Judges 2:11

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, etc.] 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 (<460805>1 Corinthians 8:5); for the word signifies “lords”, and there were Baalpeor, Baalzebub, Baalberith, etc. 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…”

“WICKEDNESS OF THE NEW GENERATION AFTER JOSHUA. (Jdg 2:11-19) the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord--This chapter, together with the first eight verses of the next [Jdg. 2:11-3:8], contains a brief but comprehensive summary of the principles developed in the following history. An attentive consideration of them, therefore, is of the greatest importance to a right understanding of the strange and varying phases of Israelitish history, from the death of Joshua till the establishment of the monarchy. served Baalim--The plural is used to include all the gods of the country.”

“And the children of Israel - Here begins the narrative of what really did happen “after the death of Joshua,” but of which Judges 1:0 conveys no hint. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua Judges 2:7. But when Joshua was dead ... “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and forsook the God of their fathers.” And then follows from Judges 2:14 to the end of the chapter, a summary of the whole contents of the book. Did evil in the sight of the Lord - Through this book and all the historical books, this is the regular phrase for falling into idolatry. It occurs seven times in Judges, as descriptive of the seven apostasies of Israel, which drew down…”

“In the sight - Which notes the heinousness and impudence of their sins, above other peoples; because God's presence was with them, and his eye upon them in a peculiar manner, which also they were not ignorant of, and therefore were guilty of more contempt of God than other people. Baalim - False gods. He useth the plural number, because the gods of the Canaanites, and adjoining nations, which Israel worshipped, were most of them called by the name of Baal. Judges 2:13”

“did evil: Jdg 4:1, Jdg 6:1, Jdg 13:1; Gen 13:13, Gen 38:7; Ch2 33:2, Ch2 33:6; Ezr 8:12 and served Baalim: Baalim, or lords, seems to have been the common appellation of the Syrian gods; whence we have Baal-peor, Baal-zebub, etc. Jdg 3:7, Jdg 10:6, Jdg 10:10; Sa1 7:4; Kg1 18:18; Ch2 28:2, Ch2 33:3; Jer 2:23, Jer 9:14; Hos 2:13-17 Judges 2:12”

“Repeated Falling Away of the People from the Lord. - Jdg 2:11-13. The Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord (what was displeasing to the Lord); they served Baalim. The plural Baalim is a general term employed to denote all false deities, and is synonymous with the expression "other gods" in the clause "other gods of the gods of the nations round about them" (the Israelites). This use of the term Baalim arose from the fact that Baal was the chief male deity of the Canaanites and all the nations of Hither Asia, and was simply worshipped by the different nations with peculiar modifications, and therefore designated by various distinctive epithets. In Jdg 2:12 this apostasy is…”