The children of Israel didn't remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side;
"In line with common practice, the covenant-making function of Yahweh was simply transferred to Baal so that he, not Yahweh, was viewed as the god who made Shechem a holy place." [Note: Merrill, Kingdom of . . ., p. 169.] 