Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

The final and climatic statement of the paragraph, that they “served Baal and the Ashtoreths,” is especially important. The word ba‘al can be used in a secular sense of “lord, master, owner, citizen, or husband.” When applied to a deity (often in the ancient Near East), it functioned as a title, “divine lord, master.” It was also used as a reference to the Canaanite storm god. His divine name was Hadad (see further discussion below, pp. 120–21). The term “Ashtoreths” is a mistransliteration12 by the NIV for the Hebrew ‘ashtarot, the plural of ‘ashtart, that is, Astarte. Astarte was the popular (animal and human) fertility goddess and consort of Baal. She also was associated with war. She is often pictured in Egyptian iconography as riding a horse and carrying a bow and arrow or spear and shield.13 There are only four verses in the Hebrew Bible that contain the combination Baal and Astarte (Judg 2:13; 10:6; 1 Sam 7:4; 12:10). Judges 2:13; 10:6; and 1 Samuel 12:10 also employ the parallelism of “forsake” (‘azab) and “serve” (‘abad). This is not fortuitous. The central question is the worship of Yahweh rather than the gods of the surrounding nations. This worship entails the recognition of Yahweh as king. Thus, Judges 2:13 and 10:6 emphasize the breaking of the oath of allegiance to Yahweh’s kingship and recognition of the kingship of other gods (“forsake” Yahweh and “serve” Baals and Ashtoreths). Many scholars believe that the Hebrew vocalization of Ashtoreth (‘ashtoret) fou...