And they served their idols
Of gold and silver, wood and stone; the works of men's hands,
senseless creatures; which are nothing in the world, and bring
grief and sorrow to the worshippers of them, from whence they
have their name here given them; see ( Psalms 16:4 ) . They
served "their" idols, the idols of the Canaanites, who were
dispossessed of their land for their idolatries and other sins;
and these Israelites were put in their place. They served those
which they were ordered to destroy; they who knew the true God,
whose servants they were, or ought to have been, and professed to
be, and were so called; and yet served the idols of the nations
driven out before them. Which were a snare unto them; either the
Canaanites were, who were left in the land, with whom they mixed,
and whose works they learned; these ensnared them, and drew them
into idolatry, ( Joshua 23:13
) , or the idols they worshipped, which were the cause of many
evils and calamities, ( Judges 2:3 ) , or the
act of serving and worshipping them, ( Exodus 23:33
) ( Deuteronomy
7:16 ) . They were by these means like a bird or beast in a
snare, and brought into trouble and distress, out of which they
could not extricate themselves.