Judges 2:1-5 – Build Your Bochim – Bible study

Judges 2:1-5 Build Your Bochim The book of Judges stood to be the third book of greatness in Israels history. 1. The first book of greatest was Exodus, where God brought Israel out of Egypt with a strong hand and placed him in the wilderness to reveal Himself to them. 2. The second book of greatness was Joshua, where God gave the Israelites great military power, and they conquered the inhabitants of the land. 3. The third great book was supposed to be Judges, where God appointed godly leaders and the remainder of the enemies were removed from the land, making the land totally Israels and Israel totally under Gods rule. But something happened. Lets see what it was. I. Command-Kill all. Deut 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: A. To be certain that we understand, note the preceding verse. Deut 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: B. That seems hard. Why? 1. Because of the evil of the land. a. God was executing judgment on their sins. (1) The iniquity of the Amorites had reached the full mark! Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (2) The Canaanite people were cruel, ungodly people. (a) They worshipped Molech and made an image to him. The image was humanoid with arms stretched outward. A flame was kindled beneath the idols arms and they laid their children in the arms to burn them alive. Isis is not the first to burn people in the name of their gods. (b) W.A. Criswell said that archeologists found skeletons in the foundations of Canaans buildings, the remains of the human sacrifices made to dedicate the building. http://www.wacriswell.com/sermons/1960/the-weepers-of-bochim/ (c) Some of the cruelty of these Canaanites can be seen in their king \#Judges 1:5-7\. He acknowledged that the Jews cut off his thumbs and big toes as a JUST punishment for doing the same to 70 kings and then apparently making them eat like animals UNDER his table! (d) Some of the biggest sins of the Canaanites were their sexual sins. i. Two of the their primary deities were Baal and Ashteroth. ii. Ashteroth was a the god of fertility, but to worship either of these gods seem to require open and perverted sex. iii. Three of the main sexual perversions of their religion that I have read about. (aa) They build into their temples houses for prostitution. (bb) They build into their temples houses for sodomies. (cc) And they participated in bestiality. b. These were the kinds of people that God sent Israel into the land to killyes, the men and woman and their children! (1) Israel was to be Gods executioner to bring judgment for sin upon these nations. Deut 9:4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. 5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (2) By the way, when one of Israels cities turned to sin, God had them killed too. Deut 13:12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. (3) So God was not playing favorites. He was judging sinners. a. He would judge Israel just like He judged Canaanin fact, that is exactly what He has been doing to Israel. b. God started by sending the Amorites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and others. c. When that ceased to bring Israel to repentance, He brought Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. d. Once that failed to turn them back to God, He cast them out of the land and left them at the mercy of cruel and hateful oppressors for 1900 years. e. And so God will do to any nation that turns from Him and into sin. Ps 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (4) Someone says, "God is mean!" It is time for puny man to understand that God is not one who can be offended with no recourse! He is the holy Ghost who created us for His pleasure and if we turn from Him, He will become our enemy! Psalm 50:21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. 2. Because of the isolation from the godly. Deut 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. a. God wanted Israel to be totally separated from the other nations for He knew they were weak and would desire the wickedness of those nations. b. The truth is that peers and the pressures they exert are typically toward wickedness. (1) That is why God divided us into nations with different languages and cultures \#Ge 11:1-9\. (2) Mankind in unison will plunge towards evil more surely than a person falling off a cliff will fall down. (3) I hate to be negative on so many of the issues of our modern-day world, but the smaller our world becomes and the more borders we tear down, the sooner this planet will be welcoming the anti- Christ! C. I can see the reasoning of some in Israel as the time required to defeat and exterminate the enemies drug out. 1. There were the religious voices-God is a God of mercy and love. He is certainly not a God of hate and death. 2. There were the rationalist-War is costly both in lives and finances. 3. There were the defeatist-They are too many and we are too few. We cant win! 4. And there were the pacifists-"Those people want peace not war. Cant we all just get along?" D. And before Israel had finished obeying Gods command, they quit trying. Judges 1:28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 1. \#Ex 23:29\ God did not drive the enemies out all once but over a period of five or six years. 2. Some tribes were specifically mentioned. a. \#Judges 1:27\ Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants. b. \#Judges 1:29\ Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites. c. \#Judges 1:30\ Neither did Zebulon drive out the inhabitants. d. \#Judges 1:31\ Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants. e. \#Judges 1:33\ Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants. 3. And it wasnt long until they lost the power to drive them at all. \#Judges 1:34\ And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain. II. \#Judges 2:1, 4\ Note the Messenger. A. \#4\ He is called "the" Angel of the Lord. 1. That is the same Hebrew word which is used in \#1\, although there the article is translated "an." 2. This Angel does not speak as the servant of the Lord, but as the Lord Himself. (Four times uses pronoun "I.") 3. While the word ANGEL means MESSENGER, it does not necessarily require the messenger to be a uniquely created being. B. I believe this to be is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, a Christophany. 1. There had been others. a. \#Ge 16:10\-Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar fleeing from Sarah. b. \#Ge 22:11\-Angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham stopping him from slaying Isaac. c. \#Ge 32:25\-A mysterious man appeared to Jacob and wrestled to the breaking of day. d. \#Josh 5:13\-One who proclaimed Himself the Captain of the Lords hosts takes command of Israels army at Jericho. (1) By the way, Jericho, where the last appearance of Christ took place, is over beside Gilgal \#Josh 4:19\. (2) Notice Judges 2:1. Judges 2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. (3) It is like the Lord has just been sitting there, waiting to see what Israel would do! 2. How different would we treat sin if we knew the Lord Himself would come down from heaven to deal with us! a. But God does not come down here to deal with us. b. Instead, He brings us up to Him, but make no mistake, every sin must be paid for! III. \#Judges 2:1-3\ Note the Message A. \#1\ God reminded them of His past goodness. 1. Had brought Israel out of the Egypt. 2. Had promised Gods presence. B. \#2\ God reminded them of His present commandments. 1. They were to make no leagues with the inhabitants of the land. 2. They were to tear down the false idols. 3. These picture our present walk with God. C. \#2\ God reminded them of their personal accountability. 1. God told them, YOU HAVE NOT OBEYED. 2. God asked them, WHY? D. \#3\ God pronounced their punishment. In short 1. I will not drive them out. 2. They shall be thorns in your eyes. E. That may not sound like much of a punishment, but this judgment marked two things. 1. The downfall of Israel to her enemies. a. From this point on, it was inevitable that one day Israel would be run over by the Moabites, the Edomites, the Philistines, and the Ammonites. b. It also meant that one day both Syria and Egypt would have dominion over Israel. c. And not they only, but also Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. d. It meant Israel would fall to the Turks for 1000 years and be victims to the German holocaust. e. Even more, this judgment insured the anti-Christ would one day rule over Israel. f. You say, "How?" Because if God will not run them out, it would only be a matter of time before Israel would weaken before these nations. (1) Israel could pray and ask for mercy. God might give them some victories and days of peace along the way. (2) But if God will not destroy them, Israels enemies are destined to win at some point! g. \#3-4\ The nation of Israel seemed to understand the seriousness of Gods judgment. (1) They wept, and after they had wept awhile, they wept some more. (2) They wept so much that the name of the place came to be called Bochim, weeping! h. Learn a lesson well. Once God calls a judgment, there is nothing left but for weeping. (1) The same things that God told Israel that day, He could well say to America! (2) America, God has been good to you too. (a) All one has to do is to drive through this country to see how we blessed we are. (b) People sneak across our borders and risk their lives to get into our country, while they are fleeing from their homelands. (c) I hear our President say foolish things such as Islam is woven into the history of America. (d) Islam has never done anything good for any nation that adhered to it. i. They burn their own people alive! ii. They do not produce science. "Forty-one predominantly Muslim countries with about 20 percent of the worlds total population generate less than 5 percent of its science." http://www.meforum.org/306/why-does-the-muslim-world-lag- in-science iii. They do not produce agriculture. "Only 12% of the total land area is under cultivation (arable land, orchards and vineyards) but less than one-third of the cultivated area is irrigated; the rest is devoted to dry farming." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Iran iv. The truth is that even with their abundance of oil, Islamic countries as a whole do not better other or themselves. v. Many export crude petroleum but then have to import refined petroleum, along with wheat and other necessities. http://atlas.media.mit.edu/profile/country/egy/ (e) I do not know what degrees God issues in the courts of heaven, but if America continues to turn its back on God, you can rest assured that God will condemn her and leave her a nation weeping. (3) God has given His commandments to American and we have not done so well in keeping them! (4) And it is not just nations that God condemns. If you has an individual have not accepted His Son, you may as well start weeping now. (a) For you are condemned already. John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (b) You may not be in hell yet, but your name is written there as surely as the saveds are written in heaven. (c) So I beg you to turn from ways and turn to Jesus Christ. 2. A second thing became certain with this punishment. It became certain that God would have send His Son to destroy nations. a. God would not bless Israel to allow them to drive out those enemies, but God had still promised the land to Israel. b. Without Gods blessing upon Israel to defeat their enemies, God would have to do it another way. c. He would have to come do it Himself. d. While I am out of time and so cannot prove at this point what I say, I assure you that Jesus Christ will come to destroy those who align themselves against Israel. e. And unsaved person, He will come for you to. So weep, world, weep! Build your Bochim, and once you have wept, weep some more. Or else, if you have a mind to do so, turn to God. Call upon Jesus as your Savior, and He will forgive your sins and take away not only your tears but your reason to weep.