The Messenger of Yahweh in the Period of the Judges (#11 in Yahweh and the Angel of Yahweh)

I needed correction. I was angry with my pastor and telling the elders so. My youth pastor (I was a teenager) called me on the phone and lovingly yet firmly told me I was wrong and that I needed to shape up and acknowledge him with respect. I didn’t like hearing it but I so respected my youth pastor that I received it and repented.

Israel was in need of correction. Joshua had died and the Israelites were supposed to be dispossessing the Canaanites in the territory assigned to them by Yahweh. Judah was successful, and so the tribe of Joseph was initially, but the other tribes failed over and over to send the Canaanites packing (Judges 1). They weren’t supposed to make slaves of the Canaanites or co-exist with them. They were supposed to destroy them with their shrines and altars to false gods.

The Messenger of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 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 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” ⁴ When the Messenger of Yahweh had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, ⁵ and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to Yahweh. (Judges 2:1-4)

Gilgal was the place where the Commander of Yahweh’s army met Joshua and gave him the plans for defeating Jericho. We have already determined that this Commander was the Messenger of Yahweh who met with Moses in the burning bush. Now He travels from Gilgal to Bokim, suggesting strongly that He has assumed human form as with Joshua.

It is fascinating that Jewish scholars have sought to identify this messenger as “a prophet with a message from Jehovah” (Ellicott). But it is clear here that Gilgal is an allusion to the Commander of Yahweh’s army whom we met in Joshua 5, who makes the ground holy, and in this passage He speaks as Yahweh: “I brought you up out of Egypt”…You have disobeyed me.” His message leads Israel to repentance and weeping and offering of sacrifices to Yahweh (distinct from the Messenger of Yahweh) for their sin.

What a gracious God we serve, who is ready to confront us with what we are doing that is damaging our lives. He may use individuals like my youth pastor to carry out His rebuke, as He used the Messenger of Yahweh to rebuke Israel. This is a sign of His love for us. He will not leave us in our sin without a confrontation.