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 (Mövers, Phönizier, 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 (1 Kings 16:32; 1 Kings 1 Kings 28:26; 2 Kings 11:18; 2 Kings 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-samîn (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 Ishî (my husband), and shalt call me no more Baalî (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.