Judges — Chapter 10

Israel multiplies its idolatries, serving the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and the Philistines. Lapide: each new apostasy is worse than the last. The soul that abandons true worship does not rest in neutral indifference but plunges ever deeper into the service of demons.

He was grieved for Israel's misery. Lapide: this is an anthropopatheia — God is described as \"grieved\" to convey that His mercy moved Him to act, not that He suffers change. The divine compassion is real, though it transcends human emotion. God's mercy is not earned by Israel's tears but freely given to those who sincerely return.