Judges 2:4

And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-5 It was the great Angel of the covenant, the Word, the Son of God, who spake with Divine authority as Jehovah, and now called them to account for their disobedience. God sets forth what he had done for Israel, and what he had promised. Those who throw off communion with God, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, know not what they do now, and will have nothing to say for themselves in the day of account shortly. They must expect to suffer for this their folly. Those deceive themselves who expect advantages from friendship with God's enemies. God often makes men's sin their punishment; and thorns and snares are in the way of the froward, who will walk contrary to God. The people wept, crying out against their own folly and ingratitude. They trembled at the word, and not without cause. It is a wonder sinners can ever read the Bible with dry eyes. Had they kept close to God and their duty, no voice but that of singing had been heard in their congregation; but by their sin and folly they made other work for themselves, and nothing is to be heard but the voice of weeping. The worship of God, in its own nature, is joy, praise, and thanksgiving; our sins alone render weeping needful. It is pleasing to see men weep for their sins; but our tears, prayers, and even amendment, cannot atone for sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

"Wherefore I also said" - Rather because ye have done the things mentioned in Judges 2:2, "I have now said (i. e. I now protest and declare) that I will not drive them out from before you" (compare Judges 19:29). And it was the annonncement of this resolution by the Angel that caused the people to weep.

The word thorns in this verse is supplied by the King James Version from the similar passage in Joshua (see the marginal reference). Other versions adopt a different reading of the original text, and prefer the sense "they shall be to you for adversaries" (compare the last words of Numbers 33:55).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4, 5. when the angel of the Lord spake these words … the people lifted up their voice, and wept—The angel's expostulation made a deep and painful impression. But the reformation was but temporary, and the gratifying promise of a revival which this scene of emotion held out, was, ere long, blasted by speedy and deeper relapses into the guilt of defection and idolatry.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Some of them from a true sense of their sins; but most of them from a just apprehension of their danger and approaching misery from the Canaanites’ growing power, and God’s forsaking of them; as the following history makes most probable.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel,.... This being either one of the three solemn feasts, when all the males appeared at the tabernacle of the Lord; or else here was now a solemn convention of all the tribes to inquire of the Lord the reason why they were not able to drive out the Canaanites in some places, and why they prevailed over them in many:

that the people lift up their voice, and wept; being affected with what the angel said, and convicted in their consciences of their sins, and so fearing the bad consequences thereof, they wept because of the sins they had been guilty of, and because of the evils that were like to befall them on account of them.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. unto all the children of Israel] although, as ch. 1 has told, the tribes were dispersed in their various settlements. The expression, as indeed the whole situation presupposed in Jdg 2:1 b–5a, is influenced by later conceptions of national unity; cf. the editorial passages Jdg 6:8, Jdg 10:11.

lifted up their voice, and wept] Similarly at Beth-el Jdg 21:2.

Judges 2:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The people broke out into loud weeping on account of this reproof. And since the weeping, from which the place received the name of Bochim, was a sign of their grief on account of their sin, this grief led on to such repentance that "they sacrificed there unto the Lord," no doubt presenting sin-offerings and burnt-offerings, that they might obtain mercy and the forgiveness of their sins. It does not follow from this sacrifice, however, that the tabernacle or the ark of the covenant was to be found at Bochim. In any place where the Lord appeared to His people, sacrifices might be offered to Him (see Judges 6:20, Judges 6:26, Judges 6:28; Judges 13:16.; 2 Samuel 24:25, and the commentary of Deuteronomy 12:5). On the other hand, it does follow from the sacrifice at Bochim, where there was no sanctuary of Jehovah, that the person who appeared to the people was not a prophet, nor even an ordinary angel, but the angel of the Lord, who is essentially one with Jehovah.