And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a 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 Baalberith their god.
The children of Israel ... made Baal-berith their god - i:e., Baal, or lord of the covenant. It was a marked feature in the political organization of ancient Canaan that several contiguous cities were leagued for their mutual interests in a bond of confederacy, their center of union being a temple of Baal-called from that circumstance Baal-berith, lord of the league, as Jupiter Federalis among the Greeks and Romans. This, and not a reference to a particular phrase, was the origin of the name. Monsieur Jurieu says ('Hist. des Dogmes,' p.
619) that under this name was worshipped Des Syra (Lucian), the Cybele of the Greeks and Romans, the goddess of the Phoenicians.