Worshiping God as an Idol?

I'm looking at Judges 2.16-3.6. Since it is a long passage, I won't paste it here.

But to set it up, this is a general discussion, almost a preview of what is to come in Judges. It talks about the people not following God, but worshiping idols (such as Baal etc.) It also discusses how God would instill a judge and His spirit would be upon the judge. The people obeyed the Lord, but when the judge died, they returned to doing what they pleased.

What I'm wondering is, is there a parallel between how they worshiped God at this time and how they worshiped Baal? Because, by definition, an idol can be here, but not there. And isn't that how they were treating God? He was here (with the judge) but not there (after the judge died.)

Is this true, or am I reading too much into the text?