“Now the angel of Adonai came up from Gilgal to Bokhim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt, led you to the land I swore to your fathers and said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you“.-Judges 2:1
So the Angel of the Lord speaks to the people at a place called BOKHIM.
Unfortunately, nobody knows the exact location of this place but here’s the thing.
BOKHIM is not a title or a name.
It’s just the Hebrew word for “weeping” or “crying”.
Actually, to be more accurate, it means “weepers”.
Why is this word used?
Because Israel’s general reaction to the words of the Angel of the Lord was a total moaning, groaning and sob session.
We’ll see this linguistic phenomenon often in the Scriptures where a simple Hebrew word used to describe a situation later becomes an official title or name.
Onward.
Let’s take a look at this incredible set of words tagged onto the end of verse 1.
“I will NEVER break My covenant with you”.
Whoah, did you read that correctly?
God used the word “never”.
According to Webster’s dictionary, “never” means…
1) : Not ever : at no time
Or…
2) : Not in any degree : Not under any condition
My personal favorite is “not under any condition”.
Anyways, I think you get the point.
God makes it clear He will NEVER EVER break His covenant with Israel.
And notice that God isn’t attaching any conditions to what He’s asserting here.
He’s not saying IF you break the covenant, then the game is off homies.
Nor is He saying, only under these particular circumstances will I keep my covenant with you.
The Angel of the Lord here is bringing great news.
He’s saying that in spite of the rough road Israel has ahead of them…
And in spite of the harsh judgements Israel will suffer…
Under no circumstances will the Lord break faith with Israel and sever His covenant with them.
The covenant is unilateral and it is ETERNAL.
This is obviously referring to the Mosaic Covenant.
But let’s not forget that by definition this would also include the Abrahamic Covenant.
Why?
Because the Law of Moses is based on the Covenant of Abraham.
One final point.
Historically speaking, there has been a perverse and anti-Semitic strain of theology in the Christian church says this is NOT true.
That God did indeed break His covenant with Israel due to their disobedience.
Is this correct?
Well, we’ll have to discover what the Messiah said to find out.
We’ll discuss this in our next post.
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