Judges 3:7

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

Judges 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:7

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
&c.] Both by marrying with Heathens, and worshipping their gods:

and forgot the Lord their God;
as if they had never heard of him, or known him, their Maker and Preserver, who had done so many great and good things for them:

and served Baalim, and the groves;
of Baalim, see ( Judges 2:11 ) ; the groves mean either idols worshipped in groves, as Jupiter was worshipped in a grove of oaks, hence the oak of Dodona; and Apollo in a grove of laurels in Daphne: there were usually groves where idol temples were built; and so in Phoenicia, or Canaan, Dido the Sidonian queen built a temple for Juno in the midst of the city, where was a grove of an agreeable shade F4: so Barthius F5 observes, that most of the ancient gods of the Heathens used to be worshipped in groves. And groves and trees themselves were worshipped; so Tacitus says F6 of the Germans, that they consecrated groves and forests, and called them by the names of gods. Groves are here put in the place of Ashtaroth, ( Judges 2:13 ) ; perhaps the goddesses of that name were worshipped in groves; and if Diana is meant by Astarte, Servius F7 says that every oak is sacred to Jupiter and every grove to Diana; and Ovid F8 speaks of a temple of Diana in a grove. But as they are joined with Baalim, the original of which were deified kings and heroes, the groves may be such as were consecrated to them; for, as the same writer observes F9, the souls of heroes were supposed to have their abode in groves; (See Gill on Exodus 34:13) and (See Gill on Deuteronomy 7:5). It was in this time of defection that the idolatry of Micah, and of the Danites, and the war of Benjamin about the Levite's concubine, happened, though related at the end of the book; so Josephus F11 places the account here.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 "Lucus in urbe fuit media" Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1.
F5 Animadv. ad Claudian. de raptu Proserp. l. 1. v. 205.
F6 De mor. German. c. 9. Vid. Plin. l. 12. 1.
F7 In Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. col. 295.
F8 "Est nemus et piceis" Ep. 12. v. 67. Vid. Metamorph. l. 11. Fab. 9. v. 560.
F9 In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1. col. 481. & in l. 3. col. 721.
F11 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. & 3.

Judges 3:7 In-Context

5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
The King James Version is in the public domain.