FRAMEWORKS:
Judges 3: The First Three Judges
v.1-6
A Testimony of Failure
v.7-11
Othniel – First Judge
v.12-14
Eglon used to discipline Israel
v.15-30
Ehud kills Eglon
v.31
Minor Judge - Shamgar
v.1-6
A Testimony of Failure
v.1
These
are the nations the Lord
left to test
all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in
Canaan
v.2
(he
did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the
Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):
v.3
the
five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians,
and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal
Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
v.4
They
were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would
obey the Lord
's commands,
which he had given their ancestors through Moses.
v.5
The
Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites.
v.6
They
took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters
to their sons, and served their gods.
[Notes:
Because of what we saw in the previous summary chapter [laying
out the cycle that kept recurring] the various nearby nations
who Israel had not vanquished were left by the Lord to challenge
and test Israel to see if they would turn to Him for help. As
we noted in the previous chapter, that took between a few months
to a number of decades to happen! In the meantime Israel are being
flagrantly disobedient to all of Moses teaching and are mixing
with the remaining inhabitants and serving their gods.]
v.7-11
Othniel – First Judge
v.7
The
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord
; they forgot
the Lord
their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
v.8
The
anger of the Lord
burned
against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim
king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites
were subject for eight years.
v.9
But
when they cried out to the Lord
, he
raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz,
Caleb's younger brother, who saved them.
v.10
The
Spirit of the Lord
came on him ,
so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The Lord
gave Cushan-Rishathaim
king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who
overpowered him.
v.11
So
the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz
died.
[Notes:
Chapter 2 laid out the principles of what happened. Now we see
it in detail and the first judge following the apostasy, oppression,
crying out cycle was Othniel. Note in verse 10 words that will
be repeated again and again throughout Judges – ‘the Spirit of
the Lord came on him' and, quite obviously, stirred him up and
gave him courage to come against, in this case, the king of Aram
and defeat him. Thus peace reigned in his lifetime, for forty
years.]
v.12-14
Eglon used to discipline Israel
v.12
Again
the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord
, and because
they did this evil the Lord
gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel .
v.13
Getting
the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked
Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. [i.e. Jericho]
v.14
The
Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
[Notes:
As the cycle starts again, instead of Midian as previously, the
Lord stirred up Moab's king, Eglon [remember Moab was situated
to the east of the Dead Sea, south of the tribal area of Reuben.
Jericho is west of the Jordan and north of the Dead sea. Eglon
oppresses them for eighteen years.]
v.15-30
Ehud kills Eglon
v.15
Again
the Israelites cried out to the Lord
, and he gave
them a deliverer— Ehud, a left-handed man, the
son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute
to Eglon king of Moab.
v.16
Now
Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he
strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.
v.17
He
presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat
man.
v.18
After
Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who
had carried it.
v.19
But
on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back
to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for
you.”
The
king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.
v.20
Ehud
then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room
of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As
the king rose from his seat,
v.21
Ehud
reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh
and plunged it into the king's belly.
v.22
Even
the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged.
Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
v.23 Then
Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room
behind him and locked them.
v.24
After
he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper
room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner
room of the palace.”
v.25
They
waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open
the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There
they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
v.26
While
they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and
escaped to Seirah.
v.27
When
he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim,
[in the centre of the country]
and the Israelites went down
with him from the hills, with him leading them.
v.28
“Follow
me,” he ordered, “for the Lord
has given
Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down
and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab;
they allowed no one to cross over.
v.29
At
that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous
and strong; not one escaped.
v.30
That
day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for
eighty years.
[Notes:
The Lord's next deliverer is a man named Ehud from the tribe of
Benjamin whose tribal area is west of Jericho. He is sent as an
emissary to Moab and manages to assassinate Eglon and then escape.
Subsequently he calls out Israel and a number follow him down
the crossing of the Jordan and on to Moab where they controlled
the land, who they defeated, bringing peace for the next eighty
years!]
v.31
Minor Judge - Shamgar
v.31
After
Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines
with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.
[Notes:
After Ehud dies, presumably in a good old age, he is followed by
another warrior judge of whom hardly anything is said beyond his
famously killing Philistines and thus saving Israel from their interference.]