Monday, March 4, 2013

Reflections on Judges 3


    Judges 03 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. And the LORD had another reason for letting these enemies stay. The Israelites needed to learn how to fight in war, just as their ancestors had done. Each new generation would have to learn by fighting
  2. (SEE 3:1)
  3. the Philistines and their five rulers, as well as the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites that lived in the Lebanon Mountains from Mount Baal-Hermon to Hamath Pass.
  4. Moses had told the Israelites what the LORD had commanded them to do, and now the LORD was using these nations to find out if Israel would obey.
  5. But they refused. And it was because of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who lived all around them. Some of the Israelites married the people of these nations, and that's how they started worshiping foreign gods.
  6. (SEE 3:5)
  7. The Israelites sinned against the LORD by forgetting him and worshiping idols of Baal and Astarte.
  8. This made the LORD angry, so he let Israel be defeated by King Cushan Rishathaim of northern Syria, who ruled Israel eight years and made everyone pay taxes.
  9. The Israelites begged the LORD for help, and he chose Othniel to rescue them. Othniel was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz.
  10. The Spirit of the LORD took control of Othniel, and he led Israel in a war against Cushan Rishathaim. The LORD gave Othniel victory,
  11. and Israel was at peace until Othniel died about forty years later.
  12. Once more the Israelites started disobeying the LORD. So he let them be defeated by King Eglon of Moab,
  13. who had joined forces with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to attack Israel. Eglon and his army captured Jericho.
  14. Then he ruled Israel for eighteen years and forced the Israelites to pay heavy taxes.
  15. The Israelites begged the LORD for help, and the LORD chose Ehud from the Benjamin tribe to rescue them. They put Ehud in charge of taking the taxes to King Eglon, but before Ehud went, he made a double-edged dagger. Ehud was left-handed, so he strapped the dagger to his right thigh, where it would be hidden under his robes.
  16. (SEE 3:15)
  17. Ehud and some other Israelites took the taxes to Eglon, who was a very fat man. As soon as they gave the taxes to Eglon, Ehud said it was time to go home.
  18. (SEE 3:17)
  19. Ehud went with the other Israelites as far as the statues at Gilgal. Then he turned back and went upstairs to the cool room where Eglon had his throne. Ehud said, "Your Majesty, I need to talk with you in private." Eglon replied, "Don't say anything yet!" His officials left the room, and Eglon stood up as Ehud came closer. "Yes," Ehud said, "I have a message for you from God!"
  20. (SEE 3:19)
  21. Ehud pulled out the dagger with his left hand and shoved it so far into Eglon's stomach
  22. that even the handle was buried in his fat. Ehud left the dagger there. Then after closing and locking the doors to the room, he climbed through a window onto the porch
  23. (SEE 3:22)
  24. and left. When the king's officials came back and saw that the doors were locked, they said, "The king is probably inside relieving himself."
  25. They stood there waiting until they felt foolish, but Eglon never opened the doors. Finally, they unlocked the doors and found King Eglon lying dead on the floor.
  26. But by that time, Ehud had already escaped past the statues. Ehud went to the town of Seirah
  27. in the hill country of Ephraim and started blowing a signal on a trumpet. The Israelites came together, and he shouted, "Follow me! The LORD will help us defeat the Moabites." The Israelites followed Ehud down to the Jordan valley, and they captured the places where people cross the river on the way to Moab. They would not let anyone go across,
  28. (SEE 3:27)
  29. and before the fighting was over, they killed about ten thousand Moabite warriors--not one escaped alive.
  30. Moab was so badly defeated that it was a long time before they were strong enough to attack Israel again. And Israel was at peace for eighty years.
  31. Shamgar the son of Anath was the next to rescue Israel. In one battle, he used a sharp wooden pole to kill six hundred Philistines.

    Verse one of this chapter states that the Lord left some nations in Canaan to test the Israelites. Does this mean that although Israel attempted to remove them the Lord did not give them victory over them? Was it some of the nations Israel was disobedient in not attempting to remove? And if this was the case, was God using Israel's disobedience as a further testing? The test was whether or not Israel would go ahead and remove these people or at least remain separate from them, or if they would be influenced by them and drawn away from their God. As God predicted, by not obediently removing them and thus removing their influence, Israel was drawn into their pagan lifestyle.

    There was another element to this test by God, however, and that was to provide an opportunity to teach a new generation of Israelites "how to fight in battle." Without such training they would be defenseless against marauders. But learning how to fight in battle was, for Israel, less about learning military strategy and more about learning reliance upon God in battle.

    Israel predictably caved to the influence of the other nations in their midst. It wasn't a sudden thing, but happened step by step. First the Israelites settled among the other nations. Then they began to intermarry with them, taking their daughters as wives and giving their daughters as wives. Finally, they began to worship their gods. It was the proverbial "frog in the kettle." A frog will immediately jump out if thrown into a kettle of boiling water. But if thrown in while it is cool and then the water is gradually heated, the frog will not notice when the water comes to a boil until it is too late. The Israelites would likely have abhorred the thought of worshipping other gods. But once they lived among the other people and gradually began to take on their worldview, leading to intermarriage with them, worshipping their gods didn't seem so bad.

    But becoming like these other nations to the point of worshipping their gods was the Israelite's undoing. "The LORD's anger burned against Israel, and He sold them to Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram of the Two Rivers, and the Israelites served him eight years." (3:8) Though Israel had intermingled with and become a part of these other nations, it was only the Israelites who became slaves of Aram.

    Thus the first cycle had begun, a cycle that would repeat itself over and over during this period of the judges. The final stage of the cycle was for God to send Israel a judge who would deliver them. This He did in the person of Othniel, brother of Caleb.  "The Spirit of the LORD" came upon Othniel and he led Israel into battle and the Lord  "handed over Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram to him." (3:10)

    This cycle repeated itself a second time and God raised up Ehud as judge to deliver Israel. For the third cycle God used Shamgar for deliverance. Though we are not told about the character of these men, we can assume they were men who remained loyal to God while their fellow Israelites were worshipping the gods of the Canaanites. They were men who were obedient to God and within whom God's Spirit could come without finding a competing spirit.

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