The tribes of Israel did not continue to eliminate the Canaanites as the Lord had commanded, but instead made treaties with them. This behavior was a violation of the Covenant that Israel had with the Lord. The presence of the Lord came up out of the tabernacle that was, at this time, still set up in Gilgal and manifested to the people at a place called Bokim. This presence of the Angel of the Lord is called a theophany, or an appearance of the God himself. In the understanding of Trinitarian Christianity this is the manifestation of the Second Member of the Trinity, the Son of God himself. The Hebrew phrase for “Angel of the Lord” is mal’ak YHWH. The Hebrew word mal’ak does not refer to a “Precious-Moments-feathery-winged-creature-with-a-halo” as the English word “angel” so often implies, but mal’ak means “messenger” and “envoy” and refers to a diplomatic representative who speaks and acts on behalf of the party who sent them. This is the Son of God speaking to his covenant people, and He is not happy!

The Lord is very upset because his covenant with Israel had been set aside unlawfully by Israel in order that they might secure a lesser covenant with the Canaanites, the enemies of the Lord. Israel had not destroyed the wicked Canaanites and they had not torn down their altars to the false, demonic gods. Instead, Israel had joined with the cursed people and corrupted their worship of the Lord with idolatry.  Because the people did not keep their end of the Covenant and had instead betrayed the Lord by siding with his enemies the Lord would no longer use Israel to drive the Canaanites out of the land. Indeed, the Lord could not use Israel any longer since they themselves had become like the Canaanites.

At Bokim the Angel of the Lord reminds the people that he is simply doing what he said he would do. All of the actions of the Lord, both the blessings and the curses, are detailed in the covenant they made with him at Sinai and confirmed at Shechem. They should not be surprised; the Lord is simply following the contract.

Though the people respond to this bitter news with emotional weeping and quick, reactionary recommencing of the sacrifices their true intentions have been set. Their hearts have been revealed by the covenants they were making with the Canaanites. Their emotional outburst and reactionary response is just that: an emotional reaction. There is no substance or genuine quality of repentance contained in their response.

The emptiness of an emotional reaction is proven by the fact that by the time the generation that had entered the Promised Land had died the culture had completely forgotten the Lord. The next generation was unfamiliar with the Exodus, the forty years in the wilderness and the conquest of the Promised Land. Surely, there must have been the remains of some traditions, liturgies and holidays in the Israelite culture that echoed the ghostly memory of the days of Moses and Joshua, but the priests had failed to teach (Lev. 10:9-11), the parents had failed to share the true meaning of the stories (Dt. 4:9; 6:7; 11:19) and the leaders had failed to honor the covenant. This lack of knowledge and void of understanding left a vacuum in the soul of the nation of Israel that sucked in the false realities, demonic gods and corrupt practices of the Canaanites, the enemies of the Lord, to replace the glory of the Lord, the God Almighty.

A soul that is unoccupied with truth will fill itself with false realties to satisfy the void.

“It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to label us. 'See,' they say, 'How they love one another!' For themselves are animated by mutual hatred. 'How they are ready even to die for one another!' For they themselves will sooner put to death. ... the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods
with one another.”
– Tertullian, 200 AD

Between 1910-1915
The Fundamentals are published and distributed free of charge by the president of the Union Oil Company, Lyman Stewart, who was concerned about the rising tide of liberal thinking and teaching of the American churches.
• Lyman put together $300,000 to publish booklets that covered:
basic Christian doctrine,
evil of socialism,
evil of evolution and the
danger of materialism
• Some of the editing was done by R. A. Torrey.
• 3,000,000 copies were printed and distributed for free between 1910 and 1915.
• These booklets were published in a set of books called The Fundamentals and distributed at no charge to pastors, evangelists, missionaries, theological students, Sunday school superintendents, YMCA and YWCA secretaries.
• The Fundamentals educated and united believers with a core conservative view of Scriptures that resisted the modern wave of liberal Christian theology and began the Fundamentalist movement.