Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Judges 2:1 - 2:5

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Judges 2:1 - 2:5


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The Reproof of the Angel of the Lord

v. 1. And an Angel of the Lord, that is, the Angel of the Lord, who is equal to the Lord in essence, who had brought up Israel out of Egypt and led them to the Land of Promise, came up from Gilgal, where He had revealed Himself to Joshua as the Prince of the host of Jehovah, to Bochim, a place where the representatives of the people were assembled at that time, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, the speaker thus expressly identifying Himself with Jehovah, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you, Gen_17:7.

v. 2. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land,
never enter into entangling alliances with them; ye shall throw down their altars, utterly destroy all evidences of idolatry. But ye have not obeyed My voice, they had done just that against which they had been warned; why have ye done this? This is not merely a sorrowful exclamation, but a searching question, a call to repentance, a reproof because they had spared the Canaanites and had permitted their altars to remain.

v. 3. Wherefore I also said,
through the mouth of Joshua, Jos_23:13, I will not drive them out from before you, as a punishment of their disobedience, but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you, Exo_23:33. "Israel, in the conquest, has acted like a slothful gardener. It has not thoroughly destroyed the thorns and thistles of its fields. The consequence will be that sowing and planting and other field labors will soon be rendered painful by the presence of spiteful thorns. What will turn the Canaanites into stinging weeds and snares for Israel? The influence of habitual intercourse. Familiarity blunts aversion, smoothes away contrarieties, removes differences, impairs obedience. It induces forgetfulness of what one was, what one promised, and to what conditions one is subject. Familiar intercourse with idolaters will weaken Israel's faith in the invisible God. " (Lange. )

v. 4. And it came to pass, when the Angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept,
in deep alarm over their sin, with the bitter weeping of repentance.

v. 5. And they called the name of that place,
probably before Shiloh, where the people may have been assembled for one of the great festivals, Bochim (weepers); and they sacrificed there unto the Lord, sin-offerings and burnt offerings, for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness of their sins. After repentance and reconciliation comes sacrifice, also for a Christian who has so far forgotten himself as to seek the friendship of the world and has been brought to the realization of his sin.