Bokim

Judges 2:1-5 “The angel of the Lord 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, 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? 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.”’
“When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.”


Gilgal was the first place that the Israelites camped in their new land. Now, after a period of fighting, they’ve penetrated into Canaan, encountered a number of the tribes they were supposed to get rid of, and already compromised their mission.


And then, God’s angel, there to speak for him, travels the land from their first stop to a place called Bokim to make the following pronouncement: In spite of all God’s faithfulness to you, you have already decided not to obey him. And then, the challenging question. Why?


The people repented, but they wouldn’t change. That makes me ask, what was the point of Bokim? It seems so fruitless, both for God and his people. God reminds them of their failings, they feel bad, but nothing changes. Gilgal was all about God’s faithfulness. Gilgal was the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end. Bokim seems futile.


I wonder if I have my own Bokim. Or maybe I’ve had many of them. Were there times in my life when God confronted me with my own unfaithfulness and I felt horrible, but nothing changed? You bet there were. I can think of more than one. So what right do I have to judge Israel because of their behavior in Judges?

Thank God for his grace! Thank God that he loves me, he bought me, he pursues me, he never gives up on me. Thank God that nothing about my salvation depends on my own miserable, selfish tendency to do the easy thing, to go along to get along, to compromise rather than stand firm. Thank God!


Judges is one of the more depressing books in the Bible – it’s all about the inability of the Israelites to follow God. But it’s also about God’s faithfulness anyway. So I guess that’s not depressing. In the context of my life, it’s encouraging.