Judges 3:7

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, etc.] Both by marrying with Heathens, and worshipping their gods: and forgot the Lord their God; as if they had never heard of him, or known him, their Maker and Preserver, who had done so many great and good things for them: and served Baalim, and the groves; of Baalim, (see <070211>Judges 2:11); the groves mean either idols worshipped in groves, as Jupiter was worshipped in a grove of oaks, hence the oak of Dodona; and Apollo in a grove of laurels in Daphne: there were usually groves where idol temples were built; and so in Phoenicia, or Canaan, Dido the Sidonian queen built a temple for Juno in the midst of the city, where was…”

“And the groves - literally, Asheroth, images of Asherah (the goddess companion of Baal): see Deuteronomy 16:21 note. return to 'Top of Page'”

“And the groves - That is, in the groves, in which the Heathens usually worshipped their Baalim or idols. Judges 3:8”

“did evil: Jdg 3:12, Jdg 2:11-13 the groves: Jdg 6:25; Exo 34:13; Deu 16:21; Kg1 16:33, Kg1 18:19; Kg2 23:6, Kg2 23:14; Ch2 15:16, Ch2 24:18, Ch2 33:3, Ch2 33:19, Ch2 34:3, Ch2 34:7 Judges 3:8”

“II. History of the People of Israel under the Judges - Judges 3:7-16:31 In order that we may be able to take a distinct survey of the development of the Israelites in the three different stages of the their history duringthe times of the judges, the first thing of importance to be done is to determine the chronology of the period of the judges, inasmuch as not only have greatly divergent opinions prevailed upon this point, but hypotheses have been set up, which endanger and to some extent directly overthrow the historical character of the accounts which the book of Judges contains. (Note: Rud. Chr. v. Bennigsen, for example, reckons up fifty different calculations, and the list might be…”