Bochim

Bochim, meaning weepers, was a place west of Jordan, above Gilgal, where the angel of the LORD appeared to the Israelites early in the period of the judges and rebuked them for failing to destroy the Canaanite altars and for making covenants with the inhabitants of the land (Judg. 2:1–5). The people wept aloud at the divine rebuke—hence the name—and offered sacrifices there. The episode stands as a programmatic explanation of the cycle of apostasy and oppression that characterizes the entire book of Judges.

The precise location of Bochim is uncertain; the Septuagint renders the name as “the place of weeping” rather than preserving it as a proper noun, suggesting the name was understood as descriptive rather than a fixed toponym. Some scholars identify it with Bethel. The appearance of the divine messenger at Bochim serves as a hinge point in the narrative of Joshua–Judges, marking the transition from the conquest era to the darker period of tribal fragmentation and religious compromise that follows.