Judges 2:11

11 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim and Ashtaroth; (And the Israelites did evil before the Lord, and they served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth;)

Judges 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 2:11

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
&c.] Openly and publicly, boldly and impudently, in the very face of God, and amidst all the good things they received from him, which were aggravating circumstances of their sins; what the evil was they did is next observed:

and served Baalim;
the idol Baal, as the Arabic version, of which there were many, and therefore a plural word is used; to which the apostle refers ( 1 Corinthians 8:5 ) ; for the word signifies "lords", and there were Baalpeor, Baalzebub, Baalberith and who seem to have their name from Bal, Bel, or Belus, a king of Babylon after Nimrod, and who was the first monarch that was deified, the Jupiter of the Heathens. Theophilus of Antioch ^F16 says, that, according to the history of Thallus, Belus the king of the Assyrians, whom they worshipped, was older than the Trojan war three hundred twenty two years; and that some call Cronus or Saturn Bel and Bal; by the Assyrians called Bel, and in the Punic or Phoenician language Bal ^F17.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Ad Autolyc. l. 3. p. 138, 139. Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 23.
F17 Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. 1. prope finem.

Judges 2:11 In-Context

9 and they buried him in the ends of his possession, in Timnath of Heres, in the hill (country) of Ephraim, at the north coast of the hill Gaash (on the north side of Mount Gaash).

10 And all that generation was gathered to their fathers; and other men of Israel rose up, that knew not the Lord, and the works which he had done with Israel. (And all that generation died; and other men rose up, who did not know the Lord, and the works which he had done for Israel.)

11 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim and Ashtaroth; (And the Israelites did evil before the Lord, and they served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth;)

12 and forsook the Lord God of their fathers, that led them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed alien gods, the gods of peoples, that dwelled in the compass of them, and worshipped those gods, and they stirred the Lord to great wrath, (and deserted the Lord God of their fathers, who led them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed foreign, or other, gods, the gods of the peoples, who lived all around them, and they worshipped those gods, and they stirred the Lord to great anger,)

13 and they forsook him, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.