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Judges 3:1-261Now 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; 2Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 3Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 4And 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. 5And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: 6And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 8Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. 9And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. 11And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 12And 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. 13And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 14So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 15But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. 16But 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. 17And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. 18And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. 19But he himself turned again from the quarries 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. 20And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 21And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: 22And 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 dirt came out. 23Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them. 24When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 25And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 26And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. (Judges 3:1‑26)
The Lord did not drive out Israel’s enemies any more, as He had done at first, but left certain ones to prove His people whether they would walk in His ways. Instead of feeling the hand of God in this, as they ought to have done, and being cast upon the Lord, they began to marry among these nations and worshiped their gods.
This brought down the government of God upon His people, and we now come to the record of their conflicts, and of the judges whom God used for their deliverance. As we trace it through, we can see the utter weakness of the flesh. Things became weaker and weaker, until at the end of the book we read, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:2525In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25). Such is man! Such are our hearts too, by nature. How little we respond to the unfailing grace of God. And yet if it had not been for this unfailing grace of God, Israel would have been cut off altogether. Nor has the history of the professing Church been any better, for if it had not been for those whom God graciously raised up, the dark ages would have continued to this day, and with ever-increasing spiritual darkness. Man’s so-called progress, morally, has been away from God and not to Him, as we well know.
The first judge of whom we read is Othniel. The Lord delivered His people into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia because of their idolatry, and they served him for eight years. At last his bondage became so unbearable that they cried unto the Lord, who heard them and raised up Othniel to be their deliverer. He gathered together an army and went out to battle against the king of Mespotamia and defeated him. Thus the Lord used him to save His people from their enemies. After this they had rest and liberty for forty years until the death of Othniel. But they did not appreciate what the Lord had done for them, and as soon as Othniel died they departed from the Lord again, forgetting all His goodness to them.
Then the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel and he gathered together the Ammonites and the Amalekites to battle. The Lord did not come to the help of His people who had departed from Him, and on this occasion He allowed Israel to be utterly defeated before their enemies, and so they had to serve king Eglon for eighteen years. Oh, what unhappy years they were!
At last, when they turned to the Lord again, He raised up another deliverer. He was not, however, of the same character as Othniel, for Ehud was a left-handed man (the right hand is the hand of strength in Scripture), and he did not have the boldness against the enemy as Othniel had. The children of Israel did not wish to provoke war against King Eglon, but instead they planned to send him a present to keep peace at any price. But this was not God’s peace, as Ehud knew, and so he made a dagger instead. He had been chosen to bring this present to King Eglon and so when he had given it to him he asked that everyone be sent away, for he had a secret errand from the Lord. He then killed King Eglon with his dagger and fled for his life. Although we, as Christians, do not carry real swords or daggers, we ought to carry “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:1717And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17)), and we ought to use it too.
ML 08/16/1953