These 2 chapters cover roughly the first 120 years of Israel settled in the land. And it’s not going well.
As long as Joshua and the men who fought in hand-to-hand combat with the giant clans were alive – the men who had seen God provide manna and miracles – Israel stayed faithful to Yahweh. The minute those men and their influence were gone, the nation went off the rails.
It reminds me of a quote by Ronald Reagan:
“Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”
That was given on Jan. 5, 1967 in Reagan’s Inaugural Address as Governor of California.
Humans do not inherit a relationship with the Lord from their parents. But parents can work at instilling the Word of God into the hearts of their children and (more importantly) modeling the character and conduct of a true disciple. Each generation must fight the forces of evil and determine to follow Christ. Ultimately, a parent cannot make that decision for a child. Each generation must decide for themselves.
Like I said before, the chronology of these opening chapters of Judges with the events of the book of Joshua is a little confusing and there is some overlap. The section from 2:10 — 3:6 is basically a summary of what is to come for the rest of this book.
BOKIM = Weeping/Weepers 😭
The death of Joshua has already been mentioned in Joshua 1:1 so it’s a little difficult to tell if he was still living when the Angel of the Lord pays a visit. Also – if the people basically “served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him (2:7) then maybe the visit of rebuke from the Angel of the Lord came after the death of Joshua even though it is reported prior to his death in the text.
SIDE NOTE BEFORE WE CONTINUE…
Sometimes there are things in the text that are unclear. They just are. It may be the use of an obscure word or a location that has been buried under the sands of time. It may be from a difficulty in translation or unclear chronology.
We live in the age of Google and having answers at our fingertips. And it can be frustrating when a passage does not have one clear, uncontested interpretation.
I have some very philosophical advice: RELAX!
We learn what we can and don’t freak out over things we do not yet understand.
Ok. Now we may proceed…
Bokim isn’t on a map. Anywhere. Period. It’s probably not an actual place-name at all.
[oh – and if you need a really big word for your next Scrabble match, “Toponym” is the technical term for “place name.” Synonym. Antonym. Toponym. M&M. 😏]
Bokim is the plural of bakah (weep/mourn). It’s probably a “nickname” given to a place because of what happened there. 😭😭
One possibility is that this description of the Angel of the Lord bringing the sad message for Israel happened concurrently with what was described in Joshua 24 when Joshua had summoned all Israel together at Shechem. Joshua does deliver a message from the Lord that is very similar in content to the message in Judges 2:1-5. Most of us are familiar with how the Gospels have slightly different versions of the same stories. That might be happening here. Or it might not.
Another possibility is that the Angel of the Lord spoke to them at Shiloh when Joshua rolled the stone of witness under the tree next to the Tabernacle. I say this because Judges 2:5 says that the people offered sacrifices. The only proper place to do that was at the Tabernacle altar in Shiloh.
Still another possible explanation is that the location of this event was at Bethel. The Septuagint has 2:1 as,
“Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to the place of weeping, and to Bethel, and to the house of Israel, and said to them…”
There are a bazillion extra “ands” in the Septuagint. We would probably say, “the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to the place of weeping, to Bethel, to the house of Israel.” That reading makes Bokim equivalent to Bethel which is (interestingly) called “the house of Israel” instead of what Bethel actually means which is “house of God.” So this Angelic visit could’ve been something that happened after the death of Joshua at Bethel.
Psalm 84 mentions a “Vally of Weeping” (Baca) that the traveler would pass through on his way to Jerusalem.
The bottom line is – we don’t know exactly where or when this Angelic visitation happened. But, we do know what was said, why it was said, and what the response was.
I guess I’m fascinated with this because I can’t really think of many (any?) other times when the Angel of the Lord (the “second Yahweh figure”) appears to and speaks to an unnamed group of people. Up to this point, He has spoken to Cain, (presumably) Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron & Miriam, and Joshua. That’s a pretty short list for about 3000 years of human history so far. The last time the Lord attempted to speak to all Israel was at Sinai and it scared them spitless.
You might wonder why the Lord didn’t give them more miracles to drive all the baddies out of the land. The text gives us two reasons:
- To teach the next generation how to fight.
- To test Israel to see if they would follow Yahweh or not.
If you’re wondering why you have spiritual baddies to deal with, it may be for the same two reasons.
Reason 2 is like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil sitting right in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Its very presence is a test. Will they believe and trust the Lord or not? Spoiler alert: it was “Not.”
So the Lord will raise up 15 leaders called Judges in Israel to help them get back on the narrow way. They do not do modern “judge” stuff like hear cases and sentence people to prison. 👨🏻⚖️ They mostly lead militarily. 🪖 It might help us to think of this as the book of Generals instead of Judges. Here’s the pattern for Israel during the time of the Judges:
- Everyone “does that which is right in his own eyes” and wander into sin. 😈
- Because they abandon God and insult Him with their idolatry, He is angered and “hands them over” to the nation of the false gods they worship. 🗿
- They are taxed and oppressed by a godless nation until it’s so bad they have no other option but to cry out to Yahweh for deliverance. 😭
- God sends a deliverer to overthrow the oppressive regime and set them free. 🗡️🤨
- They enjoy freedom and prosperity again. 🥳
- Go back to step 1. Repeat for 300 years.
1. OTHNIEL
The first Judge of Israel is none other than Caleb’s nephew Othniel who led the charge against Kiriath-Sepher to win the hand of Achsah in marriage.
Israel was oppressed by Syria for 8 years.
Othniel defeated Cushan-Rishathaim of Syria. [cushion-rish-a-thay-eem] It’s kinda fun to say.
Othniel kept the land at peace for 40 years.
2. EHUD
Ehud (ay-hood) is one of my favorites. He was ambidextrous – which was apparently just as unusual then as it is now.
Israel has corrupted itself again and this time the Lord hands them over to King Eglon of Moab. King Eglon the Fat. (He wasn’t actually called that. But he could’ve been.)
Ehud goes with a group of emissaries to bring Israel’s tribute tax to Moab and says he has a top secret message from Yahweh for Eglon. They go up to the rooftop where Ehud delivers the “message” – an 18 inch, double bladed dagger to Eglon’s gut. 🗡️ Ehud had made it especially for this. It was strapped to his right thigh and he drew it with his left hand which was very unexpected. If I made a movie of this, I’d have Moabite guards pat down Ehud’s right side looking for a hidden dagger when he entered. And I’d get some close-ups of Ehud doing things right-handed with guards watching. No one suspects.
The details of the cubit-long sword doing its job are rather grisly. And gross. The New Living Translation has it that the king’s “bowels emptied.” 💩 Ehud escapes while the staff believes the king to be occupying his other “throne.” 🚽 (v24-25)
Then he gathers an army and they strike a significant blow to Moab which is followed by an 80-year peace.
3. SHAMGAR
We know next to nothing about Shamgar who followed Ehud. He may have accomplished his feat of 600 Philistine kills over the course of several years rather than all at one time.
Most translations have his weapon of choice as an ox goad, but the Septuagint has it as a plowshare. So- maybe something like a big ol’ battle axe made from a piece of a plow.
This makes sense. There were still giants among the Philistines. An ox goad is a sharp stick. And I suppose you could poke a giant with a sharp enough stick to kill it, but I’m thinking that a battle axe is a better giant-killing weapon. 🪓
During the centuries covered in the book of Judges, Israel has so many enemies, they only get attacked by the same one twice. And before it’s all over, they have degenerated into attacking themselves.
The fact that God hears and answers their cries for help after all their wickedness should be a tremendous encouragement. If He has mercy on this lot, your mess is a pretty soft touch.
In our next chapter, we get the first female judge of Israel. And I’ll tell you about the time I scarred a bunch of poor little Sunday School kids for life by telling them the story of Jael killing Sisera with a tent spike through his head. 😳😬
To The Reader 