Judges 3 A –Gilgal to Bokim (Judges 2:1-5)

Until last week we carefully studied the reasons why the Israelites did not completely drive out the Canaanites, and saw through that how deep the man’s love of the worldly things are. In the end of chapter one, rather than driving out the Canaanites, we see that the Israelites are even driven out by the Amorites.
At that point, we see the appearance of an angel of the Lord. This is the same angel of the Lord that was sent by God to Moses and to the Israelites when Israel was being rescued out of Egypt. This is also the same angel of the Lord that was sent into Canaan conquest wars.
<Exodus 3:1-5>
In verse 2you can see the angel of the Lord appeared in flames of fire from within a bush. But in verse 4 this angel of the Lord is also referred to as the Lord (Yahweh, Jehova).
This is saying He is the Lord who was sent by the Lord. Who is that? It’s referring to Jesus Christ!
In the story of Gideon in Judges 6 the angel of the Lord appears again. Here the same thing happens where the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon but the one who is speaking to Gideon is recorded simply as “the Lord”. Again, this is talking about the Lord who was sent by the Lord (Yahweh that was sent by Yahweh) – Jesus Christ.
God made the angel of the Lord dwell with the Israelites in the form of pillar of fire and pillar of cloud as they advanced towards Canaan, and He also promised that the angel of the Lord will lead them in their Canaan conquest wars.
<Exodus 23:20-33>
If you look carefully here, though God says He will send His angel to drive out all the Canaanites, He also says that He will not drive them all out immediately. Then He requests the Israelites to not make a covenant with the Canaanites and their gods – because to worship their gods (i.e. the worldly gods) will be a snare to them.
See here, who is the one that is leaving the Canaanites in there? God Himself. Do you think God would not have known that the Israelites will be attracted to the gods of Canaan and their civilisation? He is omniscient and omnipotent. Then why did He leave the Canaanites there? And He’s also commanding them not to get close to them. Why?
He is exposing the selfish evil nature in those without the grace of God. And to let know the fruits of that selfish evil nature in this land.
God shows to the Israelites the gods of Canaan that is pleasing to the eye and also appetizing. And then He leaves the Israelites to take a bite at those things. The Israelites are then to experience how the life of following after the worldly gods is hollow and rebellious, and deeply taste how much those things are snares to themselves. So as well as the evil nature and helplessness of man being exposed in this way, the sovereignty of God is firmly established.
So from exodus to the wilderness, and up until the conquest of Canaan, the entire journey is being fulfilled within God’s plan. With only one purpose – correct awareness by the people of God regarding themselves, and their correct awareness of God.
Gilgal
Verse 1 of today’s passage says that the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim.
Gilgal is the place that the Israelites first arrived at after they crossed the Jordan, so it was their first entrance in Canaan. God made the Israelites lay 12 stones in that place and He also commanded all Israelites to undergo circumcision there.
Then why is the bible describing that the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal?
Let’s first have a look at Gilgal in the book of Joshua:
<Joshua 4:4-9, 18-24>
This passage tells us the reason why God made them build up the 12 stones in Gilgal. What is it? To commemorate and never forget that the reason that the Israelites were able to cross the Jordan river was only by relying on God’s ark of the covenant. So the 12 stones commemorate the fact that the Israelites’ ability to enter into Canaan was purely by God’s covenant (God’s promise).

In Joshua 5, God commands the Israelites to undergo circumcision at that precise place, Gilgal:
<Joshua 5:1-12>
In verse 9 God explains that He made them get circumcised to take away the reproach of Egypt from the Israelites. The “reproach from Egypt” means the stain on the people of God from their Egypt nature. To circumcise them in order to take away the reproach from Egypt means God’s complete denial of the old Israel.
Circumcision is a cutting off of man’s reproductive organs, symbolising a denial of man’s entire being. This means the destruction of the sinful nature of man, who constantly wants to be God, after becoming the main agent/principal in determining what is good or evil by eating from the tree:
<Colossians 2:11-12>
Like this, the act of circumcision is a ceremonial ritual that symbolises the destruction of physical possibilities of man. And in that place, God’s grace is filled up instead.
However, in order for the sinful nature of the body to be completely shed, the entire body needs to be destroyed; so to only cut off the end of the reproductive organ and carry the trace as a symbol of shedding the sinful nature of the body means that someone will receive the real circumcision (death) in my place and impute that to those who carry that trace (cross of Jesus Christ). So the scene of circumcision is a scene where man’s impossibility and hideousness is exposed, and at the same time it is a scene where God’s sovereignty and God’s grace is exuberantly and firmly established.

Then why is it that God commands the Israelites to perform the circumcisions straight after crossing the Jordan? This is how the picture is drawn in Joshua 5:
<Joshua 5:1>
All the kings of the tribes of Canaan had their hearts melted and had no courage to face the Israelites, after hearing about the God of the Israelites who had just crossed the Jordan. If you know anything about war tactics, you know that this is the best time for a full-scale battle for the Israelites. But at this very moment God tells the Israelites to circumcise everyone. At this point circumcision means the loss of military strength/power. If any of the Canaanite tribes had attacked Israel at that time all the Israelites would have been completely wiped out.
Then why does God, rather than arming and organising the battle lines of the Israelites to get ready to fight, instead completely nullify their entire war strength?
Because this is God’s war strategy. God does not fight His wars by borrowing the strength of the Israelites. If that was the purpose, then the Israelites would not have had time for circumcision, and would have gone straight into battle after crossing the Jordan. And they would surely have had victory given the morale at the time. But God’s purpose is not simply winning the war. He wants to teach is people something through the wars.
Regardless of win or loss, the Israelites role is to just learn well whatever God wants to teach them. Which is why God kept repeating the kinds of statements like “You stay still, the war is mine to fight”.

Further down in Joshua 5, is recorded a conversation between Joshua and the commander of the army of the Lord, which is interesting.
<Joshua 5:12-15>
After the Israelites crossed the Jordan, receveid circumcision and commemorated the Passover, they ate from the produce of Canaan land. Then straight away the Manna from above stopped. The Canaan conquest wars had not even begun but the Manna had stopped. This is a confirmation of the covenant that God gave to the Israelites, that Canaan will absolutely be Israel’s land, as God had promised. This is why even though they haven't even begun the war against the Canaanites, the Israelites are eating from the produce of their land (i.e. “You no longer need Manna, as you will be eating from this land from now on” = this is YOUR land already).
But as the wars are about to commence, all of a sudden the commander of the army of the Lord appears. Joshua asks him “Are you for us or against us?”. The commander replies “neither, I am not on your side nor your opposition’s side, I am on the Lord’s side”.
This is saying that God is not someone who takes your side in order to make you win against the world.
The role of the commander of the army of the Lord is to relay God’s revelations as a message to His people, not to be a tool to help His people win fights.
There the commander orders Joshua to take off his shoes. This is it. The commander of the Lord has come to take off the shoes of His people. The people of God should go where God takes them, not where we want to go.
So God’s wars are those that is being fought under God’s sovereignty, only and completely by God’s strength.



That is the place of Gilgal.
• Place where the 12 stones were laid to represent that it was the Yahweh God who took the Israelites across the Jordan river
• Place where they had to undergo circumcision as the ultimate experience of correct self-acknowledgement and denial
To the Israelites that are soon going into wars with Canaan tribes, God is sending them a message t say “This is not a war that you will fight with your strength and efforts, but a war fought only through God’s grace, so obey the words of the Lord”.
Then soon enough the Jericho walls did fall. The Israelites did not even lift a finger, did not even tap the wall once with a hammer, but the walls fell according to God’s promise.
The message that was relayed in Gilgal was realised exactly.



Next week, we’ll have the second part of this message, and learn what it means that the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bokim.