Judges 2:1-10 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 2:1-10. Let’s go!
Judges 2:1 (NIV)
1 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 that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
On verse 1: I know I’m stopping the passage in mid-sentence to say this, but it’s worth saying: God is faithful to His promises. That’s the message of verse 1. What God swore He would do, He did. He swore to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land, and He did. God never breaks His promises. God is forever faithful, dependable and trustworthy.
Judges 2:2-3 (NIV)
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 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.”
On verses 2-3: Unlike God who kept His promises, the Israelites did not keep their promises. Instead, the Israelites disobeyed God by refusing to drive out the idol worshipers who occupied the land before them. And the consequence of their disobedience? Those idol worshipers would remain and become thorns in the Israelites’ sides. That’s what happens when we disobey God: we suffer and lose out. God’s commands are given not for our detriment but for our good, not as prison bars to limit our happiness but as gates to protect our well-being. When we obey God’s commands we experience God’s blessing, and when we disobey God’s commands, we suffer.
Judges 2:4-5 (NIV)
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 [which means weeping]. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
On verses 4-5: Who is this “angel of the LORD”? The Hebrew word that is translated here as “angel” is “mal’ak” which means “messenger”. When you read what this messenger says in verse 1, it is clear that this messenger is no human being or any ordinary angel. Rather, this messenger speaks as if he is God Himself. This angel of the LORD is most likely the same one who appears several other times in the book of Judges and whom Moses prophesies about in Exodus 23:20-23. Many scholars conclude that this “angel of the LORD” is none other than Jesus Christ appearing in visible, bodily form, what some people call a theophany.
Judges 2:6-10 (NIV)
6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his 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.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
On verses 6-10: Wait, I thought Joshua was already dead according to Judges 1:1? Why are we seemingly going backward in time with Joshua being referred to in verse 6 and his death and burial being mentioned again in verses 8-9? If you compare verses 6-10 to Joshua 24:28-31, there are obvious similarities. The author of Judges is deliberately making connections to the end of the book of Joshua and setting up the story of what happened to the Israelites after Joshua and his generations were gone. The author is emphasizing how the Israelites served the LORD when Joshua and his close colleagues led the people, and at the same time foreshadowing what will happen when the Israelites no longer had strong leaders.
What can we learn from this? So much depends on leadership. When you have great leaders leading the people, much good is possible. But what happens when you don’t have great leadership? What happens when you have, on one hand, a lack of leadership and, on the other hand, a widespread propensity of the people to sin? That is what we’ll find out as we get into the rest of Judges.
Father, thank You for showing us how important leadership is. Thank You for being the greatest leader, one who always keeps His promises. Thank You also for the leaders You have placed in my life and the good things I can learn from them. I pray that I would be the best leader I can be by Your grace. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
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