochim' indicates simply the last place on earth that He was seen. Where He was in between no one knew. We are not told what appearance He took on here. Again it was possibly as captain of Yahweh's host.
Alternately ‘from Gilgal to Bochim' may refer to the movement of the Tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant, the throne of God (see Judges 2:5 where it is mentioned that they sacrificed there to Yahweh).
Gilgal (‘rolling') was the place where the reproach of Egypt was removed from their shoulders (Joshua 5:9). The coming to ‘Bochim' (‘weepers'), so named because of what was to happen, was intended to do the same for the reproach of Canaan.
The visit in Joshua 5 was at the time of the Passover feast which they there celebrated for the first time in the land. This visit also must have been at one of the great feasts for all Israel is seen as gathered together.
So now in God's mercy the angel of Yahweh appeared again when deliverance was needed, again speaking as Yahweh. Thus this situation is connected with the covenants first made with Abraham through both his sons, and with the deliverance from Egypt and from the seer at Moab. It was all part of the furtherance of His plan.
“And he said, “I made you to go up out of Egypt, and I have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land. You will break down their altars”.”
Note again the connection with the covenant and the deliverance from Egypt. The angel of Yahweh was intimately connected with both. He is God and yet distinguished from God, as the Son from the Father. (Note how in Zechariah 1:12, the angel of Yahweh communicates with God demonstrating intercommunion within the Godhead). And He was their Deliverer and will continue to be their Deliverer in accordance with the covenant.
He reminded them that it was He Who made them go up from Egypt, defeating Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt and humiliating the Egypt forces before them. And it was He Who had brought them safely to the land in the face of such enemies as the seer at Moab (Balaam), indeed in the face of all powers or gods whether in heaven or on earth.
He confirmed that He would never break the covenant that had been made with Israel, that sacred covenant that He swore by ‘Himself' because there was no greater to swear by (Genesis 22:16).
But then He reminded them that their part in that covenant was not to make any covenants or treaties with the inhabitants of Canaan, and to break down the altars of Baal and Asherah (Asheroth - the plural ending ‘-oth' representing the many images of Asherah, or Ashtaroth representing images of Astarte), and of all gods in Canaan. And they had failed in their part.
“But you have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this?”
They had made their covenants and their treaties, with the Canaanites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. They had received tribute from them, made them slave labourers, allowed them to continue in their religion, flirted with it themselves, and even worse, in some cases participated in it. Now God reminded them that they had deliberately disobeyed Him and asked them, ‘why have you done this?' Compare Genesis 3:13.
“ For this reason I also have said I will not drive them out from before you, but they will be as thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”
Because they had not fulfilled their part in the covenant, He would not in the short term fulfil His. While He would not totally desert them He would withhold His assistance and not drive out those whom His people had been unwilling to drive out. If we do not obey God we cannot expect Him to do for us what we fail to do.
And indeed the Canaanites did become thorns in their sides, always ready to retaliate when they grew strong, and always ready to side with others against them. ‘And their gods will be a snare to you'. They were dragged down morally and spiritually to the depths by their connections with Canaanite religion.
‘ And it happened that, when the Angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept.'
Perhaps at this feast they had been enquiring of Yahweh why they were suffering failure against the enemy, and why things were going so hard for them. So here was God's reply through His Angel, it was because they had sinned. It was because they had broken their covenant with Yahweh.
“The people lifted up their voice, and wept.” Why did they weep? Was it because they were brokenhearted over their own sinfulness, or was it because they felt that God might not be as much with them as before? There was probably a mixture of both, but with the emphasis on the latter. At such times as this, that was what they feared most, that the great God of deliverance would no longer deliver, that He Who had smitten the great Pharaoh of Egypt would no longer act against the people of the land and their gods. At least it awakened them to the importance of the covenant and their need to ensure their faithfulness to it. It was occasions like this that renewed their commitment to the central sanctuary, where they could hear the law of God, and make atonement before Him for their sin, and that for a time began to make them reconsider their duty to Him rather than to the gods of the land.
‘ And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.'
“Bochim” means ‘weepers'. It was the place of weeping for sin. So there was a great renewal of the covenant at this feast of Yahweh, and the appropriate sacrifices were offered, and further sacrifices to denote their sense of guilt and gratitude.
It is probable that this was at Shiloh were the Tabernacle was, with Bochim being applied to the particular spot of their gathering. As it is never again mentioned it was probably a temporary name, as temporary as their repentance. But it may be that it is connected with Allon Bacuth (‘the oak of weeping') in Genesis 35:8, which was at Bethel, where the Ark was in Judges 20:27, and where there was also great weeping then (2:26), see also Judges 21:2.
The importance of this incident lies in the fact that when in the future Israel looked back and asked themselves, ‘why has our God allowed this to happen?' they would remember His words at Bochim and know that it was through their own fault that it was so, but that His revealed presence there demonstrated that He had not totally forsaken them.