Judges 2:1-10 - The Marred Covenant

Judges 2:1-10

Israel’s Disobedience

1 Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’” 4 So it was, when the Angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

5 Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD. 6 And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.

Death of Joshua (Joshua 24:29–31)

7 So 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 works of the LORD which He had done for Israel. 8 Now Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.

The covenant that the LORD made with His people of Israel was meant to be unbreakable from God’s side, yet was shattered by their side through continual disobedience.  They were not to make covenants with the ungodly idol worshipers of the land which He brought them into, for it was intended for them to cleanse it of such sins of idolatry and immorality, not to join with them and those things which incur the wrath of God.  They did not obey.  The ungodly became thorns in their side as their false and lifeless gods ensnared them as the world continues (1 Timothy 3:7, 2 Timothy 2:4, 26) to do now when we compromise Him and His word of promised life.  Because Israel refused to drive out evil, it overtook them and God stopped driving them out as He had to that point when they were engaged in the good fight against sin when the first entered in to the promised land.  They then felt sorry, but it was not a godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:9); it was a sorrow of their own suffering (2 Corinthians 7:10) as a consequence of their disobedience, a trap we must also continually avoid falling into.  We are called to sincerely repent, turning from sins of compromise towards sacrificial devotion to following the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity (Romans 12:1, 2) while turning away from sins that so easily trap and ensnare (Hebrews 12:1, 2) us.  This passage of Israel’s sorrow is magnified as Joshua who led them and kept them on track with the LORD died.  They had followed him to victory but did not have a deep enough reliance on his God and theirs, and the result was that they stopped serving the LORD soon after he passed on.  When the last of those who knew him and God’s work for Israel also died, then the people collectively forgot these great works for them.  As it is written, “another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.”  The covenant was marred by disobedience and disregard for the LORD and His conditional agreement with them.  Thanks be to God that the New Covenant of grace surpasses this Old Covenant of works (Leviticus 18:5, Romans 10:5, 8, Galatians 3:11-12, 13-14) by God’s perfect work of obedience in following the words of the LORD perfectly and whose sacrifice now keeps our side of the covenant in the righteousness of Christ in whose grace (Romans 5:2) we now forever stand!  This new covenant is marred only by His nail-scarred hands, not permanently marred by sin unforgiven as was the case then.  We are promised entry into the promised land in heaven and our sins may be confessed and forgiven (1 John 1:9) as assurance of our place even when consequences temporarily ensnare us is left to fester unconfessed.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable (2 Corinthians 9:15) gift!