Turned again - Doubtless Gideon himself had no doubt prepared the way for this apostacy by his unauthorized ephod. The Law of Moses, with its strict unity of priesthood and altar, was the divinely-appointed and only effectual preservative from idolatry.

Baal-bereth - The god of covenants or sworn treaties, corresponding to the Zeus Orkius of the Greeks. The center of this fresh apostacy was at Shechem.

A whoring after Baalim - This term has probably a different meaning here from what it has Judges 8:7; for it is very likely that in most parts of the pagan worship there were many impure rites, so that going a whoring after Baalim may be taken in a literal sense.

Baal-berith - Literally, the lord of the covenant; the same as Jupiter faederis, or Mercury, among the Romans; the deity whose business it was to preside over compacts, leagues, treaties, covenants, etc. Some of the versions understand it as if the Israelites had made a covenant or agreement to have Baal for their god; so the Vulgate: Percusseruntque cum Baal faedus, ut esset eis in deum.

And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again,.... from God, and the pure worship of him, to idolatry:

and went a whoring after Baalim; the gods of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the several Baals of other nations, the lords many which they served; these they committed spiritual whoredom with; that is, idolatry: particularly

and made Baalberith their god; which was the idol of the Shechemites, as appears from a temple being built at Shechem for it, Judges 9:4 and had its name either from Berytus, a city of Phoenicia, of which Mela (n) and Pliny (o) make mention, and where this Baal might be first worshipped; it was fifty miles from Sidon, and was in later times a seat of learning (p); of this city was Sanchoniatho, a Phoenician historian, who is said to receive many things he writes about the Jews from Jerombalus, supposed to be Jerubbaal, or Gideon; See Gill on Judges 6:32 and who tells (q) us, that Cronus or Ham gave this city to Neptune and the Cabiri, and who also relates (r) that Beruth is the name of a Phoenician deity. Though it may be rather this idol had its name from its supposed concern in covenants, the word "Berith" signifying a covenant; and so the Targum and Syriac version call him the lord of covenant; and the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions are,"and they made a covenant with Baal, that he should be their god;''as if he had his name from hence; though rather from his presiding over covenants, as Janus is said (s) to do, and from his avenging the breach of them, and rewarding those that kept them; the same with Jupiter Fidius Ultor, and Sponsor (t) with the Romans, and Horcius (u) with the Greeks.

(n) De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 12. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. (p) Eunapius in Vita Proaeresii, p. 117. (q) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 38. (r) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 36. (s) Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 12. "Latonaeque genus", &c. Vid. Liv. Hist. l. 8. c. 5, 6. (t) Vid. Kipping. Antiqu. Roman. l. 1. c. 1. p. 48. (u) Pausan. Eliac. 1. sive. l. 5. p. 336. Sophocles in Philoctete, prope finem.

Judges 8:33-35 form the introduction to the history of Gideon's sons.

Judges 8:33

After Gideon's death the Israelites fell once more into the Baal-worship which Gideon had rooted out of his father's city (Judges 6:25.), and worshipped Baal-berith as their God. Baal-berith, the covenant Baal (equivalent to El-berith, the covenant god, Judges 9:46), is not Baal as the god of covenants, but, according to Genesis 14:13, Baal as a god in covenant, i.e., Baal with whom they had made a covenant, just as the Israelites had their faithful covenant God in Jehovah (see Movers, Phniz. i. p. 171). The worship of Baal-berith, as performed at Shechem according to Judges 9:46, was an imitation of the worship of Jehovah, an adulteration of that worship, in which Baal was put in the place of Jehovah (see Hengstenberg, Dissertations on the Pentateuch, vol. ii. p. 81).

And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made {q} Baalberith their god.

(q) That is, Baal, to whom they had bound themselves by covenant.

8:33 As soon as, and c. - Whereby we see the temper of this people, who did no longer cleave to God, than they were in a manner constrained to it, by the presence and authority of their judges. Baalim - This was the general name including all their idols, one of which here follows. Baal - berith - That is, the Lord of the covenant; so called, either from the covenant wherewith the worshippers of this god bound themselves to maintain his worship, or to defend one another therein; or rather, because he was reputed the god and judge of all covenants, and promises, and contracts, to whom it belonged to maintain them, and to punish the violaters of them; and such a god both the Grecians and the Romans had.

8:29-35 As soon as Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint; then they went after Baalim, and showed no kindness to the family of Gideon. No wonder if those who forget their God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude to the Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for our poor services, and resolve, after the Divine example, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.