From Gilgal To Bochim

by D. Smith, Lerwick | Category: General | Jun 1971

Wise men of God make all possible provision for the welfare of God's people after their decease. Paul was such a man (Acts

20) as also was Peter (2 Pet. 1:12,15). Joshua also was similarly concerned for the future of Israel. In the last year of his life he gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders and heads, who together with the judges and officers, presented themselves before God. Having addressed this vast company at great length, he exhorted them to incline their heart unto the LORD and to serve Him in sincerity and in truth. It must have rejoiced the heart of the great man when the people so readily responded to his words and said, "The LORD our God will we serve, and unto His voice will we hearken" (Josh. 24:24), thereupon he wrote all these words in the book of the law of God and having set up a stone of witness he sent the people away. Shortly afterwards Joshua died at the age of one hundred and ten.

Joshua's influence in Israel lingered while the elders of that generation lived, but the next phase of the nation's history is covered by the sombre words "they turned aside quickly" (Judges 2:17). God's people can very soon get away from Him; the process of decline presents no difficulty to any of us, for the inducements of the world and the lusts of the flesh, subtly used by the great Adversary, can soon turn away our hearts from God and His word.

In less than three decades after the death of Joshua the LORD stepped in to humble His erring people and to remind them of their divine obligation. Thus "the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim" (Judges 2:1). Gilgal was a place with which the people of Israel were well acquainted, for it was here they first encamped after crossing the Jordan, and here Joshua was commanded to circumcise all the males who had been born in the wilderness for, with the exception of Caleb and himself, all the men of war who came out of Egypt had been consumed "because they hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD". And the LORD said, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, unto this day" (Josh. 5:9). Egypt was a reproach to them just as the world is a reproach to the believer today, and God is equally desirous that the swelling tide of Jordan should flow between the world and his own, as it did with Paul who could say, "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). Paul was thankful that as far as he was concerned the world lay well beyond the other side of Jordan. Happy is the believer who knows the separating power of the cross of Christ!

Doubtless the young Israelite would be eager to know the spiritual import of this fleshly incision which Joshua had inflicted upon him, and his enquiry would lead back to the day when God appeared to Abraham and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee" (Gen. 17:1,2), "and to thy seed after thee ... and I will be their God" (verse 8) Thus circumcision was instituted as a token of a covenant between God and Abraham and his seed. Abraham walked before God with his whole heart and spirit. His life of faith did not consist only of a sign or symbol, but of a substance which has earned him the eternal praise of God.

Now at Gilgal God's covenant with Abraham began to be fulfilled, "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17:8). Egypt and the wilderness were now behind them, the covenant renewed, and the way open for Israel to go in to possess the land. It was ever God's desire to have a people separated unto Himself, among whom He might dwell and be their God. This is, indeed, His ultimate purpose. In the new heaven and the new earth, when the holy city comes down from God, then will it be said, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3).

The apostles, as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, worked out the same divine purpose in the present dispensation. Those who were brought together in churches of God, although in different parts of the world, were one in doctrine, practice and fellowship. Peter could write to those living in five provinces as to one people, "Which in time past were no people, but now are the people of God" (1 Pet. 2:10), and to the church of God in Corinth, Paul could re-echo God's faithful promise, "We are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore, Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord" (2 Cor. 6:16,17).

Now when the angel of the LORD came to Bochim from Gilgal He spoke words of reproof to all Israel, reminding them of His faithful covenant and of the words spoken through Moses regarding their attitude to the nations whose land God gave to His people. "Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods". "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee" (Ex. 34:12).

That the people of God must be' a people separated unto Him is clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures. Separation from the world and all its evils is imperative to every believer who would faithfully do the will of God. One cannot walk with the world and follow the Lord at the same time. The separation which God required of Israel and which applies in principle to His people today, was necessary lest His people should be drawn away from Him to serve other gods and revel in other interests. This danger is extremely formidable in our day, and separation unto the Lord becomes increasingly important.

Israel's failure to break down the altars and destroy the works of the Canaanites was the crux of the angel's reproof, "But ye have not hearkened unto My voice: why have ye done this?" If they had hearkened to the word of the LORD and not despised the covenant of circumcision restated at Gilgal there would have been no need to gather at Bochim (weeping). But their circumcision was only "outward in the flesh" and testified against them. Likewise the unseparated believer fails to walk in newness of life and continues to be defiled.

May God keep us from the weeping and reproach that must ensue when separation and the covenant of God are lightly esteemed.

D. Smith, Lerwick | Jun 1971
General