Judges 3 · WEB
Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar
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Now these are the nations which Yahweh left to test Israel by them, that is, as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
2only that the generations of the children of Israel might know war, to teach them, as many as had not known it before:
3five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4These were to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to Yahweh's commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
5The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
8Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.
9When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior for the children of Israel who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10The Spirit of Yahweh came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.
11The land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
13He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.
14The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
15But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
16Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.
17He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab; now Eglon was a very fat man.
18When he had finished offering the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.
19But he himself turned back from the stone images that were near Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." The king said, "Keep silence!" Then all who stood by him went out from him.
20Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." He arose out of his seat.
21Ehud put out his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body;
22and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed over the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.
23Then Ehud went out into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.
24Now when he had gone out, his servants came; and they saw that, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, "Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room."
25They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he didn't open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them; and behold, their lord had fallen down dead on the floor.
26Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the stone images, and escaped to Seirah.
27When he had come, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them.
28He said to them, "Follow me; for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." They went down after him, and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and didn't allow any man to cross.
29They struck Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every strong man and every man of valor; and no man escaped.
30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.
31After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred Philistines with an ox goad; and he also saved Israel.
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Summary
Chapter 3 establishes the nations left to test Israel, then narrates the first three judges. Othniel, the ideal judge, delivers Israel from Mesopotamian oppression after eight years, and the land has rest for forty years. After relapse, left-handed Ehud assassinates the Moabite king Eglon in a memorably detailed and even darkly comic scene, then leads Israel to victory, bringing eighty years of peace. Shamgar is briefly noted for killing six hundred Philistines with an ox goad.
Themes
- God's use of unlikely and unconventional deliverers
- The Spirit of Yahweh as the source of the judges' power
- The repetitive cycle of sin, oppression, and deliverance
- Divine sovereignty working through human weakness and ingenuity
- Israel's dangerous intermarriage and religious compromise with Canaanites
Key verses
Context & background
The events of Judges take place throughout Canaan — modern Israel, West Bank, and parts of Jordan and Lebanon. Cushan Rishathaim's kingdom of Mesopotamia (Aram Naharaim) was in modern Syria/Iraq. Moab was east of the Jordan River and Dead Sea, in modern Jordan. The "city of palm trees" (v. 13) likely refers to Jericho in the Jordan Valley. Ehud's escape route through Seirah and the hill country of Ephraim places the action in the central highlands of modern Israel/West Bank. Shamgar's conflict with the Philistines was on the coastal plain of modern southwestern Israel.
Cross-references
- 1 Sam 12:9-11 — Samuel recounts Ehud and the oppression cycles in his farewell speech
- 2 Cor 12:9 — God's strength shown through human weakness, as in Ehud's left-handedness
- Deut 7:3-4 — The prohibition against intermarriage with Canaanites, which Israel violated (v. 6)
- Josh 15:17 — Othniel is first introduced as Caleb's nephew who captured Debir
- Rom 8:14 — Being led by the Spirit of God, as Othniel was empowered by the Spirit