Judges 2:1

And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim,.... The Targum calls him a prophet (y); and the Jewish commentators in general interpret it of Phinehas (z); and that a man is meant is given

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.

JUDGES CHAPTER 2 An angel reproveth Israel at Bochim; they bewail their sins, . The wickedness of the new generation after Joshua; their frequent idolatry, ; for which they are often punished of God by the enemy; and being delivered by the judges grow worse, ; wherefore God will leave the Canaanite to prove and vex them, . An angel of the Lord: either, first, A created angel. Or, secondly, A prophet or man of God, for such are sometimes called angels, which signifies only messengers of God; and then the following words are spoken by him in the name of God, as may easily be understood. Or, thirdly, Christ, the Angel of the covenant, who is oft called the Angel of the Lord, as we have formerly seen, to whom the conduct of Israel out of Egypt, and through the wilderness, and into Canaan, here spoken of, is frequently ascribed, as 23:20 33:14 ,14 Jude 6:12 13:3; who alone of all the angels could speak the following words in his own name and person; whereas created angels and prophets do universally usher in their Divine messages with, Thus saith the Lord, or some equivalent expression. And this angel having assumed the outward shape of a man, it is not strange that he imitates the local motion of a man, and comes as it were from Gilgal to the place where now they were; by which motion he signified that he was the person that brought them to Gilgal, the first place where they rested in Canaan, and there renewed covenant with them, and protected them there so long, and from thence went out with them to battle, and gave them success. Bochim; a place so called here by anticipation, for the reason expressed here, . And it seems to be no other than Shiloh, where it seems probable that the people were met together upon some solemn festival. And this was the proper and usual place of sacrificing, . And I said, i.e. I promised, upon condition of your keeping covenant with me.

Judges 2:1 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 Haggai 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, 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. 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.

(1) An angel of the Lord.—The words “Maleak Jehovah” are used of Haggai, in Haggai 1:13; of prophets in Isaiah 42:19; Malachi 3:6; of priests in Malachi 2:7. Hence from very ancient times these words have been interpreted as, “a messenger of the Lord” (as in the margin of our Bible). The Targum paraphrases it by “a prophet with a message from Jehovah.” R. Tanchum, from Judges 2:6, infers that it was Joshua himself. Kimchi and others have supposed that it was Phinehas. No indications are given of anything specially miraculous. On the other hand, there is much room to suppose that the writer intended “the Angel of the Presence,” because he constantly uses the phrase in this sense (Judges 6:11-12; Judges 6:21-22; Judges 13:3; Judges 13:13; Judges 13:15, &c.); (2) the same phrase occurs in this sense elsewhere, as in Genesis 16:7; Genesis 22:11; Exodus 2:2; Exodus 2:6; Exodus 2:14; Numbers 22:22, &c; (3) the angel speaks in the first person, and does not introduce his words by “Thus saith Jehovah,” as the prophets always do (but see below). It seems probable, therefore, that by “the angel of the Lord” the writer meant “the captain of the Lord’s host,” who appeared to Joshua at Jericho (Joshua 5:13-15). Against this conclusion may be urged the fact that in no other instance does an angel appear to, or preach to, multitudes. Angels are sent to individuals, but prophets to nations. Came up from Gilgal to Bochim.—This notice is by no means decisive against the conclusion that an angel is intended. The writer may mean to intimate that the Angel Prince of the host (Exodus 23:20-23), the Angel of the Covenant, left his station in the camp of Gilgal and came up to the new camp or assembly of the people in Central Palestine (Joshua 4:19; Joshua 5:9-10; Joshua 10:7; Joshua 10:15; Joshua 10:33; Joshua 14:6). Ha-Bochim means “the weepers.” The locality is not known, but the LXX. render it “to the weeping-place,” and add “and to Bethel, and to the House of Israel.” Hence it has been inferred that Bochim was near Bethel. Possibly however, the LXX. may have been led to this interpretation by the vicinity to Bethel of Allon-Bachuth, “the oak of weeping” (Genesis 35:8). And said, I made you to go up out of Egypt.—The LXX. have “the Lord, the Lord brought you out of Egypt” (Cod. Alex.). Houbigant, from the repetition of the word, precariously conjectures the loss of some words, “Thus saith the Lord, I the Lord,” &c., as in the Peshito; and, indeed, in some MSS. a blank (Piska) is left, implying at least a suspicion that this formula has accidentally fallen out of the text. I will never break my covenant with you.—See Genesis 17:7; Genesis 29:12; Psalms 89:28; Psalms 89:34; Luke 1:54-55, &c; Exodus 3:6-8.

CHAPTER II An angel comes to the Israelites at Bochim, and gives them various reproofs, at which they are greatly affected, 1-5. They served the Lord during the days of Joshua, and the elders who succeeded him, 6, 7. Joshua having died, and all that generation, the people revolted from the true God and served idols, 8-13. The Lord, being angry, delivered them into the hands of spoilers, and they were greatly distressed, 14, 15. A general account of the method which God used to reclaim them, by sending them judges whom they frequently disobeyed, 16-19. Therefore God left the various nations of the land to plague and punish them, 20-23. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse 1. An angel of the Lord] In the preceding chapter we have a summary of several things which took place shortly after the death of Joshua; especially during the time in which the elders lived (that is, the men who were contemporary with Joshua, but survived him,) and while the people continued faithful to the Lord. In this chapter, and some parts of the following, we have an account of the same people abandoned by their God and reduced to the heaviest calamities, because they had broken their covenant with their Maker. This chapter, and the first eight verses of the next, may be considered as an epitome of the whole book, in which we see, on one hand, the crimes of the Israelites; and on the other, the punishments inflicted on them by the Lord; their repentance, and return to their allegiance; and the long-suffering and mercy of God, shown in pardoning their backslidings, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies. The angel of the Lord, mentioned here, is variously interpreted; some think it was Phinehas, the high priest, which is possible; others, that it was a prophet, sent to the place where they were now assembled, with an extraordinary commission from God, to reprove them for their sins, and to show them the reason why God had not rooted out their enemies from the land; this is the opinion of the Chaldee paraphrast, consequently of the ancient Jews; others think that an angel, properly such, is intended; and several are of opinion that it was the Angel of the Covenant, the Captain of the Lord's host, which had appeared unto Joshua, Judges 5:14, and no less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I think it more probable that some extraordinary human messenger is meant, as such messengers, and indeed prophets, apostles, c., are frequently termed angels, that is, messengers of the Lord. The person here mentioned appears to have been a resident at Gilgal, and to have come to Bochim on this express errand. I will never break my covenant] Nor did God ever break it.

Ch. Judges 2:1-5. The angel of Jehovah moves from Gilgal; he rebukes Israel’s unfaithfulness. Origin of Bochim This section connects with ch. 1. The going up of the Angel of Jehovah from Gilgal to Beth-el marks the close of the period of invasion (Judges 2:1 a); the settlement of the tribes in Canaan involves a transference of the sanctuary (Judges 2:5 b); the intervening verses (1b–5a) connect the preceding narrative with the History of the Judges (Judges 2:6 to Judges 16:31). The latter verses were probably composed by the post-exilic editor who introduced ch. 1 into its present place, not by the author of the Introduction Judges 2:6 to Judges 3:6; contrast, for example, Judges 2:3 with Judges 2:22 f., and again with Judges 3:1-3. The appeal to past history, and the tone of remonstrance upbraiding Israel’s neglect to exterminate the Canaanites, betray the later historian. Most of the phrases in Judges 2:1 b–5a are borrowed from earlier writings.

The angel of the Lord (not an angel). - The phrase is used nearly 60 times to designate the Angel of God’s presence. See Genesis 12:7 note.

THE NATION REBUKED, Judges 2:1-5. 1. Angel of the Lord — This was not an inspired human messenger, because, (1) The name of such was usually prophet, or man of God; (2) The expression, angel of