Judges 2:11

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Openly and publicly, boldly and impudently, in the very face of God, and amidst all the good things they received from him, which

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.

In the sight of the Lord; which notes the heinousness and the impudence of their sins above other people’ s sins; because God’ s presence was with them, and his eye upon them, in a peculiar manner, and he did narrowly observe all their actions, which also they were not ignorant of, and therefore were guilty of more contempt of God than other people. Baalim, i.e. false gods. He useth the plural number, because the gods of the Canaanites and adjoining nations, which Israel worshipped, were divers, and most of them called by the name of Baal.

Judges 2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:Ver. 11. And served Baalim,] i.e., Lords. Hence Hannibal, Asdrubal, &c., of old; as now among the Turks, Beglerbeg, Scanderbeg, that is, Lord Alexander. Their idols they called their lords or protectors; and so the devil became their good lord, as they say: for he is ειδωλοχαρης, the author of idolatry, that evil as it is here called καταντονομασιαν.

(11) Did evil in the sight of the Lord.—Rather, “the evil.” Used especially of apostasy (see Judges 3:7-12; Judges 4:1; Judges 6:1; Judges 10:6; Judges 13:1). They fell into the very idolatry against which they had been emphatically warned (Deuteronomy 4:19). Baalim.—Rather, “the Baalim.” Baal means “lord,” or “possessor,” and in its idolatrous sense was applied especially to the sun, that was worshipped as the great nature-power, under a multitude of different names and attributes. Baal-worship was evidently Phoenician (Mövers, Phönizier, 184, § 9), and the traces of it are still seen in the Carthaginian names, Hasdru-bal, Hannibal, Maherbal, Adherbal, &c. “ With these came they who, from the bordering flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth: those male, These feminine.” Milton, Par. Lost, i. 420. The splendour of the worship, as well as its sensual and orgiastic character, made it very attractive to the backsliding Israelites (1 Kings 16:32; 1 Kings 28:26; 2 Kings 11:18; 2 Kings 10:22; Jeremiah 7:9; Jeremiah 19:5). In Scripture we read of Baalzebub (“lord of filth, or flies”); a Jewish term of scorn for Baalzebul, (“lord of the heavenly habitation”); Baal-samîn (Son 8:1; Plaut. Poem. v. 2, 67; Judges 10:10; Numbers 32:28); Baal-berith (“lord of the covenant,” Judges 8:33), &c. In Hosea 2:16-17 there seems to be a warning against the too facile use of the word, “And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishî (my husband), and shalt call me no more Baalî (my lord). For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.” (Comp. Jeremiah 23:27; Zechariah 13:2.) It is at least doubtful whether the name has any philological connection with the Babylonian Bel.

Verse 11. Served Baalim] The word בעלים baalim signifies lords. Their false gods they considered supernatural rulers or governors, each having his peculiar district and office; but when they wished to express a particular בעל baal, they generally added some particular epithet, as Baal-zephon, Baal-peor, Baal-zehub, Baal-shamayim, c., as Calmet has well observed. The two former were adored by the Moabites Baal-zebub by the Ekronites. Baal-berith was honoured at Shechem; and Baal-shamayim, the lord or ruler of the heavens, was adored among the Phoenicians, Syrians, Chaldeans, c. And whenever the word baal is used without an epithet, this is the god that is intended and probably, among all these people, it meant the sun.

11. The Deuteronomist’s rationale of the period of the Judges begins here. He starts with one of his recurring formulae, did evil in the sight of the Lord, Judges 3:7; Judges 3:12, Judges 4:1, Judges 6:1, Judges 10:6, Judges 13:1; 1 Kings 11:6; 1 Kings 14:22 and often; Deuteronomy 4:25; Deuteronomy 9:18 etc. and served the Baalim] See on Judges 2:13. The words anticipate the ‘forsaking of the Lord’ in Judges 2:12, and Rd’s account of the false worship in Judges 3:7; they look like a gloss on the first half of the verse.

And the children of Israel - Here begins the narrative of what really did happen “after the death of Joshua,” but of which Judg. 1 conveys no hint. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua Judges 2:7.

11. Did evil — Practical infidelity follows swiftly upon the heels of speculative infidelity. Decay of morals inevitably follows decay of faith.