And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
The people of Israel did what was wrong in God's eyes. They forgot the LORD their God and instead worshiped the false gods called Baals and the sacred groves.
The writer is showing how God's people turned away from Him and chose to worship false gods instead.
📚 Historical Context
In the Book of Judges, this verse marks the beginning of a recurring cycle of apostasy among the Israelites after they settled in the Promised Land following Joshua's leadership. They had been repeatedly warned through Moses and Joshua to avoid the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, but instead, they forgot their covenant with God and turned to worshiping Baalim, which were local fertility gods, and the groves, referring to sacred poles or sites dedicated to Asherah. This pattern of forgetting God led to divine judgment and the need for deliverers, known as judges, to restore the nation.
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