It happened, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and played the prostitute after the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.
"Israel ... made Baal-berith their god"  (Judges 8:33).  "The worship of Baal-berith, as performed at Shechem  (Judges 9:46), was an imitation of the worship of Jehovah, an adulteration of that worship, in which Baal was put in the place of Jehovah."[34]  Just as the true worshippers in Israel recognized Jehovah as their covenant God, the apostates mentioned here made what they called a "covenant" with their false god Baal.  "`Baal-berith' means `the covenant Baal.'"[35]