Bokim was the place where the angel of the LORD confronted Israel, going up from Gilgal to that location in the highlands, shortly after the conquest of Canaan led by Joshua.
There he reminded the people of the covenant: God had brought them out of Egypt and given them the land promised to their ancestors, on the condition that they make no treaty with the Canaanite peoples and destroy their altars.
Israel had disobeyed. Faced with the rebuke, the people wept aloud, and so the place was named Bokim.
Right there, still repentant, the Israelites offered sacrifices to the LORD.
The episode marks the turning point between Joshua’s faithful generation and the cycle of disobedience that would mark the entire period of the judges. Bokim reminds us that tears of repentance are a good start, but they do not replace the obedience God asks for afterward.
