Bochim

Biblical Text

Bochim appears only in Judges 2:1-5. The angel of the LORD comes up from Gilgal to Bochim and addresses the people of Israel. His message is as follows:

• God brought them up out of Egypt and into the land He had sworn to their fathers.
• God declared that He would never break His covenant.
• Israel was to make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land and was to throw down their altars, but the people did not obey that command.

God therefore declares that He will not drive out the inhabitants; they will be as thorns in Israel's sides, and their gods will be a snare. When the people heard these words, they lifted up their voices and wept. They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

Background

Meaning of the name: The Hebrew Bokim derives from the verb "to weep" and means "weepers."

Gilgal as the point of departure: Gilgal was the place where Israel first encamped after crossing the Jordan River. There circumcision was performed and the Passover was kept (Joshua 4:19-5:10).

Location: The exact location of Bochim is unknown. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) adds the words "to Bochim and to Bethel and to the house of Israel" in Judges 2:1. For this reason some scholars place Bochim at or near Bethel. The following passages are cited in support:

• The burial of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, below Bethel under the oak called Allon-bachuth ("oak of weeping") (Genesis 35:8)
• Israel's weeping and sacrificing at Bethel (Judges 20:26; 21:2)

This identification, however, is conjectural rather than established.

Setting of the passage: The event stands at the opening of the period of the judges, after the death of Joshua, when the conquest of Canaan remained incomplete.

Significance in the Wider Biblical Context

The angel's rebuke recalls earlier commands. Exodus 23:32-33; 34:12-13; and Deuteronomy 7:2-5 commanded Israel to make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land and to destroy their altars. The expression "thorns in your sides" echoes the warnings of Numbers 33:55 and Joshua 23:13.

After the Bochim episode, the book of Judges displays a recurring pattern: Israel serves other gods, suffers oppression, and cries out, and God raises up judges to deliver them (Judges 2:11-19). The Bochim passage is therefore understood to serve as an introduction to the book of Judges as a whole.

Bochim is not mentioned directly in the New Testament.

Interpretations and Debates

Identity of the angel of the LORD: Interpretations differ.

• Many Reformed and evangelical interpreters regard this as a preincarnate appearance of Christ.
• Other interpreters regard him as an angel sent by God.
• Some Jewish traditions reportedly understood this "messenger" as a prophet, specifically Phinehas.

Nature of the weeping: Interpreters are divided over whether the people's weeping should be regarded as genuine repentance. The text records only that they wept and offered sacrifice. There is no record that they removed their idols, and apostasy follows soon afterward. Many interpreters therefore see it as sorrow unaccompanied by a changed life. This reading is sometimes linked with 2 Corinthians 7:10, which distinguishes godly sorrow from the sorrow of the world. Others, however, point to the offering of sacrifice as evidence of sincere, if temporary, contrition.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, Bochim is often presented as "the place of tears." It is chiefly used as a text emphasizing repentance that does not stop at tears but issues in a genuine turning of one's life.