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Judges 2:1

in Judges 2

Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you:

KJV

And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

This verse in Judges 2

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
The angel of the Lord (not an angel). - The phrase is used nearly 60 times to designate the Angel of God’s presence. See Gen 12:7 note. In all cases where “the angel of the Lord” delivers a message, he does it as if God Himself were speaking, without the intervening words “Thus saith the Lord,” which are used in the case of prophets. (Compare Jdg 6:8; Jos 24:2.)

This site's exposition

an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal

on Judges 2:1-3

The messenger comes from Gilgal, which is where Joshua 5 put the circumcision and the passover, so the rebuke starts from the place the obedience started. He speaks in the first person throughout, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and says I will never break my covenant with you, and then asks a question nobody answers: why have ye done this. The sentence at verse 3 is the exact wording of the warning at Numbers 33:55 and Joshua 23:13, thorns in your sides and their gods a snare, so what falls on Israel is what it was told would fall.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Bochim - A place so called by anticipation; it seems to be no other than Shiloh, where it is probable, the people were met together upon some solemn festival. I said - That is, I promised upon condition of your keeping covenant with me.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The learned bishop Patrick is clearly of opinion that this was not a created angel, but the Angel of the covenant, the same that appeared to Joshua as captain of the hosts of the Lord, who was God himself. Christ himself, says Dr. Lightfoot; who but God and Christ could say, I made you to go up out of Egypt?

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Adonoy's emissary went up. We learn in Seder Olam that this was Pinchos. 1 Son of Elazar, grandson of Aharon Hakohen. (Bemidbar,:11.) 2 Why is Pinchas entitled מַלְאַךְ ה׳, lit. “an angel of Adonoy”? Because, when visited by the sacred spirit, he was enflamed with radiance. (Vayikra Rabah, A.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 2:1:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּ֧עַלand he went up

    vaiyaalH5927890 times

  • מַלְאַךְ־[the] angel of

    malakh-H4397213 times

  • יְהוָ֛הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H44801188 times

  • הַגִּלְגָּ֖ל<the> Gilgal

    hagilgalH1537

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַבֹּכִ֑ים פ<the> Bokim

    habokhimH1066

  • וַיֹּאמֶר֩and he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • אַעֲלֶ֨הI brought up

    ʾaalehH5927890 times

  • אֶתְכֶ֜ם<obj.> you

    ʾetkhemH85310935 times

  • מִמִּצְרַ֗יִםfrom Egypt

    mimitzrayimH4714641 times

  • וָאָבִ֤יאand I brought

    vaavi'H9352568 times

  • אֶתְכֶם֙<obj.> you

    ʾetkhemH85310935 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הָאָ֗רֶץthe land

    haaretzH7762504 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • נִשְׁבַּ֙עְתִּי֙I swore

    nishba'tiH7650186 times

  • לַאֲבֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םto ancestors your

    laavoteikhemH11212 times

  • וָאֹמַ֕רand I said

    vaomarH5595305 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H38085168 times

  • אָפֵ֧רI will break

    ʾaferH6565

  • בְּרִיתִ֛יcovenant my

    beritiH1285284 times

  • אִתְּכֶ֖םwith you

    ʾitekhemH854929 times

  • לְעוֹלָֽם׃for ever

    leolamH5769

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 20:2

    “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 5:6

      “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    • Hosea 13:4

      Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.

    • Psalms 81:10

      I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

  • Through

    Exodus 23:20

    Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 33:14

      And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

    • Psalms 91:11

      For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

    • Exodus 32:34

      Now go, lead the people to the place I described. Behold, My angel shall go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will punish them for their sin.”

    • Exodus 14:19

      And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,

    • Exodus 33:2

      And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Where this verse is studied

What the record shows

1 entry
  • Merneptah Stele (Israel Stele)undisputed

    Merneptah's mortuary temple, Thebes · Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 31408)

    Counterpoint: Egyptologists agree the name reads Israel, and alternatives such as 'Jezreel' have not persuaded the field. What is genuinely argued is what the name meant in 1208 BC: the scribe marked it as a people rather than a city or state, and scholars including Israel Finkelstein and William Dever disagree sharply over how that group relates to the later kingdom of Israel.

About Judges

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.