The Place of Weeping
“Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim.” (Judges 2:1)
We have been discussing the word Holy Spirit gave to Chuck Pierce: “There will be a return to Gilgal.” On Give Him 15 for the last two days, we’ve said much about Gilgal and what occurred there. Gilgal, as we know, means “rolling” and was named this because there the Lord announced that He had rolled off of Israel the reproach of Egypt (Joshua 5:9). Today, we will look at a different scenario regarding Gilgal.
The book of Judges, on the heels of Joshua, is a series of accounts in which Israel rejected Yahweh and suffered great devastation as a result. Joshua had led them in conquest of the land, and distributed their inheritances to all the tribes. It was left up to them, individually, to finish the work of possessing the land, thoroughly driving out remaining pockets of resistance in their territories. The first chapter of Judges is a sad account of their failure to do so. Eight times the words “did not” occur, describing various tribes’ failures (Judges 1:21, 27-34).
In the second chapter of Judges, “The angel of the Lord” who had announced Israel’s great new beginning at Gilgal, suddenly relocated from there to Bochim. Bochim means “the place of weeping.” No longer able to address them from the place of blessing, the angel makes a symbolic move to Bochim in order to make the following tragic announcement:
And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done? Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from you; but they will become like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’” Now, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept. So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.” (Judges 2.1-5 NASB)
Israel’s failure to obey Yahweh fully resulted in tragedy and devastation. Over time, they mixed with the Canaanites, intermarried with them, made covenants with them, did not tear down their idols, and eventually served and worshiped their gods. “They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth” (Judges 2:13). Remember, the depraved religion of Baal worship involved all sorts of perversions, as well as the heinous practice of child sacrifice. It was EVIL. The results of this compromise brought pain and tears…and a return of shame and reproach.
Shortly after this, Joshua and the elder generation all passed away, and the next layer of devastation began: “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10 NASB)
Israel had not obeyed God’s instructions to teach their children His faithfulness, laws, and ways. As a result, things went from bad to worse. One of the darkest times of Israel’s history occurred, summarized by the phrase: “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 21, 25) Are you seeing America yet?
As time went on, the evil intensified: “But it came about, when the [Judges] died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their obstinate ways.” (Judges 2:19 NASB)
This fruit of Adam’s sin - doing what is right in our own eyes - always leads to Bochim. “The anger of the Lord burned against them,” we’re told (Judges 2:14, 20). Enemies were allowed to oppress them, and tragedy after tragedy occurred. Still, God was always merciful, and continuously remembered His covenant with them. When they repented, He would send relief.
AMERICA
Let’s make the connection to today’s America. No nation has ever been given an inheritance as amazing as America’s land of bounty and beauty. It is truly beyond description. Our forefathers planted a cross at Cape Henry, entered into covenant with God to obey Him and serve His purposes, and consequently lived at Gilgal, enjoying His blessings. There have been seasons of compromise and sin for which we, like Israel, have paid heavy prices. We’ve had our Bochim seasons, the most glaring of which was the Civil War. Yet, despite the setbacks, we have always made our way back to Gilgal.
We now find ourselves listening to the angel weep at Bochim once again. I wept with Him for three and a half hours one night in 2000. It was gut-wrenching. We wept over America’s rejection of Abba, our loss of decency, virtue, and strength, the sacrifice of millions of babies to Baal, and much more. Sadly, we are still at Bochim. Life has been cheapened, many of our leaders foster hatred and seek to divide us for political gain, truth no longer matters to much of the nation, we have no borders, satanic rituals are celebrated on prime-time TV, God is mocked, perverts are praised, the baby death toll is at 63 million and counting, and a demented man is in charge…so they say.
Are you weeping yet?
The good news? The prophet said, “There will be a return to Gilgal.” And there will.
But I have been telling you things will get worse before they get better. That was before satan‘s worship service won the Grammy, the Chinese balloon took pictures of our military bases, and our so-called commander-in-chief lied to the nation for an hour and a half two nights ago. If you haven’t yet listened to it, don’t waste your time. However, do yourself a favor and listen to Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ response. It’s only 15 minutes and will move you to tears.
I don’t know how bad things will get before revival begins to truly transform our nation and God can move us back to Gilgal. I do know we are going there. And I do believe, as I said in yesterday‘s post, our prayers can shorten this time at Bochim, and lessen the pain that many have and will continue to experience.
Keep praying! We are saving a nation.
Pray with me:
Father, You have wept over America - Your angel weeps even now at Bochim. But Your Spirit has sounded the alarm, awakened the warriors, and Americans everywhere are rising up. Holy Spirit is faithfully reminding us, over and over, that we are being offered mercy.
We don’t know how You will turn around some of our mess and heal us of our self-inflicted wounds, but we believe You are going to do just as You have said. And because we know all that You do is motivated by love and guided by mercy, we ask You to shake whatever needs to be shaken, uproot what needs to be uprooted, and overthrow what needs to be overthrown…so that You can heal this land and return us to Gilgal.
You have told us what eventually takes place when those who arrogantly oppose You, declaring that You won’t rule over them. You laugh a terrifying laugh of derision over their unified plans and schemes. You mock the mockers. Then You declare Your Son’s ownership of the earth and offer the only two choices available: Kiss the Son or perish (Psalm 2). We hear this now. And we know millions will kiss the Son. Draw them in! And crush the plans of the wicked who refuse Your offer. In Christ’s name, amen.
Our decree:
We decree that there WILL be a return to Gilgal.
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