Judges 8:34
And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
After Gideon's death, following deliverance from Midianite oppression, the children of Israel forgot the Lord their God, who had repeatedly delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side. Their forgetting meant departing from the worship God had appointed and returning to idolatry, forsaking God to serve idols. Gideon's unauthorized worship arrangement encouraged this departure and became a snare that led them to forsake God. This reflects the recurring pattern of deliverance followed by apostasy, in which Israel turned from God after a deliverer died and then suffered oppression until God raised up another deliverer.
Their ingratitude toward God was accompanied by ingratitude toward Gideon, whom God had used to bless them, for they showed no kindness to his household and accepted Abimelech, who murdered Gideon's lawful sons. When people cast off the fear of God they soon depart from honor and integrity, while gratitude for God's mercy should also lead them to value those he uses to bless his people.