(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 (M”vers, Ph”nizier, 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 (1Kings 16:32; 1 Kings 28:26; 2Kings 11:18; 2Kings 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-samin (Song of Solomon 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 Ishi (my husband), and shalt call me no more Baali (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.

2:6-23 We have a general idea of the course of things in Israel, during the time of the Judges. The nation made themselves as mean and miserable by forsaking God, as they would have been great and happy if they had continued faithful to him. Their punishment answered to the evil they had done. They served the gods of the nations round about them, even the meanest, and God made them serve the princes of the nations round about them, even the meanest. Those who have found God true to his promises, may be sure that he will be as true to his threatenings. He might in justice have abandoned them, but he could not for pity do it. The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they became saviours. In the days of the greatest distress of the church, there shall be some whom God will find or make fit to help it. The Israelites were not thoroughly reformed; so mad were they upon their idols, and so obstinately bent to backslide. Thus those who have forsaken the good ways of God, which they have once known and professed, commonly grow most daring and desperate in sin, and have their hearts hardened. Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were spared, and so they were beaten with their own rod. Men cherish and indulge their corrupt appetites and passions; therefore God justly leaves them to themselves, under the power of their sins, which will be their ruin. God has told us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are not willing to believe it, until by making bold with temptation we find it true by sad experience. We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Let us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all our days.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 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, &c. 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 (p) 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 (q).

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