SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:13
Y dejaron al SEÑOR, y adoraron a Baal y a Astarot.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 2:13
Verse 13. Served Baal and Ashtaroth.] In a general way, probably, Baal and Ashtaroth mean the sun and moon; but in many cases Ashtaroth seems to have been the same among the Canaanites as Venus was among the Greeks and Romans, and to have been worshipped with the same obscene rites.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 13. And they forsook the Lord , etc.] The worship of the Lord, as the Targum; this is repeated to observe the heinous sin they were guilty of, and how displeasing it was to God: and served Baal and Ashtaroth ; two images, as the Arabic version adds; Baal, from whence Baalim, may signify the he deities of the Gentiles, as Jupiter, Hercules, etc. and Ashtaroth their female deities, as Juno, Venus, Diana, etc. the word is plural, and used for flocks of sheep, so called because they make the owners of them rich; and Kimchi and Ben Melech say these were images in the form of female sheep. Perhaps, as Baal may signify the sun, so Ashtaroth the moon, and the stars like flocks of sheep about her. Ashtaroth was the goddess of the Zidonians, ( 1 Kings 11:5,33); the same with Astarte, the wife of Cronus or Ham, said to be the Phoenician or Syrian Venus. So Lucian says there was a temple in Phoenicia, belonging to the Sidonians, which they say is the temple of Astarte; and, says he, I think that Astarte is the moon; and Astarte is both by the Phoenicians and Grecians said to be Venus, and was worshipped by the Syrians also, as Minutius Felix and Tertullian f32 affirm; the same with Eostre, or Aestar, the Saxon goddess; hence to this day we call the passover Easter f33 , being in Eoster-month; and with Andraste, a goddess of the ancient Britains f34 . There were four of them, and therefore the Septuagint here uses the plural number Astartes; so called either from Asher, being reckoned “blessed” ones, or from Asheroth, the groves they were worshipped in; or from ç[ , “Ash”, and rwt , “Tor”, the constellation Taurus or the bull; so Astarte by Sanchoniatho is said to put upon her head the head of a bull, as the token of her sovereignty; (see Gill on “ Genesis 14:5”).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 6-23 - We have a general idea of the course of things in Israel, during the time of the Judges. The nation made themselves as mean and miserable by forsaking God, as they would have been great and happy if they ha continued faithful to him. Their punishment answered to the evil the had done. They served the gods of the nations round about them, eve the meanest, and God made them serve the princes of the nations roun about them, even the meanest. Those who have found God true to his promises, may be sure that he will be as true to his threatenings. He might in justice have abandoned them, but he could not for pity do it The Lord was with the judges when he raised them up, and so they becam saviours. In the days of the greatest distress of the church, ther shall be some whom God will find or make fit to help it. The Israelite were not thoroughly reformed; so mad were they upon their idols, and s obstinately bent to backslide. Thus those who have forsaken the goo ways of God, which they have once known and professed, commonly gro most daring and desperate in sin, and have their hearts hardened. Their punishment was, that the Canaanites were spared, and so they wer beaten with their own rod. Men cherish and indulge their corrup appetites and passions; therefore God justly leaves them to themselves under the power of their sins, which will be their ruin. God has tol us how deceitful and desperately wicked our hearts are, but we are no willing to believe it, until by making bold with temptation we find it true by sad experience. We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted an grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Le us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all ou days __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויעזבו 5800 את 853 יהוה 3068 ויעבדו 5647 לבעל 1168 ולעשׁתרות׃ 6252
