Judges 2:1-5
Israel’s Disobedience
1 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” 4 As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
We all are guilty of this some time in our lives. We messed up and instead of confessing and making things right, we will either deny our involvement or blame someone else. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden when man sinned in Genesis 3. The LORD told Adam to not touch nor eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. For the moment they eat of it, they would surely die. Satan, however, deceived Eve. She saw that the fruit was good to eat and pleasing to the eyes. So she ate some fruit and gave it to her husband, Adam. He also ate. When they realized what they did and tried to hide their nakedness, the LORD came looking for them. The LORD asked Adam, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the fruit you were told not to eat?’ Adam blamed God for giving him his wife, Eve. He also blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. In the same way, when we are convicted of sin, many times we try to shift blame rather than admit fault and repent.
When caught in a sin, others are also be prone to cry, beg forgiveness, make vows and needless promises, or do an excessive amount of good works in atonement for their sins. This is not Scriptural, but this is a fleshly way for man to justify and make amends for his sins before God. For example, in the Old Testament, God told King Saul to totally destroy, ban, or devote to destruction, the Amalekites. Saul disobeyed God and kept the spoils to himself and allowing the king of the Amalekites to live. As a result, the kingdom of Israel was torn away from Saul and given to another, a man after God’s own heart. Saul, when he was caught in this act of disobedience, tried to blame the people of Irael. He also cried and try to show the prophet Samuel his act of repentance. Instead, Samuel said to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22-23,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”
Therefore, because of Saul’s disobedience, a descendent of King Agag of Amalek many centuries later came onto the scene in the nation of Persia. Israel was taken into exile by the Babylonians because of their disobedience to God. Years after that, the Babylonian kingdom fell into the hands of the Persians. Haman, the Agagite sought to destroy the people of Israel in Persia like the Israelites tried to do to the Amalekites in Canaan. Haman was the descendant of King Agag of Amalek, who was allowed to live by King Saul. There’s a saying that is said, “O, what wicked web we weave, when at first we try to deceive.” Such was the fate of Haman. Haman, in the Book of Esther, when caught in his devious attempts to annihilate the Israelites, also wept and made promises to atone for his sin.
In the same way, we see in our passage today in Judges 2:1-5, the people of Israel wept and tried to make amends to the angel of the Lord. Many commentators say this angel is the pre-incarnate Son of God. We know this was not a prophet, but a message of God, for that is what the Hebrew word for angel means – “messenger.” The angel had a very important message. He told them about their covenant with God and how they broke faith in this covenant in their rebellion. Therefore, God will not drive out the nations. Instead, the nations will become a snare to them. As soon the people heard this message from the angel, they wept and brought a sacrifice to the LORD. Like the prophet Samuel said to King Saul when he disobeyed God’s commands, ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice!”
All four of these incidents seem alike because human nature does not change and is predictable. Whether sin happens in the Garden of Eden, by King Saul, by Haman the Agagite in Persia, or by the Israelites in the land of Canaan, all sin of disobedience will be judged by the Lord God Almighty. In application, one day, every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Therefore, in the same way, we also must be obedient to God and his commands. Then we will not be ashamed on the great day of visitation when the Lord God Almighty come to judge those whose names are not written in the Book of Life. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life will spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven. We are to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Those who are living in sin, need to confess now wholeheartedly. First John 2:1-3 says,
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”
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My merciful and righteous Lord, thank You for Your Word of warning and correction. Thank You for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life who convicts me of sins and brings me to the cross of Christ in repentance. I confess that I have sin in my life that I struggle with. Teach me to hate and repent of my sin. Show me the way You want me to walk by faith. Help me to show others Your way of salvation. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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At Calvary, Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride, by William R. Newell in 1895
