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.
Perhaps the site had been sacred to the Canaanites before the Israelites took it over and "converted" it. Now it was back in Canaanite hands. [Note: Martin Noth, The History of Israel, pp. 98-99.] 