CHAPTER 3. DELIVERERS. This chapter gives an account of the nations who remained in Canaan to prove Israel's faithfulness, and who became a snare to them. It describes the servitude of Israel under a king of Mesopotamia because of their sins, a servitude from which they were delivered by Othniel. I... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 3. DELIVERERS. This chapter gives an account of the nations who remained in Canaan to prove Israel's faithfulness, and who became a snare to them. It describes the servitude of Israel under a king of Mesopotamia because of their sins, a servitude from which they were delivered by Othniel. I... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD'S FIRST LESSON. INVASION FROM THE NORTH - THE FIRST JUDGE (JUDGES 3:7). Judges 3:7 ‘ And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baalim, and the Asheroth.' This is slightly different from ‘Baal and the Ashtaroth' although... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, a king of Aram-naharaim. And the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.' This was an opportunist king who had grown strong and was seeking booty and tribute (compare th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who saved them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.' “THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL” can refer to a group large or small, depending on the facts. The point is that they were a par... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan-rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim into his hand. And his hand prevailed against Cusham-rishathaim.' He was seen as the man inspired by Yahweh who could help them and they called on him... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the land had rest forty years, and Othniel the son of Kenaz died.' This really means that the land had rest ‘for a generation'. Forty years is a round number signifying a generation. It is also a significant number for forty is a period that signifies a time of testing and a time of waiting an... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD'S SECOND LESSON. THE KING OF MOAB AND EHUD THE BENJAMINITE (JUDGES 3:12). Judges 3:12 ‘ And the children of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. And Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh '... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and smote Israel and possessed the city of the palm trees.' This city of the palm trees must have been Jericho, for the champion raised up was a Benjaminite. Thus the territory of Reuben and Gad was affected, and a part of Benjam... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.' They paid tribute and were possibly put to taskwork. It appears that their apostasy was so great that they did not even consider calling on Yahweh. They suffered in silence. But at last it became too much and they remembered th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man, and the children of Israel sent a present by him to Eglon the king of Moab.' Yahweh heard their cry. It may not have seemed like it for a time, for no... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, of a cubit length, and he slung it under his clothing on his right thigh.' The short sword he made for himself was between one foot (thirty centimetres) and one foot six (forty five centimetres) in length, depending whether it means the short cub... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he offered the present to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.' The present, or tribute, would be carried by servants who would bring it in so that it could be checked. The tribute would be in the form of goods and produce. The fatness of Eglon is mainly described to explain the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And when he had made an end of offering the present, he sent away the people who bore the present.' Having offered the tribute, and having made the usual flowery speech, he went out of the king's presence with his servants, and left with them to see them on their way. But when they reached the ‘g... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ But he himself turned back from the graven images which were by Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret errand to you, Oh king.” And he said, “keep silence.” And all who stood by him went out from him.' He returned to where the king's party were. If anything went wrong he wanted it to be seen as an in... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Ehud came to him, and he was sitting by himself alone in his upper cooling parlour. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” And he arose from his seat.' Ehud now approached him. He was sitting alone seeking to cool himself in his upper cooling parlour, which was presumably on the r... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Ehud put out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.' The king was clearly totally unsuspicious up to this point. Ehud appeared to have no weapon and his movement was not with the sword arm. He probably thought Ehud was being super-cautious and wa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the haft also went in, after the blade, and the fat closed on the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and it came out behind.' The powerful thrust went straight through the fat king, with his fat gripping the blade and swallowing the haft, and it clearly killed the king imm... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the parlour on him, and locked them.' The word for vestibule is otherwise unknown and its meaning not certain. But the import is clear, he was able to leave and lock the door behind him. Wooden keys for crude locking devices are well kn... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ When he had left, his servants came, and they saw, and behold the doors of the parlour were locked. And they said, “surely he covers his feet in the cooling room”.' When the servants saw Ehud leave they returned to their duties with the king, but on discovering the door locked, assumed that he wa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they waited until they were embarrassed, and behold he did not open the doors of the parlour. So they took the key and opened them, and behold their lord had fallen down dead on the floor.' They waited and waited, not daring to disturb him, until so much time had passed that they were abashed... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the graven images, and escaped to Seirah.' The delay gave Ehud time to escape and he again came to the graven images, and then escaped into Seirah, a place of which the details are unknown to us, but it was presumably in the hill country of E... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 3:27 A ‘And it happened that, when he was come, he blew a ram's horn in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he in front of them. And he said to them, “Follow me. For Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your han... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they slew of Moab at that time about ten eleph men, every lusty man and every man of valour. And there escaped not a man.' Ten military units of men (five hundred upwards) who were there as guards to the king, and to put pressure on the subject people, were slain. All were trained soldiers an... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.' The Moabites no longer came to cause trouble to Israel, for they were busy with the succession and had lost a good number of their finest troops. They also recognised that something had happened to res... [ Continue Reading ]
SHAMGAR DELIVERS FROM THE PHILISTINES (JUDGES 3:31). Judges 3:31 ‘ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who smote six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also delivered Israel.' Inevitably pressure was beginning to arise from the Philistines in the west. There Shamgar, t... [ Continue Reading ]