It is surprising to see the Asheroth mentioned here alongside Baal (most likely as his consort), since Judges 2:13 had associated the Baals with the Ashtaroth. Either the author confuses the two deities or he recognizes both as consorts of Baal in this fertility religion. In either case the Israelites had exchanged the worship of the living God for the service of wood and stone—mere figments of the depraved human imagination. The lofty theology, austere morality, and abstract cult of Yahwism is replaced with the exciting fertility religion.¹