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Judges 3-5    Listen Podcast

 

This is a test...and Israel fails (Judges 3:1-6)

1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan
2 (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it),
3 namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
4 And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
5 ¶ Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

"You want us to serve other Gods? We're in!" Israel says. Their ancestors didn't drive the inhabitants of Canaan out as they were commanded. Now God leaves the Canaanites among the Israelites "to prove" (i.e. test) them and to teach them to take a stand. But what did they do instead? Love not war! They intermarried with them and served their heathen gods. These Hebrews just seemed to have a bent for compromise. Pleasing their neighbors just seemed more important to them than pleasing God, just like many Christians today.

Judge #1 - Othniel to the rescue (Judges 3:7-11)

7 ¶ So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.
8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot 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.
9 When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
11 So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Israel deviated from serving God. Instead, they did some Baalim (plural of Baal) worship along with some worship of the goddess Asherah. "Asherah" is a transliteration of the Hebrew word, but is translated "the groves" in the KJV. How trendy...his and her gods. As a result, God allowed them to fall into the bondage of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, for eight years. That's the region in the area modern-day Turkey/Northern Syria - where Isaac and Jacob went to get their wives. When Israel repented and cried out, God sent the first judge, Othniel, to bail them out. You remember Othniel - Caleb's nephew who also became his son-in-law when Caleb awarded him his daughter, Achsah, as his wife (Joshua 15:17, see notes); he won her in a contest when Caleb declared that the one who could conquer Kirjath Sepher in Canaan could marry her. Caleb would have been very proud. Othniel gave them 40 years of peace after he rescued them.

Judge #2 - Ehud slays the really, really fat king Eglon (Judges 3:12-30)

12 ¶ And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
13 Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms.
14 So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
15 ¶ But when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16 Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17 So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)
18 And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.
19 But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” ¶ He said, “Keep silence!” And all who attended him went out from him.
20 ¶ So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat.
21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
22 Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out.
23 Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24 ¶ When he had gone out, Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.”
25 So they waited till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor.
26 ¶ But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah.
27 And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them.
28 Then he said to them, “Follow me, for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.
29 And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

Israel has fallen under the dominion of the Moabites at the hand of King Eglon. Notice the interesting phrase in verse 12, "...the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel." God himself used the Moabites to chastise Israel for their sin.

Here's the big story: Eglon was obese! So...how fat was Eglon, the Moabite king? He was so fat that an 18-inch dagger went into him, blade, handle and all - the knife disappeared! Ehud told him he had a secret message for him, and so Eglon's servants left the room. And what about Judge Ehud? He must have been a big man to carry an 18-inch dagger hidden on his thigh. Some secret message he was carrying to the king, huh! He escaped though, and it was some time later before King Eglon's servants went in to check on him. With the doors to the upper chamber locked and the smell emanating from the room after having the contents of his intestines exposed (verse 22) with the dagger, they thought he was "attending to his needs." The KJV translates the Hebrew accurately with the phrase "covering his feet" (verse 24). That's a Hebrew phrase which means taking a #2 bathroom break, a time when everybody wants to be left alone. While the servants are gladly giving King Eglon his space for his special time, Ehud is escaping. You must admit that this is one of the more amusing stories in the Old Testament. Immediately following this incident the Israelites were emboldened under Ehud to go after the Moabites; they killed 10,000 Moabites and experienced 80 years of peace and freedom as a result.

Incidentally, you will notice in verse 15 that we are told Ehud was a southpaw, a left-handed man. Lesson: Never extend the right hand of fellowship to a left-handed man with a knife in his left hand.

Judge #3 - Shamgar kills 600 men with an ox goad...and gets one verse! (Judges 3:31)

31 ¶ After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.

Oh, those Philistines and their gun-control laws! According to I Samuel 13:19-22 (see notes), the Philistines banished the weapons of their conquered people and controlled the blacksmith trade. That's gun control before there were guns. All the Israelites were permitted to own were farm implements. But Shamgar had an ox goad (a tool used to prod oxen and clean a plow) with which he killed 600 Philistines and thus delivered Israel from captivity. HOW CREATIVE!

Judge #4 - Deborah - never send a man to do a woman's job! (Judges 4)

1 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.
2 So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim.
3 And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4 ¶ Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun;
7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
8 ¶ And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
9 ¶ So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command, and Deborah went up with him.
11 ¶ Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
12 ¶ And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 ¶ Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
15 And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot.
16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17 ¶ However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.
19 ¶ Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, “Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’ ”
21 ¶ Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23 ¶ So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Ehud died and Israel was at that Idolatry thing again. This time King Jabin of Canaan conquered them with his 900 iron chariots and ruled over them for 20 years. The Israelites call upon Deborah (a prophetess and judge among the Israelites) to help them. She calls for Barak and devises a plan. He insists that she go with him to command the Israeli army of 10,000 men. She says all right, but warns that a woman will end up getting the glory instead of Barak. Actually, her exact words in verse 9 are, "for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." That prophetic word actually is fulfilled when Jael gets involved at the end of this story.

Certainly Barak must have thought that the "woman" who will get the credit must have been a reference to Deborah alone. He's good with that; what a man! He enlists help from the Tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Those 10,000 Hebrew men chase the 900 chariots; Sisera, the captain of King Jabin’s army, flees the scene. DON'T STOP HERE - IT GETS BETTER! Sisera ends up finding refuge in the home of the wife of an ally. Her name was Jael; she fed him and gave him milk to drink. He asks that she guard the tent door while he sleeps and turn away anyone looking for him. She agrees to do so. While sleeping, she takes a hammer and drives a tent peg through his temple into the ground - OOOOOOUCH! Subsequently, King Jabin is destroyed also. How about that! TWO WOMEN deliver Israel from Canaanite bondage. Deborah's prophecy is fulfilled regarding the role of a woman in the death of Sisera (verse 9).

Incidentally, Sisera should have done a background check on Jael before entrusting his safety to her. We discover from verse 11 that Jael was married into a Kenite family just like Moses. Therefore, loyalty to Israel's enemy was simply out of the question - gotta stick up for family!

Deborah - she could fight, but her song writing? (Judges 5)

1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:
2 “When leaders lead in Israel,
When the people willingly offer themselves,
Bless the LORD!
3 “Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes!
I, even I, will sing to the LORD;
I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
4 “LORD, when You went out from Seir,
When You marched from the field of Edom,
The earth trembled and the heavens poured,
The clouds also poured water;
5 The mountains gushed before the LORD,
This Sinai, before the LORD God of Israel.
6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath,
In the days of Jael,
The highways were deserted,
And the travelers walked along the byways.
7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel,
Until I, Deborah, arose,
Arose a mother in Israel.
8 They chose new gods;
Then there was war in the gates;
Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.
9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel
Who offered themselves willingly with the people.
Bless the LORD!
10 “Speak, you who ride on white donkeys,
Who sit in judges’ attire,
And who walk along the road.
11 Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places,
There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD,
The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel;
Then the people of the LORD shall go down to the gates.
12 “Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away,
O son of Abinoam!
13 “Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles;
The LORD came down for me against the mighty.
14 From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek.
After you, Benjamin, with your peoples,
From Machir rulers came down,
And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff.
15 And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
As Issachar, so was Barak
Sent into the valley under his command;
Among the divisions of Reuben
There were great resolves of heart.
16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds,
To hear the pipings for the flocks?
The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart.
17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan,
And why did Dan remain on ships?
Asher continued at the seashore,
And stayed by his inlets.
18 Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 “The kings came and fought,
Then the kings of Canaan fought
In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
They took no spoils of silver.
20 They fought from the heavens;
The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon.
O my soul, march on in strength!
22 Then the horses’ hooves pounded,
The galloping, galloping of his steeds.
23 “Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD,
‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly,
Because they did not come to the help of the LORD,
To the help of the LORD against the mighty.’
24 “Most blessed among women is Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite;
Blessed is she among women in tents.
25 He asked for water, she gave milk;
She brought out cream in a lordly bowl.
26 She stretched her hand to the tent peg,
Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer;
She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head,
She split and struck through his temple.
27 At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still;
At her feet he sank, he fell;
Where he sank, there he fell dead.
28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window,
And cried out through the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’
29 Her wisest ladies answered her,
Yes, she answered herself,
30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil:
To every man a girl or two;
For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments,
Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed,
Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’
31 “Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But let those who love Him be like the sun
When it comes out in full strength.” So the land had rest for forty years.

Deborah writes a song, one very lengthy long song; it's a story song, and it recounts the whole ordeal of chapter 4 with a little speculation at the end with regard to Sisera's mom waiting for him to return back home. Remember the song Moses wrote back in Deuteronomy 31 (see notes)? This one tops it. And as for Barak's willingness to allow Deborah to get the glory for this great victory, her folk ballad pretty much immortalizes her, and...who remembers Barak?

We do get a little bit of additional detail in this song about the battle itself. We see from verses 15-17 that Reuben, Gilead, Dan, and Asher refused to join in the battle against Sisera. We also see beginning in verse 20 that Deborah had a little bit of supernatural help from God; as the rains fell, the river Kishon overflowed its banks; the chariots and riders were swept away.

Oh...and the other woman, Jael, gets honorable mention in this song...along with her people the Kenites - goes from verse 24 through the end of the chapter. So, when Deborah told Barak that if she assisted in the battle, she would end up getting the credit...she made certain of that prediction with this song.