Judges 3

Nations Left to Test Israel

¹These are the nations that Yahweh left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, ²if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: ³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

⁴These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of Yahweh, which He had given their fathers through Moses. ⁵Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

• JUDG 3:6[DEMONIC]Israel serves the Baals and the Asherahs

Othniel

⁷So the Israelites did evil in the sight of Yahweh; they forgot Yahweh their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸Then the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

• JUDG 3:7[FULFILLS]When each judge died, Israel would turn back to idols and the cycle would start again ← JUDG 2:18-19MEDIUM

⁹But when the Israelites cried out to Yahweh, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. ¹⁰The Spirit of Yahweh came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And Yahweh delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.

¹¹So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of Yahweh. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of Yahweh. ¹³After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms.

• JUDG 3:12[FULFILLS]When each judge died, Israel would turn back to idols and the cycle would start again ← JUDG 2:18-19MEDIUM

¹⁴The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵And again they cried out to Yahweh, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

• JUDG 3:15[NOTE]The Hebrew says Ehud was bound in his right hand. Benjamin means son of the right hand, yet the tribe was famous for left handers, 20:16. Guards would expect a sword on the left thigh, where right handed men wore it.

¹⁶Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a foot and a half long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak ¹⁷and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.

¹⁸After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. ¹⁹But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

“Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

• JUDG 3:19[DEMONIC]Ehud turns back at the carved idols near Gilgal

²⁰Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. ²²Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. ²³Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.

²⁴After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. ²⁵So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

• JUDG 3:26[DEMONIC]Ehud escapes past the idols

²⁷On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader. ²⁸“Follow me,” he told them, “for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.”

So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over. ²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.

³⁰So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.

• JUDG 3:31[NOTE]An oxgoad was a long stick with a metal point for driving oxen. Anath was the name of a Canaanite war goddess. Son of Anath may point to her, to his family, or to his hometown, maybe Beth Anath, 1:33.