Judges 8:33

Baalim. See on ch. 2:13, 17. Unsanctioned ways of worship soon led to the worship of false deities.

Baal-berith. Literally, “lord of the covenant.” The same deity is called “the god Berith,” literally, “god of the covenant” (ch. 9:46). Shechem had a temple dedicated to this deity (ch. 9:4). It is not clear whether the name “lord of the covenant” refers to a deity that was thought to rule over a league of Canaanite cities, or to a covenant between the Baal and his worshipers, or to the league between the Canaanite inhabitants of Shechem and the Israelite newcomers. An alliance between the two peoples would frequently be cemented by a common worship. In later times politico-religious alliances like this often led the Israelites into idolatry. The Israelites had been forbidden (ch. 2:2) to form alliances with pagan peoples. One of the first symptoms of apostasy among them was the inclination to remove the barriers between themselves and their heathen neighbors. It seems that the concessions required to make the establishment of covenant relations possible were often one-sided; it was Israel that all too frequently surrendered her faith.