God, Who Wants to Give a Life of a Different Order

1Yahweh’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to give your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this? 3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’” 4When Yahweh’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to Yahweh. 6Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel each went to his inheritance to possess the land.

Parents, longing for their children to live rightly, end up telling them about the times and experiences when they had to give up their own lives for the family and endure. Of course, the children may not want to hear about the past again and again. But to raise mature children who are grateful for the love of God and of their parents, and who understand through their parents’ experience the pain their parents must have gone through, parents have no choice but to retell, again and again, the years they have lived by faith. If the children come to live maturely, with character, faith, and wisdom of as high a caliber as their parents’, then from that time on the parents will trust and respect their children’s judgment.

God’s heart is the same: if his people live by his word, he will trust them and respect their judgment. It is because they do not live by faith that he repeats the same words, and because he cannot trust them that he speaks of the same events at every turn, so that they will not forget. Reading the Bible, we find words that God says again and again. He tells how he led Israel out of Egypt, and how patiently he worked signs and wonders to make himself known to the people. The exodus was God’s plan and an event long finished, yet whenever Israel disobeyed or followed the customs of the world, God spoke of the exodus.

But when they obeyed his word, he told them what great authority they would have under his protection and how the people of the world would fear them. He told them in detail that, under his guidance, they would enter Canaan and conquer the land, and what blessings they and their descendants would receive if they drove out the Canaanites as he commanded. If only they obeyed, he would have no reason to speak of the misery of Egypt.

Yet Israel disobeyed every time and cast away God’s love. Through the law he taught them how to live as human beings should, and he showed them he was the living God by bringing water from the rock and giving manna and quail; but since Israel lived only for itself, it did not mature.

Why, then, did God send an angel every time this disobedient Israel met hardship, and raise up great leaders like Moses and Joshua, and judges besides? It was to make plain to them that the chosen people receive a love of a different order from what the people of the world receive, and that a holy life is possible through a higher wisdom. God’s heart was this: if only you obey my word, I will show you that there is an eternal world.

But Israel could not let go of what is seen, nor of the foolish habit of making themselves the standard, and in the end they were living the same life as the people of the world. God longs to lift his people out of this world seen with the eyes into a higher world seen with the spirit, but they had left God and settled down in darkness. Judges is the record of God, who protects such an Israel to the end, and of Israel, which clings to what is seen and betrays him again and again.

Judges 2:1

1Yahweh’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to give your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you.

Here Yahweh’s angel is Yahweh himself. By speaking in the words “I brought you,” “which I swore to give your fathers,” and “I said,” the text shows that Yahweh himself was at work.

Yahweh’s angel who has come up from Gilgal to Bochim is none other than Jesus Christ, who works to accomplish God’s will. The Bible describes Jesus in many ways: as the messenger of the covenant, the Apostle of our confession, Wonderful, and more. He says that he was with them at Gilgal and at Bochim and that it was he who brought them into the land of Canaan he had sworn to give them, and he speaks of every event in the past tense. That he keeps looking back like this reveals the frustration in God’s heart as he watches their faith now.

Yahweh breaks none of his promises and is carrying every one of them out, but Israel disobeyed his command not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan, and ignored his command to break down their altars as well. For the sake of worldly pleasure, Israel abandoned God and his covenant.

Earlier, when Joshua was setting out from Gilgal to conquer Jericho, the commander of Yahweh’s army appeared and pointed his sword at Joshua. We might think the commander of Yahweh’s army is there to help Yahweh’s people, but he was protecting those who live by God’s law. By pointing his sword, the commander was teaching that even God’s people can be attacked if they defy God’s will. Joshua understood why the commander had turned his sword against him; he took off his sandals before him and showed his faith that he would live as Yahweh’s servant.

Following Joshua, the people of Israel too were circumcised, ready to die, and confessed that even their lives belonged to God. That same Israel had now forgotten all of God’s grace. Israel forgot how thankful they had been for God’s protection, and that forgetting is what made it possible for them to live in disobedience, defying his word. As a result, they did not break down the altars of the idols, and they made a covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan.

Seeing Israel’s corruption, Yahweh’s angel appeared to them and said he would now withdraw his promise to protect them. He would no longer drive out the Canaanites from before them; he would make them thorns in their sides, and make their gods a snare to them, so that their lives would be full of pain. They might meet hardship as long as they lived, but they had been able to enter Canaan only because of God’s power and protection.

Now, though, he would take away the hedge of protection and no longer shield them from Satan’s attacks, just as with the people of the world. When the people of Israel lived in the wilderness, fiery serpents were always living close by, but under God’s protection the serpents could not come near. When God withdrew his protection because of their sin, however, the serpents reached the people easily, and they were in great danger.

In times of peace we do not know how mighty God’s protection is. Only through suffering do we learn how fearsome God’s wrath is. We may also come to see that the hedge of protection under which we have lived in peace until now was the fruit of God’s patience in keeping his promise.

To illustrate: God made the garden of Eden for Adam and Eve so that, if the two of them obeyed his word, they could have wisdom of a high order and live a blessed life. But the two sinned by defying God’s word, and when God called them, instead of coming out and repenting, they hid among the trees. What must God’s heart have been at that moment?

Jesus called twelve disciples, told them of God’s plan and promises, and did all he could so that they might know the joy of working for the eternal Kingdom. Jesus spoke again and again about the Kingdom of God and about God himself because only those who share his spiritual fullness can see that there is a world other than this one, and how dark this world is. But the twelve disciples did not grasp that grace and that eternal world; in the end they all betrayed Jesus, so he bore the cross alone. Only when we put into practice what we have heard do we come to know that the word is true, and only then can faith grow.

Israel, too, had by now received God’s love and grace in full; this was the stage at which they had to put his word into practice. They had seen Moses and Joshua, their fathers in faith, live it out, and had seen how great the grace and reward are when one lives by faith.

Even so, Israel betrayed God. When he blessed them with peace, they fell into corruption; when he showed them grace, they threw it away, repeating the same foolish life. They made no effort to keep the word. A tall building needs a foundation dug just as deep. If the builders, eager to finish quickly, grumble and refuse to dig, the building may be completed, but it will soon collapse. The higher it rises, the more time and effort it demands.

Only when we show God a life of faith, devotion, and endurance will he give us the blessing of heaven, which can never be taken away and will never put us to shame. Yet if we foolishly complain that we have no more time to give to God, that the people of the world have such tall buildings while we are still digging, we will crave only blessings bound to the flesh, like the people of the world.

Judges 2:4-5

4When Yahweh’s angel spoke these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 5They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.

Bochim is another name for Bethel and means “those who weep.” When Yahweh’s angel told them that, because they had disobeyed, he would no longer protect them, the people, afraid of God’s wrath and rebuke, wept aloud and offered a sin offering to Yahweh. But their repentance did not last; they sinned again. To offer God a sin offering means to repent of one’s sins and resolve never to commit them again.

Yet when, after only a little time, they commit the same sin, it becomes clear that this sacrifice was a mere formality, and a false one. Their weeping was most likely despair that they could no longer enjoy the comfortable life they had. For had they wept in repentance, sensing that God was angry over their sin, they could not have fallen so easily. Whenever God is angry, Israel weeps, and to me their tears seem like crocodile tears, with no sincerity in them.

There are two hearts behind weeping. There are the tears Jesus shed as he looked at Jerusalem, whose sin was so full that there was nothing more he could do for it; and there are the tears of despair at not receiving more of the world’s blessings from God.

What do the tears you shed in prayer mean? We who belong to God must always be humble before him, because we have received everything freely, and every gift was made by God’s sacrifice, patience, and love. We misunderstand part of what it means to be humble. We think that if we are kind, give generously, and avoid evil deeds, we are humble. Of course, we must live that way. But think of it on a higher plane: if Israel recognized its sin and offered sacrifice, it must then keep the law. And true humility is bringing oneself into submission and proclaiming the gospel.

Peter and Judas Iscariot were both disciples of Jesus, and both died. Both betrayed Jesus alike, but Peter showed his repentance by weeping bitterly, Judas by returning the money. Yet their repentance and their deaths were as different as heaven and earth. Judas realized his wrong and tried to give the money back, but when things did not go as he wished, he took his own life. He seemed to have repented, but by committing suicide, a still greater sin before God, he brought his good relationship with God to an end.

Peter gave himself fully to his calling, zealously proclaiming the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the life to come, as if to show that he knew what sin he had committed. Though in the end he suffered the agony of martyrdom on a cross, he lived out the rest of his life as an honest and humble man. This is the humility God desires of us.

If this is the humility God desires, then Israel’s weeping sacrifice, offered out of fear of his rebuke, was plainly a mere formality, a pretense of repentance for fear of losing their blessings. But God, who looks at the heart, is never deceived. Friends, if you have sinned, you must turn back sincerely, strive not to commit the same sin again, and proclaim the gospel. That is true repentance, and that is humility.

Then, while the Bible is telling of the people repenting and offering sacrifice, it suddenly turns back in 2:6-10, beginning with “Now when Joshua had sent the people away,” and tells us that Joshua served Yahweh all the days of his life.

Judges 2:11

11The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.

Right after that, verse 11 records that the children of Israel did what was evil in Yahweh’s sight and served the Baals. As I read this passage, I thought that God truly misses Joshua, who lived by his word. It seemed to me as if he were saying to himself: Joshua listened to me so well; if he were here now, how much easier my work would be; I miss him.

God is the self-existent and almighty one, whose wisdom foolish human beings cannot even begin to guess; that such a God should miss Joshua is a remarkable grace. God trusted Joshua to act according to his will, and so he could work without misgiving in any situation. It seemed as if God were showing how much he missed such a man. When Joshua led the people, those who followed him also took him as their example and obeyed without wavering; but now Israel showed only a desire to use God, and that is what disappointed him.

That they offered sacrifice on hearing the rebuke delivered by Yahweh’s angel shows that they were not strangers to God. But unwilling to give up their own thinking, they tried to use God to live more prosperously. Joshua and the people experienced the same grace and love of God, yet there are those who, like Joshua, deny themselves to obey the word, and those who live only for their own righteousness. Joshua was approved by God because he lived without forgetting the word he had heard from Moses; the people incurred his wrath because they lived having forgotten all the words Joshua had given them. In the end, reward and judgment are divided by the choices we make after hearing the same word of God.

Should we not become, like Joshua, the kind of people God longs for? We must be trusted by God as people of whom he would say: had Joshua been here, he would have understood what I say; I could have worked with ease, without straining so hard to make my heart known.

You, too, have heard the word of God. You have repented, shed tears, and made vows. How, then, has your life changed since you shed those tears of repentance? Has God accepted that repentance and recognized your faith?

Those who know the grace of God and those who do not cannot think or live alike. Their understanding of Almighty God will differ, and so will the way they look at the problems of the world. The outcome of your faith, too, will surely be different. God must have been grieved as he watched Israel, knowing full well how terrible his wrath is, still do evil in his sight and serve the Baals, unable to let go of their pleasures.

It was God who rescued them when they were slaves in Egypt, and God who poured out the wrath of heaven on the nation of Egypt, its king, and its people to save them. Betraying such a God should never come easily, and yet I simply cannot understand a people who call on other gods right before his eyes. Had they thanked God and shown him faith and love, he would have poured out even greater grace on them.

Judges records the repeated story of God and Israel: God who blesses a repentant people and brings judgment on a sinning one. As I watched him forgive a people who betrayed and repented by turns, knowing they would betray him again, my heart ached. Could they truly not turn back with all their hearts? Could he not simply abandon human beings who sin over and over?

God never forgives sin. Yet because of the love with which he has compassion on us, he grieves at heart in order to forgive once more. That is why we must be the first to strive to keep away from sin. God is always at the center of each of us. Those who rely on God will come to a faith of a higher order, and those who forsake God will be guilty of living mingled with the Canaanites.

How are you living before God? I hope you will look at yourselves and ask whether you have a faith of a high order, like Joshua, who served God in every circumstance, or a faith of a lower order that betrays him as your feelings and circumstances change. May you never use God, as the people of Israel did, as a tool for getting blessings. Everything you now possess, and everything you long to possess, can be enjoyed only if God gives it; let us, then, show him a humbler faith still.

I ask you to consider the heart of God, who keeps raising up judges for Israel even though Israel lives so wrongly. If you can see the heart of God, who longs for even one person to return sincerely, I pray that you will be the first to tell him you love him. If someone says they have faith but has no works, it profits nothing, because faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. May you show your faith by your deeds, and prove by what you do how much you love God.

I hope you will repent sincerely, worship sincerely, and, thankful for the grace you have received, proclaim the gospel and enjoy true freedom.