1. Judges 2:1 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why is "covenant" the key word in the angel’s speech?

Judges 2:1 (ESV)

1 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,

A covenant is a promise made and then confirmed in a ceremony of some kind. “God had made such a covenant with Israel when he promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants, and he had acted on that promise when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the promised land (Judges 2:1). Israel’s responsibility, as beneficiaries of this covenant, was to be faithful to the Lord by keeping his commandments."1

It is noteworthy that the angel speaks of my covenant rather than our covenant. It underlines that the Lord is the one who had graciously invited Israel to be his covenant partner.