Given the Lord’s specific commands for Israel to take possession of the land and destroy its inhabitants (Num. 33:51–56; Deut. 1:8; 7:1–4, 16), it is not surprising that an angel of the Lord is sent to confront the people for their disobedience in making covenants with the local population rather than dispossessing them (2:1–5). Announcing the withdrawal of his earlier promise to dispossess the local population for them (cf. Deut. 7:1–2, 17–24; 9:1–5; 11:22–25; 31:3), the Lord warns that those spared by the Israelites will end up being a source of future trouble for them. On hearing this, the people weep, which explains the subsequent naming of the place as Bokim, meaning “weepers.”

After reporting Israel’s military failures, the narrative then shifts to the people’s spiritual failures (…