And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baals.
This verse opens the long, sad cycle of the book of Judges. It raises the question the whole book answers: how did a people who had seen God's works end up serving the gods of their neighbours?
The words used here are not a one-off. They become the drumbeat of the whole book.
From chapter 2:6 to 3:4 we have the history of the whole period of the Judges outlined. It first mentions their obedience and service, how they began in the Spirit. The second generation, as always, leads to failure. For the first time we read the words that appear in six other places in this book: "And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD." They forsook Him — the loving, gracious Jehovah, whose kindness and tender mercies their own past history shows so fully. Instead of serving such a God, they served Baal and Ashtaroth.
Commentators count the repetitions differently — six further places, or eight — but the point they draw is the same, and one writer traces what the refrain always costs.
In the book of Judges eight times we are given the key to all their trouble, repeated like a bitter wail again and again: "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord." The result was not merely one battle with the enemy and one defeat, but the most terrible oppression, persecution, and misery extending at times over long periods of years, and only ended by the raising up of some one individual who judged Israel.
The verse before this one says a generation arose that did not know the Lord. One writer sees that missing knowledge as the gap through which every other evil poured in.
Two things describe the low state of the generation that arose after Joshua: "They did not know the Lord, or the works He had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). Where a personal knowledge of Christ and of the value of His work is missing, the floodgates stand open to a flood of evil. This was the case with Israel: "They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth."
One writer traces the gap back a step further. The parents had a job to do.
The job of passing on to the children the great events in Israel's history, and the Lord's blessings to them, lay very definitely on the shoulders of the fathers and mothers. So if a generation arose that did not know the Lord or His works, it implies there was a lapse in the teaching of the fathers and mothers... They were in a position, but had no living concern connected with it, and it is so easy to give up something we are not concerned about.
The word itself is not exotic. It is an everyday word about ownership and marriage.
Baal means "husband" and "lord," with the primary idea of ownership... Yet the word is not necessarily bad either. In the sense of "husband," God uses it of His own relation to the people: "your Maker is your baal"; "though I was a baal to them" (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 31:32). Still, God finally rejects the word. Through Hosea He says, "You shall call Me Ishi [my husband], and you shall no more call Me Baali: for I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth."
The name in Hebrew is plural. One writer says that detail matters.
Judges 2:11; 3:7; 8:33; 10:6, 10 should be rendered "the Baalim" — not one, but many male gods... The definite article, when it is used, brings out how great their guilt was: they forsook the one God to serve the many, the true God for the false ones.
Serving the Baals was not simply swapping one god for another. One writer finds a grain of real truth buried in the name itself.
Here we are told that the people served Baalim. That means "Lords." And God's Lordship and ownership is a truth; God does own mankind. He is God over them. But look how many gods and lords men have set over themselves! Each has some element of divine truth in it — but only an element. What is it to depart from God and serve Baalim? It means setting aside a single attribute of God and putting some human attribute in its place.
God answered this evil with His hand — and with His pity.
Because of this unfaithfulness and disobedience, the hand of Jehovah fell heavily on them again and again, just as He had warned them through Moses. The neighbouring nations whose idols they served plundered them and made them slaves. When they groaned under their punishment, the Lord had pity on them. He raised up judges who rescued them from their enemies. But they never stopped their own practices or their stubborn way.
- Forgotten. A generation arose that did not know the Lord or His works. Where personal knowledge of Christ and His work is missing, the floodgates open.
- Forsaken. They forsook the loving, gracious God of their own history. One writer blames parents who never passed that history on.
- Served. "Baal" means husband, lord, owner. God once used it of Himself, then finally refused the name through Hosea.
- Multiplied. The plural "the Baalim" is the measure of the guilt: the one true God traded for many false ones.
- Sold, then spared. Idolatry brought slavery under the very nations whose idols they served. God pitied their groaning and raised up judges. Still they never gave up their stubborn way.
And they forsook Jehovah the God of their fathers, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked Jehovah to anger.
Joshua's generation was gone, and with it the memory of what God had done. This verse shows a rescued nation trading its Rescuer for the gods of its neighbours, and why that provoked God's anger.
The failure did not begin with idols. It began with a gap in knowledge.
Two things describe the low state of the generation that arose after Joshua. "They did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). Where a personal knowledge of Christ and of the value of His work is missing, the floodgates are open to a flood of evil. This was the case with Israel: "They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth" (Judges 2:13).
The drift had stages. One writer traces them step by step through the chapter.
First, then, we have relaxation. In Judges 2:2 we discover negligence and disobedience. One thing leads to another. If we have no energy to keep learning more of the Lord, and we neglect His word and will, direct disobedience may soon follow. Then in verse 10 is a further step — forgetfulness of what the Lord had done for Israel.
They did not simply add new gods. They left the One who had brought them out of Egypt, and one writer shows what made room for that.
As the Israelites became more self-satisfied and complacent, the Lord lost His place altogether. The next step was idolatry (verses 11-13). They forsook the Lord. They lost the sense of the grace that had delivered and blessed them. So they followed what one might call the craze of the day.
Israel took their gods from the nations around them. One writer names the step that comes before idolatry.
In whatever measure our hearts go after the world, they turn away from God. From there to forsaking the Lord and following idols is only one step. If we keep company with the world, its treasured objects take hold of our hearts and rob Christ of His place.
One commentator explains what the word "Baal" meant, and why such a god appeals.
They began their descent by serving the Baals (v. 11). This word means "lords." Many people today talk about "the Lord" while not meaning the Lord Jesus at all. For "there are many 'gods' and many 'lords'" (1 Cor. 8:5). People often prefer a substitute that will not try their consciences.
Why swap a God of proven power for the idols of neighbouring nations? One writer traces the choice to desire.
They did not have to invent God. What they invented was the god they wanted. And that god was one like themselves — a being who could sympathise with the lusts and passions of a corrupt nature.
Bowing down to those gods brought a response that fitted the crime.
Such turning away had to bring down the anger of God. He handed Israel over to the very nations whose gods they were adopting. Those cruel enemies gained the upper hand over them (v. 14). They had to learn where their own folly led under God's government. And they had to learn that God meant what He said when He warned them of disaster for their disobedience (v. 15).
This chapter is more than ancient history. One writer says it shows readers today their own faces.
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man. And so Israel's history, in its main features, matches the history of the present age. This is what makes the book of Judges so important for us. We have here, as in a mirror, our own faces spiritually: a photograph of divine light that will not flatter.
- Forgetting — the collapse starts when a generation no longer knows the Lord or values what He has done. With that knowledge gone, the floodgates open.
- Slackening — the slide has an order. First relaxation, then neglect of His word, then open disobedience, then forgetting what He had done.
- Forsaking — the sense of rescuing grace faded. The world next door won their hearts, and idols were one step away.
- Substituting — the "lords" they chose were gods made to their own taste. Such gods sympathise with human desire and never trouble the conscience.
- Reaping — God handed them over to the very nations whose gods they had adopted. The consequence taught what the warning had not.
And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
A whole generation walked away from the Lord and served the two chief gods of Canaan. This verse names them. What Baal and Ashtaroth stood for explains how the fall happened, and how fast.
Where did this collapse start? One writer traces it to the generation that grew up after Joshua.
Two things describe the low state of the generation that grew up after Joshua. "They did not know the Lord, or the works He had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). Where a personal knowledge of Christ and of the value of His work is lacking, the floodgates open to a rising tide of evil. This was the case with Israel: "They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth" (Judges 2:13).
The name itself was not always an insult. It carries the idea of ownership, and God once used it of His own bond with His people.
Baal means "husband" and "lord," with the main idea of ownership… Yet the word is not bad in itself. In the sense of "husband," God uses it of His own relation to the people: "your Maker is your baal;" "though I was a baal to them." (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 31:32.) Still, God rejects the word in the end. Through Hosea He says, "You shall call me Ishi [my husband], and you shall no more call me Baali: for I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth."
Both names are plural in these chapters, and the plural is part of the charge.
Judges 2:11, Judges 3:7, Judges 8:33, Judges 10:6, 10, should read "the Baalim" — not one, but many male gods. In Judges 3:7 "the Asheroth," translated "the groves," really means the goddesses, and Judges 10:6 has "the Ashtaroth." When the text uses "the," it brings out how great their guilt was. They left the one God to serve the many, the true God for the false ones.
The verse names a goddess beside Baal. Who was she, and what was her worship like?
Ashtaroth was the chief deity worshipped by the Phoenicians and Sidonians. Scripture often names her alongside Baal (see Judges 2:13; 10:6), and people likely counted her as his female partner… "Her worship," The Biblical and Theological Dictionary says, "in time became the most impure and revolting worship anyone can imagine. People held it in shady groves that were famous for scenes of debauchery."
Read together, the two names show what the human heart wants.
Baal stands for the power that comes with owning something, with no thought of how the owner may use it. Ashtoreth speaks of fruitfulness in the natural sense… Man seeks power. He wants things in his hand, with no question of how he will use them — power without responsibility. Underneath, "the lusts that war in his members" hold him as a poor slave to their will. Baal and Ashtoreth are twin worships that match each other. Both mean independence from God, and together they mean bondage to self.
This was no neutral swap of one religion for another.
They abandoned Him — the loving, gracious Jehovah, whose kindness and tender mercies their own past history shows so clearly. Instead of serving such a God, they served Baal and Ashtaroth. This Canaanite "religion" came with the vilest immoralities, and these dragged Israel down to the level of these doomed nations. All moral corruption, and all social and political confusion, comes from turning away from God.
The same pull works today, and it shows up in the words people use.
They began their descent by serving the Baals (v. 11). This word means "lords." Today many people talk about "the Lord" and do not mean the Lord Jesus at all… People usually prefer a substitute that will not test their consciences.
- Forgetting — It starts with a generation that did not know the Lord or the works He had done. Where that knowledge is missing, evil floods in.
- Forsaking — The exchange shows the size of the guilt: the one God swapped for many, the true God for the false ones.
- Following — Baal spoke of ownership and power, Ashtaroth of fruitfulness. Together they mean independence from God that ends in slavery to self.
- Falling — Canaanite worship carried the vilest immoralities with it, and the people sank to the level of these doomed nations.
- Fooled — People still prefer a lord that will not test their consciences, and many say "the Lord" without meaning the Lord Jesus.