Judges 3:1-31
1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia:a and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a delivererb to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.
11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite,c a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.
17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.
18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
19 But he himself turned again from the quarriesd that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summere parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirtf came out.
23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he coverethg his feet in his summer chamber.
25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.
26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.
29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty,h and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
Judges 3:7. The children of Israel served Baalim and the groves. So is the French. אשׁרות asheroth; rendered by the Chaldaic and the Latin versions, lucis, light. The sense seems to be a revolt to Sabianism, or the worship of the hosts of heaven, as on Job 1:15; Jeremiah 7:18.
Judges 3:8. King of Mesopotamia. Meso is middle or lying between the river Euphrates and the Tigris, and Potamia is river. The king of this country was without doubt the king of Nineveh, whose conquests were often like the flux and reflux of the sea. He is here branded with the name of Chushan to designate his wickedness. This country is celebrated for its fertility, and as the birth place of many of the holy patriarchs.
Judges 3:9. Othniel, nephew of Caleb, a man who inherited the virtues of his family. The God who called him, soon threw the tents of Chushan into affliction. Zechariah 3:7. He knew how to conquer in war, and how to secure peace. He so preserved the pure religion that the apostasy to their secreted idols did not take place till after his death. Such judges are worthily called saviours or deliverers, as in this verse; and Esther 9:27 Esther 9:27.
Judges 3:10. The Lord delivered Chushan into his hand. By subtracting 764 from the Julian period, we find on collation with the chronology of the bible, that Belochus 2. was on the throne of Nineveh; so that he, or some rival king, fell before the illustrious Othniel. See Genesis 11. Some think he was a Phœnician prince, with whom many Canaanites had taken refuge.
Judges 3:13. The city of palm-trees; the suburbs of Jericho, called by the residence of the Kenites the city of literature. See on 1 Chronicles 2:55.
Judges 3:15. Ehud a man left-handed. The Vulgate, as the LXX, reads “both handed;” yet the reading of the English is evidently correct, because the seven hundred Benjamites were all left-handed.
Judges 3:18. To offer the present. There is no approach to a prince or a great man in the east to the present day without a suitable present. Princes do this to each other, as a mark of honour. 1 Kings 10.
Judges 3:20. I have a message from God unto thee. Josephus says here, that God had spoken to Ehud in a dream: an awful message! The oppression of Moab justified the deed, and his commission was divine.
Judges 3:31. Shamgar slew six hundred men with an oxgoad. The Vulgate reads coulter of a plough, It is usually about the length of the short swords used by the Romans. This broad and heavy sword wielded by so powerful an arm, would mow down all opposers. The Philistines had now taken all armour from the Jews, as also in the days of Samuel. Shamgar therefore had no other armour. The highroads were shut up, and the oppression and poverty of the Hebrews were great beyond conception. Their theocracy, having the Lord for a king, would have been glorious, had they sought him instead of forsaking him.
REFLECTIONS.
Many and great were the calamities of the Israelites through a long succession of years, and at all times those calamities originated in the same cause; a want of fidelity to God. The heathen in some of the exterior borders of their land they could not expel, nor was it intended. Moses had said, the Lord thy God will drive them out by little and little. By avoiding intercourse with them they were safe: their greatest calamities arose from a number of whole cities of the heathen spared in the heart of the tribes. This was done through cowardice at first; and a sort of independence prevailing in every tribe, and in every city, it became difficult to assemble an army, except in a popular cause. Hence the heads of the tribes, where the heathen kept possession of a city, were content to receive a yearly tribute; and so a covenant was confirmed by payment. This was a breach of the express prohibition of God, which led to trade, to friendship, to feasts, and what is worse, to promiscuous marriages. Thus numbers in Israel were gradually drawn away to the worship of idols, and the wrath of heaven was enkindled against the whole nation. The christian church is also placed in equal danger from the maxims, the feasts, and intercourse with the world; but especially by marrying with carnal people. Unhappy Israel, so soon to forget the glory and covenant of their fathers' God. They provoked the Holy One to anger, and forfeited divine protection.
Well: though Israel, infatuated by passion, did not see it their interest to abide under the wings of his protection, they soon found it was awful to incur his displeasure. From this period we see on a broad scale, that when even the Israelites departed from God, to the sins and worship of the heathen, he caused them to be oppressed by the heathen. This might not so fully appear at the time, as it was unfolded in subsequent years. Providence is a vast object, and those who stand too near, see but a part: at a distance the whole is contemplated with advantage. Learn then, oh my soul, to mortify the flesh, and to avoid all covenant with thy sins; otherwise the insulted Judge of heaven and earth will cause thy dissipation, thy covetousness, or thy low desires to form their habit, and to tyrannize over thy heart.
Scarcely was the yoke of Chushan broken in the north, than Eglon overran the country in the south, and held it with an iron arm for eighteen years. Have the wicked never done with the consequences of their sin? Do the waves in succession break against them, and are they never to expect repose? Hear on this subject the mission of a prophet. “There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God.”
The Lord is gracious nevertheless, where repentance follows apostasy and crimes. He inspired Ehud to form a daring design to emancipate his country. Believing in God, and accounting his own life as nothing in comparison of the salvation of Israel, he hastes to the court of Eglon, pays the tribute with submission, and then delivers his message from God by plunging his dagger into the enormous body of the gluttonous king! Now the oppressor was oppressed. Now he felt in his bowels the sad fruits of all his long meals, and beastly indulgence. If Adoni-bezek acknowledged the hand of God in the loss of his thumbs and toes, Eglon surely could not forget the strange habits of his intemperance.
Let christian ministers learn from Ehud to acquire courage in delivering their message from God to all wicked and ungodly men. And they have some advantage over the Judge of Israel; he was obliged to approach the tyrant with artifice; they stand on broad ground as the ambassadors of heaven, and fearing God they ought to know no other fear.