Judges 3
-This chapter begins with just a few more verses explaining
how Israel’s idolatry led to their posture of servitude to the foreign nations
God had promised they could have otherwise dispossessed. The nations that the
LORD left to test them in their devotion to Himself and vigilance for war were:
the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites
who lived in Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. This
Israeli generation disobediently took foreign daughters for wives and actually
gave their own daughters to the pagans’ sons, plus they served their gods. “The
sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD
their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.” (Judges 3:1-7). Now that the
groundwork had been laid for why God did what He did in their midst in the
text, we see His anger burn toward them by selling them back into slavery for
eight years by the hands of the Mesopotamians, namely King Cushan-rishathaim.
But, when the children of Abraham cried out to the LORD, God raised up for them
a “deliverer,” Othniel, the brother of righteous Caleb and son of Kenaz of the
tribe of Judah. “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel.”
He took the Hebrews out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim into their
hand. The land had rest after that episode for 40 years, and then Othniel
passed away (Judges 3:8-11).
-The second period of the judges begins again with Israel
returning to their evil practices in departure from their One-true Living God.
So the LORD strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, and he came against Israel
gathering together the sons of Ammon and Amalek. From the eastern side of the
Jordan, these invaders came and defeated Israel. They ended up possessing the
city of the palm trees (probably around the remains of Jericho) of the Jordan
Valley. Israel served Eglon for 18 years providing tribute under bondage inside
their Promised Land. But when they cried out to the LORD, finally, the LORD
again raised up a leader to once again “deliver.” This time it was Ehud, the
son of Gera who was a Benjamite and left-handed at that. An unusual
characteristic gave Ehud the opportunity to assassinate the foreign oppressor. He
made himself a sword with two cutting edges a cubit in length (about 18
inches). He bound this weapon to his right thigh and went to pay Eglon his
demanded tribute in Gilgal, near the Jordan River. He presented the tribute and
then asked the people who’d helped him bring it to leave. “But he himself
turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal,” and said, “I have a secret message
for you, O king.” He asked that he keep silent and was able to get all who
attended the king to depart for this secret word. Ehud came to King Eglon, who
was described as “a very fat man,” while he was on his cool roof chamber
(because this area can be very warm) sitting alone. Ehud approached him and
said, “I have a message from God for you.” As Eglon arose from his seat Ehud
stretched out his dominant left hand taking his sword from his right thigh (an
unexpected maneuver) and thrust it into his enemy’s blubbery belly. The
piercing went so deep, and Eglon was so fat, that the handle of the sword went
into him after the blade and the fat closed over the blade. So the sword was
not withdrawn and refuse came out of the slain king. Ehud calmly went out into
the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him locked up.
After some time after Ehud had departed, the king’s servants came and looked
and perceived that the doors were locked. They assumed everything was alright
and that the king was just relieving himself in privacy of the cool room. They
waited until they became anxious, and eventually determined to get the keys and
check on him. When they did this, they discovered their king fallen dead on the
floor. The delay had allowed Ehud to escape. He passed by the idols and went to
Seirah. There in the hill country of Ephraim he blew the trumpet of war and
summoned the sons of Israel to action. Leading the way, Ehud took these
warriors back down into the valley. They pursued the Moabites and destroyed every
one of them, about 10,000 robust and valiant men, before they could escape back
across the Jordan. The LORD had given their enemies into their hands once
again. “So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was
undisturbed for eighty years (Judges 3:12-30).”
-After Ehud came a third judge, Shamgar the son of Anath. He
struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad as another savior of Israel (Judges
3:31). Thus in chapter 3 we get details on 25% of the judges listed in the
book.
-*Application* This narrative chapter is definitely themed
around the concept of crying out to the LORD when we have fallen short of His
glory and made a mess of things. God will many times let us suffer when we know
we are going in the wrong direction. We too face tests and trials that the LORD
allows in an effort to draw us back to Him when distance has been created by
our unfaithfulness. This unfortunately is just the nature of the human. We need
His discipline, and His corrective measures are a demonstration that, in fact,
He does care (Hebrews 12:5-13). Let’s all thank Him for His ultimate Deliverer,
Jesus Christ, who gives us back the victory every time we cry to Him in repentant
distress and fight the good fight in His strength going forward. Let’s also
praise Him for the periods of peace that follow by His grace.
Verses to Memorize:
Judges 3:9, 15
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