And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
Ver. 1. And an angel of the Lord.] Or, A messenger, as Hag 1:13 Ecclesiastes 5:6 Revelation 2:1 1 Corinthians 11:10. This was Phinehas, say the Rabbis some prophet, say others; or a created angel Diodate will have it to be meant of the Son of God himself, who had before appeared to Joshua, as Captain of the Lord's hosts, at Gilgal, Jos 5:13 from whence also he is here said to have come up: ascenderat, Junius rendereth it, he had come up - viz., in the days of Joshua and the elders that survived him. Compare Joshua 2:6; Joshua 2:11,12 .
I will never break my covenant with you,] i.e., Unless you first break with me. If God shall be all-sufficient to us, we must be altogether his. Son 2:16 His is a covenant of mercy, ours of obedience: but the rebellious, though covenanters, shall bear their iniquity, and know God's breach of promise. Num 14:34