This morning our scripture reading comes from Judges chapter 2, verses 1 through 16. You’ll turn with me, please.
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokhem, and he said, ‘I brought you up from Egypt and swore and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 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? 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.’
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. They called the name of that place Bokhem, and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten years. They buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-Hares, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
All that generation also were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger.
They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Asherah. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. He sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned and as the Lord had sworn to them, and they were in terrible distress.
Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray.
Lord, we hear our history because it is the history of your people. We grieve for the sins of our fathers, and we ask that you teach us, that you keep us and preserve us, and help us to not walk in the wicked ways of the past but always remain in the light of your life and love. Help us to learn from the past and not repeat the sins of our forebears. Forgive us when we do and never remove your love from us. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Koala, the teacher, wrote in Ecclesiastes, ‘What has been is what will be; what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.’ Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in the ages before us.
We see that scripture is filled with repetition. Stories are often repeated from different perspectives with more or fewer details, and some stories repeat events in the past like echoes when later generations repeat the folly of their forebears.
Three weeks ago we looked at the start of the book of Judges rather broadly, touching on three elements to the preamble of this narrative history: a repetition of the Israelites’ partial conquest of the promised land, a recounting described with greater and different details in the book of Joshua; the condemnation of the people for their disobedience to the Lord’s command of conquest; and their compromising with, accommodating, and appeasing Canaan’s wicked inhabitants by the angel of the Lord.
And third, the Lord’s judgment against the Israelites for their failure, their willful disobedience and sin.
Today we’re going to focus on the condemnation of God’s people that led to his discipline and examine how their cycle of sin, judgment, and repentance began in earnest.
So, sometime during or just after the events of the book of Joshua, the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokhem. Who went up? The angel of the Lord.
Who is this angel of the Lord? We don’t know expressly. Our mentions of him are often interpreted as being a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, because when he appears, he speaks and acts as if he is the Lord himself.
When Moses and the Israelites were commanded to leave Mount Sinai, God said, ‘I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.’
The angel of the Lord also appeared to Moses, speaking to him out of the burning bush. He appeared to Balaam’s donkey, and he’s often associated with the commander of the Lord’s army, whom Joshua met outside of the city of Jericho.
So the angel is a person expected and recognized, possessing perhaps supernatural or revelatory qualities, and he will continue to figure throughout the book of Judges. But whether or not he is a pre-incarnate figure of Christ is secondary to the divine messages that he proclaims.
Next, Gilgal is where Joshua and the Israelites camped on the east side of the Jordan River opposite Jericho before they entered the promised land. It remained their center of operations throughout the conquest and was Joshua’s seat of power.
But because it was on the wrong side of the Jordan River, outside of the land, the people could not stay there forever. Bokhem is a place name with an uncertain location. This particular name is only used here in verses one and five. Yet the place is often associated with Bethel.
First, that was where Rebecca’s nurse Deborah was buried by Jacob and named Elon Bakut, or the oak of weeping. Secondly, the ark of the covenant was known to have resided at Bethel during the time of the judges.
Thirdly, Bethel was where the Lord first revealed himself to Jacob in a dream. Fourth, since Moses spoke with the Lord at the ark in the tent of meeting and many other moments of revelation occurred at the ark in scripture, such as the calling of Samuel, this makes it a reasonable expectation for the angel of the Lord to speak to the people there.
Lastly, Bethel is where the Israelites will eventually return during the Benjamite crisis of Judges 21 and again weep for their people’s sin.
So, Bethel is a reasonable, appropriate, and likely location for the divine encounter because of its history in revelation and the overall narrative of Judges bookending the period.
This same movement of the angel of the Lord would also describe the movement of the people to a central location within Canaan, returning to an earlier site of worship where the Lord had previously revealed himself and spoken to his elect.
Unfortunately, this time when the Lord speaks to them, it is to pronounce judgment upon them, not blessing.
The angel of the Lord spoke, saying, ‘I brought you up from Egypt and I brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 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 that you have done?’
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.’
See, God was telling his people, ‘I brought you up from Egypt just as I promised your ancestors because I will never break my covenant with you. And since I’ve done what I promised, you shall not make a covenant with the people here. You shall tear down their altars, remove their wickedness, and stamp out their false religion.’
He reminds them that his grace always precedes their works of obedience, and then he continues, ‘But since you like these wicked Canaanites so much, enough to disobey my command, I will leave them here with you. However, they’re going to trouble you. They will lead you astray; they will make you become more like them, convincing you to worship as they do, to do as they do, and then you’ll see where that gets you.’
Notice throughout this, the Lord does not say that he will disown them, forsake them, or stop being their God, or they his people. Yet he allows them to do as they choose, knowing full well that they will choose to do evil, all the while he desires that they would choose the good and be faithful to him so that his discipline would be unnecessary.
But unfortunately, on one hand, it’s like the Lord decided to take a hands-off approach for a while to let the people remember why they need him. On the other hand, it is like the Lord giving the people exactly what they said they wanted and were asking for, which he repeatedly warned them against, all so that they might better understand and appreciate his love for them and his good intention for them.
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.
Why did these people begin to cry? Didn’t they just get everything they ever wanted? Why were they now remorseful for their disobedience in treating with the Canaanites and for not driving them from the land? Was this repentance, or was this only temporary remorse born from fear and regret, or just sadness at the threat of losing the Lord’s favor and divine protection?
Were they suddenly afraid, realizing that they might now be on their own, dependent upon their own strength and power and abilities, dependent upon their limited human power and will instead of the omnipotent sovereign Lord? Or were they honestly grieving the brokenness of their relationship with God?
Was this weeping like that of their parents who were judged after the golden calf and when they turned away from the promised land in fear? Would the Israelites’ grief over sin and their repentance stick this time so that they could remain a faithful and obedient people?
How often are we like this? How often do you weep, recognizing God’s judgment in your life, the lives of others, and the world around you? Do we even recognize circumstances as being the Lord’s judgment and discipline upon us?
Remember, the discipline of the Lord is a very good thing, even as it may feel not good to sinners like us. Yet it is something we should be grateful for. The author of Hebrews writes, ‘And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.’
‘For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but yet it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained in it.’
We say that hindsight is 20/20. So I’m certain with some critical reflection and deep introspection, you will identify times when God has been disciplining you in your own life. So stop and think about it. Pray and ask for an understanding of his discipline, and then thank the Lord. Thank Jesus for his correction upon your life because his discipline demonstrates his great love for you.
By his divine discipline, you will know that you are a child of God. Yet how does this divine discipline look in our modern times?
As individuals, we might experience or suffer the natural consequences for our choices or actions. We may be allowed to further descend into sinfulness or experience an increased toleration of sin in our presence and our life, lose the friendship of others, and experience damage to or the breaking of relationships which were once healthy.
We may descend into a sense of loneliness and alienation, intentionally keeping our distance from other people, whether they’re strangers or familiar, because of our shame and guilt.
The divine purpose and desire for any of these is so that when we finally recognize our failings, then we will turn to Jesus with repentant hearts, begging his forgiveness. And then, upon our restoration, we will become obedient children of God.
Or as a body of people, we might suffer economic hardship because of poor stewardship and wastefulness of natural and financial resources. We might become disenfranchised with our local political system and other social constructions like schools and neighborhood or community groups because of our fear, distrust, and doubt concerning the motives of other people.
We might become disunited, losing an identity commonly held with those around us, particularly our identity in Christ, forgetting or ignoring who our neighbor is, instead transferring our identity to communities that are empowered by divisiveness like race, ethnicity, sex or gender, sexual preference, political party, and nationality.
Or we begin to trust the reasoning or opinions of men, society or culture, the government, and other social institutions as being the new arbiters of ultimate truth, justice, morality, and righteousness instead of the word of God.
Or we sacrifice the certainty of absolutes for irrational absurdities, even those absolutes that are supported by simple observation through our five senses or the application of logic and reason. Yes, these are all the direct result and consequence of our sin.
But continuing to allow us to suffer them and to allow them to get worse is the judgment and discipline of God. Again, we suffer all of these things to lead us to and to help us lead others to repentance and to trust in Jesus.
Do any of those examples sound familiar, whether in your life or the world around you? After reading or watching the daily news or five minutes of scrolling through social media or any contemporary movie, TV program, or advertisement, I find it difficult—nay, impossible—to argue that we are not experiencing the judgment and discipline of the Almighty Lord right now.
Instead of being received as a warning, the end of Romans 1 is being treated like a guidebook or a primer for society and life. We are still like the ancient Israelites because we certainly live in a culture and place where the wicked pagans live among us, normalizing all of their abominable practices: euthanasia, abortion on demand, sexual immorality, drug use, political violence, and intimidation, etc. The list goes on.
Yet we, as individuals and as a collective people, are disobedient to our sovereign. We do not obey his voice in our actions or our inaction. We do not grieve and weep for our sins as we should. We cry out in remorse and bemoan our situation, but do we really repent and change our ways, or do we just say ‘I’m sorry’ when caught and then return to whatever it was we were doing?
There is still hope for us because the Lord has promised us, ‘I will never break my covenant with you.’ So we shall endure the time of his discipline, and we shall continue to trust his faithfulness, and he will persevere his elect through these worldly trials and discipline.
So after all their weeping and sacrifices, Joshua dismissed the people. Everybody went home to their own place, and then they served the Lord throughout the rest of the lifetime of Joshua and all of those elders and leaders who saw the works that God had done.
Perhaps that generation really did earnestly repent, but they also died, and then the same troubles began all over again. Scripture says, ‘And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.’
Does that sound familiar to anyone? Does that remind you of something from before? ‘Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph.’ Pharaoh—repetition, different place, different face, but same story.
It does not matter whether that new Pharaoh did not know Joseph because he was of a new dynasty and was ignorant of the past, or if he just did not care about what Joseph had done for Egypt. The effect was the same: the honor, respect, and consideration which was shown to Joseph and his people became fear, loathing, and cruel oppression. And what happened to Pharaoh? He was judged by the Lord, and then God delivered his chosen people.
So now Israel has become like Pharaoh, not knowing the Lord, not honoring, respecting, or obeying him. And what do you think happens to God’s people? They were judged. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and they abandoned the Lord. They went after other gods and bowed down to them. They provoked the Lord to anger.
The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. He gave them over to plunderers, and he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies. The hand of the Lord was against them for harm, and they were in terrible distress.
History echoes itself, either because we do not learn from our past or because we think that we are now different, better, or exempt and too smart or wise to repeat the errors of the past.
The Israelites were now in the land. They had arrived. Egypt was such a long time ago—maybe 70 to 100 years—so maybe they didn’t need what got them there anymore. It’s much like the claims of the modernists and liberal Christianity throughout the 20th century that we are now so much more advanced than they were. We know so much more now that we’re freed from the chains of ignorant superstition and supernatural fantasies like miracles, the virgin birth, or the physical resurrection of Jesus. That sounds an awful lot like not knowing the Lord to me.
Thus, the story repeats itself again—same story, but a different sin. The Israelites’ great sin was their idolatry, their faithlessness. You remember how the Lord judged Pharaoh with his outstretched arm, with great acts of judgment. He sent the ten wonders, the ten plagues, ten severe blows against Egypt, culminating in the death of their firstborn until Pharaoh finally obeyed the Lord’s command and let Israel go.
The Israelites knew this. Once upon a time, they were warned; they should have known better. They had heard it from the lips of Moses only a generation before. Before Joshua led them into the land of Canaan, he said, ‘Consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, the signs and deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land.’
The generation who repented with weeping and transformed lives upon the angel of the Lord’s declaration had learned from their parents God’s discipline after the golden calf. They grew up during the 40 years of discipline in the wilderness, and yet their children did not know the Lord or his works of grace.
Were they just not taught, or did they choose to forget their past? Did they choose to just ignore the wisdom of their forebears? They had the law to guide them; their parents were eyewitnesses to the power and the glory of the Lord, and they chose to do everything they were supposed to not do instead.
Is it any wonder that the two commandments against idolatry culminate with the promise of discipline? ‘You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.’
They sinned against God just as their ancestors had sinned against him, so they were judged and disciplined just as their ancestors were. The sins of their fathers had become their sin as well. They learned from their parents well, but they learned the wrong lessons, and so the cycle of sin goes on and on.
How did Israel and how did the Lord judge Israel for their sin? He gave them over to plunderers; he gave them up to their enemies. He was against them in battle, and they came to be in great distress—strikes against their nascent nation just as he had struck against Pharaoh.
The Lord let them have more of what they wanted instead of the good that he willed for them. The Lord disciplined Israel by allowing them to suffer the natural consequences of their disobedience and allowing the wicked Canaanites to remain in their midst.
Then, when Israel finally groaned and cried out for help, as in the days of Moses, the Lord remembered his covenant. Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
The Lord is always faithful, even still. Despite our sinfulness and our intransigent disobedience, the Lord loves us. He disciplines us to correct us and teach us, and train us to walk in the ways of righteousness.
Nobody likes being disciplined; nobody enjoys punishment. So when the Lord disciplines us, we must rejoice because he loves us as his children. Job declares the discipline of the Lord to be a blessing: ‘Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty.’
Jesus affirmed repentance as being the purpose of divine discipline when he warned the church in Laodicea: ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent.’
Once we become aware of the depth of our sinfulness; once we understand the gravity of our offenses against God; once we finally reach the blackened depths of our self-constructed prison of despair and shame, and we hear his call, and the light of Jesus Christ shines upon our heart, if we truly grieve for all the evil that we have done, if we repent and turn to the Lord finally responding to his word, if we turn to Jesus in faith, then we will surely know that we’ve been rescued from this evil age, receiving the forgiveness that he has purchased for us and gives to us freely.
This is the great love of Christ that we know through the Lord’s discipline.
Do you know the Lord this way? Do you know Jesus in the work that he’s done for you, or will you continue to do what is evil in his sight? Do your children know him? How about your children’s children? Do your friends know Jesus?
As God’s people, as his adopted children, we have the responsibility to share his good news because that’s the only way to break these cycles of generational sin. Through the love of Christ and through a love for Christ, we know he loves us because of discipline.
Because he disciplines us when we sin, we show our love for him by our obedience and our faithfulness. Yet we’re still like the Israelites of old. We each have done what is evil in the sight of the Lord. And although we may not serve Baal or Asherah, we have each at times gone after other gods—the many false gods with near infinite names from the culture around us—and bowed down to them.
We have each provoked the Lord to anger, and so we have each suffered his loving discipline. But now we have each received his grace and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ as our only hope.
Now we don’t need to wait for the Lord to raise up a judge to save us because he already has: Jesus. Jesus saved us, rescued us from the fear and power of death and our slavery to sin, because he is faithful, and he will never break his covenant with his elect.
So just as the Lord judged Pharaoh in Egypt, so too he judges his elect people. And the Lord is just, so he must punish sin. But we could not satisfy the divine justice that we are due. Our sins are much too great—that’s why we need a savior, a divine savior able to pay our moral debt to suffer the full weight of our transgressions against the measure of his infinite righteousness.
God promised King David that if his children, if his people sin, then the Lord shall punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But also he would never remove his steadfast love from us. Thus, the suffering servant, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is our necessary mediator, our righteous intercessor, and our only savior.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed.
Now it is no longer divine wrath that we suffer in this life, but the loving discipline of our heavenly Father: correction and reproof, training in righteousness and obedience. And through this discipline, he is slowly perfecting us, transforming us into the image of our brother Jesus.
Those who respond to the call of Christ upon their lives no longer fear his condemnation. No longer do we need to fear the Lord’s anger and wrath. Redeemed yet still sinners by our nature, we will continue to suffer his loving discipline.
Praise Jesus! The Lord is faithful, gracious, and merciful even though we certainly don’t deserve it.
So repent. Stop repeating history. By faith, trust and turn to Jesus Christ. The judge of heaven and earth is your only hope.
And know that you have been, that you are, and that you will be saved. And then we shall all be joined together in the eternal promised land. Amen.