Category Archives: Judges

So, here’s the secret – the end of Judges chapter 8 here shows us how Israel did wrong to God. And it’s then in chapter 9 where we see the evil that Israel does to Gideon’s household.

Judges 9:1-2

Now, I’ll say one last thing about this section that we just read. Gideon – the judge – is dead. And now the people again do evil in the sight of the Lord. This pattern sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What would we expect next? Judge dies. People rebel against God. Then God does what? God would send an oppressor. And he does that in this story, too! But what were oppressors like up to this point? They were foreigners. They were external to Israel and brought in by the Lord. But now, the oppressor is internal. The oppressor is an Israelite. The oppressor is… Gideon’s son. Let’s read about him in chapter 9 verses 1 and 2.

9:1 ¶ And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem unto his mother’s brethren, and communed with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, ² Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.

So, Abimelech goes to Shechem. Shechem is a city in Manasseh – fairly close to Ophrah, the city of Gideon. Abimelech goes to Shechem and starts campaigning to be a king. The people had wanted to make his father, Gideon, a king. Instead Gideon opted for something like the role of a priest. But his son now is actively pursuing being a king.

He talks to his mother’s kinfolk. Remember, Abimelech’s mother is from Shechem. She was the concubine of Gideon.

And Abimelech puts out this warning to the men of Shechem. First, if they don’t make him king then they’ll be ruled by 70 men. That’s a stretch, by the way. Who’s to say that Gideon’s 70 sons would want to be king and rule over Israel? Well, that’s what Abimelech insists will happen. And in that case, they would do well to have just one man to rule over them rather than 70. And by the way – Abimelech points out – I am your relative. So, go tell the men of Shechem this message, Abimelech insists.

Judges 9:3

And so they do in verse 3 —

³ And his mother’s brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our brother. ⁴ And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him.

So, you and I are still trying to figure Abimelech out. He wants to be king. Maybe that’s OK. And the people of Shechem start following him. Maybe that’s alright. Then the men of Shechem give him money. OK. But the money is from the temple of this Baal-Berith – Israel’s new god. Not OK. And with that money, Abimelech hires vicious scoundrels to follow him. Again, not good.

Judges 9:5

And the picture we have of Abimelech doesn’t get any better from here on out. Read verse 5.

⁵ And he went unto his father’s house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone: notwithstanding yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.

So, Abimelech kills 70 of his brothers on a single stone. Imagine the blood. Imagine the anguish these men – some young men no doubt – experienced. Imagine the screams and cries. And for what? What had these men done? Not a thing. Abimelech is an unfeeling self-seeking man. He’ll stop at nothing to get his way. Even if it means murdering scores of his own brothers to get it. He has truly been Canaanized.

Judges 9:6

You might think that this kind of unbridled brutality and cruelty might make the men of Shechem rethink their decision to make Abimelech their king. But it doesn’t. They go ahead with the proceedings in verse 6 —

⁶ And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem.

So, it looks like evil has won. Abimelech is king. The 70 sons of Gideon are dead. Might made right and that’s all there is to it… Or is it? Remember Jotham? He’s the youngest of Gideon’s sons. He escaped. And he’s got a message for the men of Shechem.

Judges 9:7

Let’s read the start of it in verse 7.

⁷ ¶ And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.

Now, Mount Gerizim is to the south of Shechem. It’s ironically the place from which half the tribes of Israel issued the blessings for keeping the Law of Moses back in Joshua’s day. And isn’t it interesting that Jotham is now about to issue – not a blessing – but a curse. A curse for these men who are not keeping the Law of Moses.

Judges 9:8-15

But Jotham is going to introduce this curse with a fable in verses 8 through 15. He says…

⁸ The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. ⁹ But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹⁰ And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹¹ But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹² Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹³ And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

¹⁴ Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹⁵ And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

So, what is this fable saying? The trees – fictitiously, of course, this didn’t actually happen – but the trees go out looking for a king. Sounds like the men of Israel. So, they go to the olive tree, but he’s too busy producing fatness. The fig tree – a little smaller than the olive – can’t do it either. He’s busy making fruit. Then the trees kind of lower their sights. They go to the vine. He’s not actually a tree – but hey, the trees really want a king. But not even the vine will rule over them. He’s busy producing wine.

Let’s notice a pattern in these royal candidates so far. Olives, figs, grapes. These are the things produced by these three trees. But the next candidate doesn’t produce anything. He’s a bramble. Good enough only to be burned.

Judges 9:16-21

OK… so what does this mean? Listen to Jotham’s explanation in verses 16 through 21.

¹⁶ ¶ Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands; [and then Jotham has enough with pretending as if the men of Shechem acted out of sincerity and truth] ¹⁷ (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian: ¹⁸ And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant [catch that – Abimelech isn’t even the son of a wife. he’s the sons of a concubine – a woman who was a slave but could have sexual relations with her master], king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) [that’s the only reason – he’s your brother – your relative] ¹⁹ If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day [which we now know is not the case], then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: ²⁰ But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech [the bramble in the fable], and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. ²¹ And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.

And that’s Jotham’s curse on Abimelech and the men of Shechem and this place called Beth-Millo or the House of Millo – which I imagine was a fortress within or close by Shechem.

Judges 9:22-29

And now what we’re going to see for the rest of the chapter is this curse working itself out. We’ll also see more and more of Abimelech’s brutality and vengeful spirit. So, we’ll read with comments here and there. There’s a lot of action and details. It can be confusing. So hold on and we’ll figure this out. Let’s start reading verse 22.

²² ¶ When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, ²³ Then [after those three years] God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech: [Here’s why God made this happen] ²⁴ That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren. [So, there’s no question as to how God felt about Abimelech’s actions. He hated it.] ²⁵ And the men of Shechem set liers in wait for him [Abimelech] in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them: and it was told Abimelech.

OK, next we see a new guy come to town right as Shechem has pretty much cut ties with Abimelech.

²⁶ ¶ And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brethren, and went over to Shechem: and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him. [Now, we don’t know this guy, but it seems like he’s a descendant of Hamor, the father of Shechem. We’ll see that later on.] ²⁷ And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸ And Gaal the son of Ebed [Who is now probably filled with wine…] said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him? ²⁹ And would to God this people were under my hand! then would I remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army, and come out.

Let me just explain a little. As I mentioned I believe Gaal is a descendant of Hamor, Shechem’s father. Remember? Shechem is the one who loved Jacob’s daughter. But to confuse matters, there’s a son of Manasseh whose name was Shechem. And he settled in Shechem. So apparently Abimelech descends from this Israelite Shechem – not the son of Hamor. So, Gaal is saying – let’s serve the real Shechem, not these Jewish occupiers.

Judges 9:30-57

³⁰ ¶ And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. [That’s because Gaal in his apparent drunkenness belittled Zebul. And Zebul was on Abimelech’s side.] ³¹ And he [Zebul] sent messengers unto Abimelech privily, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brethren be come to Shechem; and, behold, they fortify the city against thee. ³² Now therefore up by night, thou and the people that is with thee, and lie in wait in the field: ³³ And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, when he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion.

³⁴ ¶ And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵ And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city: and Abimelech rose up, and the people that were with him, from lying in wait. ³⁶ And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. [He acts like nothing’s wrong.] ³⁷ And Gaal spake again and said, See there come people down by the middle of the land, and another company come along by the plain of Meonenim. [And Zebul can’t hold his secret any longer.] ³⁸ Then said Zebul unto him, Where is now thy mouth, wherewith thou saidst, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? is not this the people that thou hast despised? go out, I pray now, and fight with them. ³⁹ And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and many were overthrown and wounded, even unto the entering of the gate. ⁴¹ And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah: and Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren, that they should not dwell in Shechem.

OK, Abimelech faced Gaal and chased him away. Gaal and his people are out of Shechem now. So you might think Abimelech might relent concerning fighting the city. But that’s not what we see next…

⁴² ¶ And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people [of Shechem] went out into the field; and they told Abimelech. ⁴³ And he took the people [His people, that is], and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and, behold, the people were come forth out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them. ⁴⁴ And Abimelech, and the company that was with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city [So as to cut off the men of Shechem from retreating into the city]: and the two other companies ran upon all the people that were in the fields, and slew them. ⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

[Now, perhaps while this was happening or just afterwards…] ⁴⁶ ¶ And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard that, they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith. [Remember? The god whom Israel had chosen.] ⁴⁷ And it was told Abimelech, that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder, and said unto the people that were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done. ⁴⁹ And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. [They burned alive. Men and women. Abimelech is a vicious man.]

And with Shechem destroyed you might think Abimelech’s vengeance would be satisfied. But it’s not. He stays on his rampage…

⁵⁰ ¶ Then went Abimelech to Thebez [which was a city less than 10 miles from Shechem], and encamped against Thebez, and took it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them, and gat them up to the top of the tower. ⁵² And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. [Hey – if it worked in Shechem it’ll work in Thebez, too!] ⁵³ And a certain woman [Just some nameless woman] cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull. [So, lying on the ground with a fractured cranium…] ⁵⁴ Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place. [No mourning. No concern. Was there even a burial? We don’t know.]

But here’s the point of the whole story that we just read…

⁵⁶ Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in slaying his seventy brethren: ⁵⁷ And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads: and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

And isn’t that what we just saw? Abimelech did wickedly in slaying his 70 brothers. One of those brothers escaped and issued a curse on Abimelech and the men of Shechem who strengthened him to commit these murders. And for most of this chapter we’ve seen this curse unfold. Fire – metaphorically speaking – has come out from Abimelech and consumed the men of Shechem and vice versa.

Now, what does this story teach us? Several things. I’ll mention a few.

1) Abimelech takes the bad elements that we saw in Gideon – like personal vengeance and brutality – and he raises it to the Nth degree. Fathers and Mothers here – may the Lord help us to walk in the Spirit and not produce the deeds of the flesh. You and I both know that our children will only magnify those sins.

2) God sees and knows everything. Isn’t it funny that Abimelech asks the young man to slay him so that no one knows that a woman actually killed him? Well, anyone who knows this story knows the facts. We weren’t fooled by Abimelech. We know what happened because God reported it. And he alone knows and sees all.

3) Things are getting worse and worse in Israel. Gideon definitely had his faults. But he did have some faith and God used him to deliver his people. Gideon’s son wasn’t even a judge and he didn’t deliver God’s people – he oppressed them. The people are still serving false gods. Things are getting worse, not better. And next time we’ll continue on this downward spiral with the story of Jephthah, the son of a prostitute who may have actually sacrificed his own daughter. We’ll see next time.

Open your Bibles to the 8^th chapter of the book of Judges.

We’re going to be talking about Abimelech today. And if I were to take a poll here today I imagine that most of us don’t know very much about this character – Abimelech – or his story.

When we study Bible stories you and I might struggle with finding the significance of a particular story. You generally understand what is being said. But you might not understand why.

This story today is a little different, though. Determining the significance is just as difficult as it is anywhere else in the Bible. But the story about Abimelech is even difficult to figure out what’s going on and who’s doing what and where. Forget about struggling with the significance – we just need to know what’s actually going. So, hopefully we’ll figure out what’s going on this morning as we study this story.

In order to get to the story of Abimelech though, we need to put it in context. At the beginning of the book of Judges, Joshua passes off the scene and so do the elders who outlived him. Then there arises a new generation that doesn’t know the Lord personally. And as a result they don’t conquer the land that God had given them. That’s chapter 1.

Well, why did they not conquer the land? Chapter 2 tells us – well, actually the Lord himself tells Israel – that he’s not delivering the Canaanites into their hands anymore. Why? Because they had forsaken him by marrying pagans and worshiping their new spouses’ false deities. And so from chapter 3 onward we’ve seen several judges – some major like Othniel, Ehud, Barak, and Gideon and some minor like Shamgar. These judges are charged with saving or delivering God’s people from their enemies.

Well, where do these enemies come from anyway? Why are they around? Remember – it’s actually the Lord himself who sends the enemies to his people. Israel sins. And so God chastens them by sending enemies to oppress them. Why? – Because he’s mean and unloving? No – just the opposite. God wants his people to turn back to him with all their heart. Israel won’t turn to God when times are good and it looks like their idols are serving them well. So God needs to shake them up so that they’d see that these gods of theirs can’t deliver them. Only the Lord can. And the Lord does deliver Israel through these saviors – these deliverers – these judges.

And these judges start off pretty good. We have Othniel who was related to Caleb the faithful man of Judah. Then we had Ehud. And as we read through the stories of these two judges it was hard to find fault with them.

But then we got to the next judge – Deborah. Oh wait, no, I mean Barak. It was hard to tell which of them was the judge, wasn’t it? That’s because Barak didn’t seem real excited about being a judge. Deborah – on God’s behalf – called him to save God’s people. But Barak refused to go unless a lady went with him. That was kind of embarrassing for him.

And then our last two lessons have focused on this judge called Gideon. He’s not emboldened to judge Israel by the presence of a woman. He’s not even emboldened by God promises to be with him. Gideon wasn’t even encouraged by the fleece incident. He needed to overhear the dream of a pagan Midianite in order to go into battle.

So Gideon was a fearful man. Hebrews 11 tells us he had faith – and, my, how small was that faith. And yet it was faith – Gideon went into battle facing overwhelming opposition – 300 men to 135,000 Midianites. But the Lord delivered Israel through Gideon and his 300 men.

And you wish that was the whole story. But it isn’t. Gideon showed his tendency to deliver Israel only when it was in his interest – especially when personal vengeance was involved. So, he doubted and feared whenever God told him to do something. But when Gideon had the opportunity to avenge himself for wrongs done to his own person then he was bold as a lion. But even in his boldness he showed weakness and fear.

Judges 8:30-32

Nevertheless, Gideon did deliver Israel from the massive army of Midian. And the Israelites understandably wanted to make him their king. They said they wanted him, his son, and his son’s son to rule over them. But Gideon refused. Instead – astoundingly – he made an ephod which all Israel worshipped. And then he did something equally as bizarre. Let’s read about it in chapter 8 verses 30 through 32.

^KJV Judges 8:30 And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. ³¹ And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. ³² And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Well, having 70 sons is a little bizarre. So is having so many wives. But that’s not what I was thinking. What’s strangest to me is the name that Gideon gave to the son of his concubine. Gideon named that son Abimelech. Abi means “my father”. OK – so the name of Gideon’s boy is going to say something about the boy’s father – Gideon. And catch this – melech means “king”. “My father the king” or “my father is the king”. But I thought Gideon didn’t want to be a king. Why would he give his boy a name like that? Maybe Gideon thought that by having this ephod with all Israel coming to it he could sort of be like a king without actually having the troublesome responsibility of leading God’s people and bearing with their troubles.

Judges 8:33-35

Whatever the case, Gideon eventually dies. And when that happens, things go from not too bad to worse in verses 33 through 35.

³³ ¶ And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god. ³⁴ And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: ³⁵ Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.

So, Gideon dies and the people go right back to the Baals. They choose one of them – Baal-Berith – to be their god. And the Israelites are accused of two great evils in this passage.

First, they forgot God. It’s obvious that they didn’t forgot the name Yahweh. They didn’t forget the names of all the enemies that the Lord delivered them from in times past. They acted in such a way that – if you didn’t know better – would make you think that they truly didn’t know a thing about the God of Israel.

That’s a problem. But it’s not Israel’s only problem. They’re also accused of not showing kindness to Gideon. By the way – don’t let Gideon’s other name throw you — Jerubbaal. It’s the name his father gave him after Gideon pulled down Baal’s altar.

Alright, so Israel is accused of not showing kindness to Gideon. But what do you think about that? I mean the fact that Israel went a whoring after Baal-Berith doesn’t really indicate to me that they had done wrong to Gideon’s memory.

So, here’s the secret – the end of chapter 8 here shows us how Israel did wrong to God. And it’s then in chapter 9 where we see the evil that Israel does to Gideon’s household.

So God encouraged Gideon to keep going and doing his will. So in verse 1 of chapter 7 we see Gideon and his army camping near a spring. It’s called the well of Harod. It’s actually a place in the modern day where Israeli youth go to remember the military accomplishments of Gideon as they’re preparing to enter into the armed services there. And it’s elevated above the valley on the north where the Midianites are.

Judges 7:2-8

Now, God comes to Gideon again and tells Gideon – verse 2 – that “The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” So it’s clear that God wants everyone to know – Gideon and all Israel – that when Israel wins, it’s not because of the natural strength of any man or group of men. The Lord wants everyone to know that he brought about the victory against Midian. So God proceeds to whittle down the number of folks on Israel’s side. They start off with about 33,000 men. Then God says in verse 3 that Gideon should dismiss anyone who is afraid. And about 2/3 of the men gathered return. It’s a good sign that Gideon didn’t leave when that option was offered. So there are about 10,000 men left to fight. Is that a small enough number to fight the numberless hoards of Midianites? God didn’t think so. So, he develops a seemingly arbitrary standard to weed out more men. It’s all based on how a man drinks water at the spring of Harod. One group drank one way. The other group drank another way. And the smaller group – consisting of 300 men – was chosen. The other 9,700 men left. Can you imagine how they would have reacted? What if Gideon let them know why they were being let go? Sorry – you drink funny. Or you didn’t drink funny enough! What does that have to do with war? Nothing. That’s the point. This war wasn’t about human might. God was going to show his strength and his salvation through some really weak means.

Do you think God does this kind of thing today still? I’m no prophet. I have no direct communication from God on the matter. But do you suppose that God was caught off-guard by the small attendance this morning with folks working at camp and summer camp staff being gone? Are you discouraged? Please don’t be. God’s still in control. We can trust him to help us worship him and build each other up no matter how many we have.

Judges 7:9-11

Now, verse 9 starts telling us about some other event that happened the night of the choosing of the army. End of verse 9 – God says to Gideon “Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.” Oh boy. I can guess how Gideon is going to react. Will he bring out that old fleece again? Will he get another offering for the Lord to set on fire and prove himself again? What other test can he muster in order to verify that God is faithful? Well, it’s funny. The Lord anticipates this kind of thing from Gideon. So this time the Lord preemptively offers verification to poor fearful Gideon. Look at verse 10 – “But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host.”

Judges 7:12-14

So God condescends to Gideon. How does Gideon respond? I could imagine someone hearing that from the Lord and saying “Oh no, I’ll take you at your word. Let’s do this!” But Gideon goes right down to the camp of the Midianites to take God up on his offer. When Gideon and his servant come down to the camp of the enemy under the cover of night they see Midianites, Amalekites, and all sorts of groups from the east like a huge swarm of grasshoppers. They have numberless camels. And I’ll summarize what happens in verses 13 and 14. Gideon comes and just happens to hear a Midianite telling his fellow Midianite about a dream that he had. Here’s the dream. A loaf of bread rolled down the hill into a Midianite tent. The tent completely flips over and lays flat. Now, the other guy hears the dream and says basically “that means that Gideon is coming and will completely destroy us Midianites! And God’s on Gideon’s side.” And this “chance” happening is what it took for Gideon to stop fearing! No, God’s promises weren’t enough. He had to hear the interpretation of the dream of a pagan enemy of Israel in order to be encouraged to trust God’s promise.

Judges 7:15-18

But that’s just what it took and the Lord graciously allowed that to happen. So, Gideon returns to camp pumped up! Starting in verse 15 he starts dividing the company of 300 men into 3 units. Each man gets a trumpet, a pitcher, and a torch. He instructs them to do as he does.

Judges 7:19

In verse 19 we have the men surrounding the camp of Midian in the middle of the night. They smash the pitchers, hold the torches, and blow the trumpets.

Now, come on. 300 men blowing trumpets is going to do anything against the host of Midian? Well, with God all things are possible. The Midianites awake to blowing trumpets, torches and light dancing off the broken shards of the pitchers. And they run. And then the Lord steps in and sets the Midianites against each other in their confusion. We’ll find out later that 120,000 Midianites die in this battle. Can you imagine – 300 vs. over 120,000… and the 300 win! Only with the Lord. That’s something like 400 Midianites for every one Israelite. Incredible.

Well, as Midian is fleeing, some men from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh come out and pursue them. I wonder if any of these guys were the ones who went back at the spring of Harod. Then Gideon sends for Ephraim to come and cut off the fleeing Midianites by the Jordan River. The Ephraimites capture two leaders of Midian – Oreb and Zeeb – and slay them. Then they bring their heads to Gideon.

By the way, it’s interesting that Gideon calls Ephraim. It seemed like the Lord really wanted the victory to go to those 300 men. That’s strange. But God doesn’t say anything about it, so maybe it’s OK. You just hate to have to wonder, though. Did Gideon do this out of fear? Was he again not trusting God’s promise? We can’t say for sure. But what we do know is that the Ephraimites end up causing Gideon some problems in the very next section in chapter 8.

But, we’re going to stop here for now. Next time, Lord-willing we’ll finish the story of Gideon and also cover the story of his wicked son Abimelech.

Let’s open our Bibles to the 6^th chapter of the book of Judges.

We’ve been through the double introduction to the book. We’ve seen now one minor judge and three major judges. And now today we’ll see the 4^th of the 6 major judges that are chronicled in this book. He’s a fearful man. And at the end of his life he brings a snare to Israel. Now, you’ve heard the proverb “the fear of man brings a snare.” So I’ll give this lesson the title “A Fearful Man Brings a Snare.” OK, so let’s get to the text.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 1-6

Before we can get to this particular judge, we need some background on how he got to be a judge anyway. Why was he needed? What were circumstances like in his day? We have answers to those questions in verses 1 through 6 of chapter 6.

We won’t read word-for-word. I’ll just summarize some points. Israel did evil in God’s site. And so we see God again delivering his people over to their enemy. God’s not content to let his people get away with enjoying their sin. The way of a transgressor is hard, after all. And that’s what Israel experienced.

In particular, God gave Israel over to the Midianites. And this group’s activity toward Israel is detailed for us to an unusual degree. Maybe that’s because they seem to be unusually cruel toward Israel. The Midianties were set on Israel’s destruction. They weren’t happy to simply tax Israel and rule over them. No, these Midianites – according to verse 4 – would come during the harvest and destroy everything that the Israelites had – crops and animals. Notice I said they destroyed everything Israel had. They didn’t take it. The Midianites didn’t just devour Israel’s crops and animals to feed themselves and their families. They just ruined everything and left.

This would seem to be especially humiliating to Israel. How dispiriting and discouraging this would have been. This goes on for 7 years. And Israel reacts to this continual devastation by crying out to the Lord. They need someone to save them.

Now, we’ve seen this pattern before, haven’t we? Israel sins, God sends oppressors, Israel cries out to God – and then what does God do? He sends a savior – a deliverer. Right away, as far as we can tell. But he doesn’t do that this time. He doesn’t send a savior right away.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 7-10

What does he do? In verses 7 through 10 God sends not a deliverer, but a prophet. You can sense that God’s patience is wearing a little thin. He’s incredibly patient with his sinful people. He’s been sending saviors right away when they cry out. But now he feels the need to rebuke them. And he reminds Israel that he delivered them from Egypt. He drove out the Canaanites – or at least for as long as they walked with him. And his only command was to not fear the false gods of the Amorites. But – last few words of verse 10 – “ye have not obeyed my voice.”

This is the second rebuke that God has issued in this book. His first rebuke came from an angel or messenger in chapter 2. And there’s a lot of similarity between these two divine rebukes. They follow the same lines generally. But one thing is noticeably absent here that was present in the first rebuke. When the angel rebuked Israel before how did the people react? They wept. But this time? No such reaction. Do you suppose that this indicates that the people are generally growing colder and colder to God’s rebukes and chastenings? I think so.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 11

Well, whether the people are reacting properly to God’s rebukes or not, God indeed calls a savior to save his people from the results of their sin. Now that we see the need for him to arise and deliver his people, we can get acquainted with him. His name is Gideon. He lives in Ophrah with his father Joash. And the end of verse 11 tells us that Gideon “threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites”. What do you typically do with a wine press? Is it meant for threshing wheat? No, it’s meant for stomping grapes. You thresh wheat on a threshing floor. But remember, they can’t do that because the Midianites will come and destroy it. So Gideon is hiding in a wine press threshing wheat. It’s a pathetic picture we have.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 12

But now an angel appears to him and gives him this curious greeting in verse 12 – “The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour”. Do you think that’s a bit of an overstatement? What was the angel trying to say to Gideon? Was he mocking Gideon? That wouldn’t seem right, so no, I don’t think he was mocking. Well, was the angel stating the fact – that Gideon indeed is a naturally mighty man of valour? I think we’ll see time and again in this story that Gideon is really not naturally inclined toward bravery and feats of daring. So, I don’t think the angel is stating the facts. I think what’s happening here is this. The angel is telling Gideon what he will be if only Gideon follows the Lord.

Do you know what it is to feel yourself completely incapable of doing something – until the Lord calls you to do it? Jesus called the man with the withered hand to stretch it out. But you can’t stretch out a withered hand! Oh, but you can – if the Lord commands you to do it. The Lord Jesus commanded Peter to walk on water. But a man cannot walk on water! Oh yes he can – if God commands him to. Gideon is not naturally mighty. Don’t believe me? Then you’ll hear it from his mouth in a few verses. He’ll argue with the Lord that he’s weak. But God sees what he can do with Gideon if Gideon just follows him.

But sort of anti-climatically, Gideon argues with the Lord. The Lord is ready to make him a mighty man of valor. But Gideon wants to take issue with the Lord on both of his statements.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 13

First, Gideon argues that the Lord is definitely not with him or with his people Israel. In verse 13 Gideon points to the calamity that Midian brings constantly to this nation. If the Lord is with Israel then why is this happening? Gideon says that he’s been told of the wonderful things God did in delivering Israel from Egypt. But he hasn’t seen it. He doesn’t know it. And remember — that new generation that arose didn’t know the Lord or his mighty deeds. Gideon apparently is a son of that generation.

What’s interesting to note is that the Lord explained all of this through his prophet just a few verses ago. The Lord laid it out very clearly why calamity had befallen Israel. Did Gideon not hear about that word of rebuke from the prophet? Or did he hear it and was just now airing frustration with the way the Lord was dealing with his people?

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 14

Now, the Lord’s response is noteworthy. The first few words of verse 14 – “The Lord looked upon him.” What was the Lord’s expression? What was his countenance like? Was he astonished that Gideon didn’t remember the explanation he gave as to why Israel was being oppressed? At any rate, the Lord proceeds and issues his call to Gideon to deliver Israel from the very enemy whose presence Gideon points to as a sign that the Lord – the one he’s speaking with – is not with him. And God promises Gideon that he indeed is the one sending him off to battle.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 15

That should settle matters. But it doesn’t. And this is where Gideon’s second objection comes in. First, He objected to God’s call based on God’s apparent abandonment of his people. And now he objects based on his own weakness and insignificance. In verse 15 Gideon claims to be from a poor family in Manasseh. And even worse – he’s the youngest member of this poor family.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verse 16

But does God only work through rich people? Does he favor only those are firstborns in their family? Of course not. So God responds with assurance. The strength that Gideon will have is the Lord himself. “Surely, I will be with thee” the Lord says in verse 16.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 17-24

OK, so the Lord responds to both of Gideon’s objections. That should settle it. But it doesn’t. Gideon now asks for a sign in verse 17. Gideon asks God if he can bring an offering to him. The Lord consents. Gideon goes and returns with the sacrifice. God causes the sacrifice to burn up and then he immediately disappears from Gideon’s sight. This causes Gideon to fear that he’ll die because now he knows he saw the Lord. But God simply responds in verse 23 “Peace unto thee. Fear not. Thou shalt not die.” And Gideon builds an altar in response to this interaction.

Thus ends the section outlining God’s calling of Gideon. He seems a bit reluctant to accept God’s call. Even when the angel of the Lord – whom I understand to be the Lord himself appearing physically – issues the call to Gideon he’s finding objections and excuses. Finally he gives in but really wants to make sure that it’s the Lord. He wants verification. He does this kind of thing with the fleece as well later on. So I think we can say that Gideon is generally slow to accept God’s call and commands.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 25-32

Alright, so that’s Gideon’s call. And that very night in which he was called, Gideon received another order from the Lord in verses 25 through 32.

His father – according to verse 25 – had an altar that was dedicated to the Canaanite god Baal. God tells Gideon to go and take his father’s one ox and another ox from somewhere else and pull down that idolatrous altar. Gideon agrees to do it. That’s a step in the right direction. No objections. Just action. Great. But… Gideon actually ends up pulling down the altar at night. Well, what’s the big deal with that? We get his motivation for doing it by night in the middle of verse 27 – “he feared his father’s household and the men of that city.” So he couldn’t do it by day. I thought this guy was supposed to be a valiant warrior. God kept talking about his strength. What’s going on? He’s afraid to tear down an idolatrous altar. Well, get used to it – we’re going to see more of this kind of behavior. And the only strength and might and valor that Gideon really has is the Lord himself.

But Gideon does ultimately tear down the altar. And when the men of the city wake up the next morning they’re angry. They come to Gideon’s dad and tell him to bring out his son. From this, I imagine that Gideon was still living at home with his father. But at any rate, his father actually stands up for his son and won’t let the people put him to death. His rationale – end of verse 31 – “if [Baal] be a god, let him plead for himself.” Baal can punish Gideon if he’s real. I think Gideon’s father’s reaction is interesting. Joash is the one who had that altar. I kind of thought he would be angry. But he’s not. Here’s what I take from this. Gideon obeyed the Lord’s command to pull down the altar. But he feared the repercussions of that obedience. But look how his father reacts anyway! He doesn’t kill Gideon. He doesn’t even punish him in any way. He actually almost seems to recognize the senselessness of his idolatry. Why? Because of one simple faithful – though fearful – act of his own child. Gideon obeys, fearing the consequences. But that very obedience affects his father and maybe even opens his eyes to see that Baal is no god at all.

Have you ever experienced something like that? You knew God wanted you to do something. But the possible effects of that obedience terrified you? You and I just never really know what the Lord will do if we just take him at his word and obey him.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 33-35

So, this episode with the altar is just the beginning of Gideon’s judging of Israel. We see his role as judge really start to take form in verses 33 through 35. We’ll read verse 33 to set the stage – “Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.” Then the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Gideon and he gathers a number of tribes to him – namely, his own tribe Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. And they come.

Judges 6 Commentary
Verses 36-40

Well, that sounds good. Gideon is looking pretty brave and faithful now. Ah, but not so fast. Verses 36 through 40 tell us about the infamous fleece incident. Gideon says to God in verse 36 – “If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor…” And then he gives his scheme involving the fleece and the dew whereby he basically tests the Lord. And he is testing the Lord. Let me call attention to his wording. “If” – like there’s a question about whether God will do as he promised. So “if” God will do as he promised. And then “as thou hast said.” So, Gideon is recognizing that God has already promised him something. But Gideon just really needs to verify that God will indeed keep his promise. This just seems like a complete lack of faith on Gideon’s part. And you and I could rightfully expect God to not honor such a request to put dew on the fleece but not on the ground and then the next day to do the opposite. God wouldn’t have to answer this zany request. But you know what? God does answer it. He does just as Gideon requested. He condescends to Gideon’s fear and faithlessness.

Do we ever do something like this? By the way, we shouldn’t. OK? This is not normative behavior for believers. But do we practice this kind of “putting out the fleece” as they say? Maybe you know something to be God’s will. But you just really, really need to make sure. OK. It’s fine and good to make sure that you’re understanding God’s word in order to make sure you’re doing according to what he commands and such. But really at some point are you just stalling? Don’t do that. Gideon did it and he’ll do it again in this story. But Gideon is not your example in this respect. So don’t imitate him.

Judges 7:1

OK, so God does encourage Gideon to keep going and doing his will. So in verse 1 of chapter 7 we see Gideon and his army camping near a spring. It’s called the well of Harod. It’s actually a place in the modern day where Israeli youth go to remember the military accomplishments of Gideon as they’re preparing to enter into the armed services there. And it’s elevated above the valley on the north where the Midianites are.

In Judges 20 Israel was doing to Benjamin what it should have been doing to the Canaanites – destroy every last one of them.

Now, Israel had to do what they just did to Benjamin. But what a sad state of affairs that led to the need to almost completely wipe out an entire tribe in Israel.

21:1 ¶ Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh,

When they gathered to fight Benjamin – we didn’t hear about this oath at this time.

saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. ² And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; ³ And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?

So, again, Israel did what it had to. But they’re not happy with the results.

⁴ And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

So, we need to solve this missing-tribe problem. Benjamin needs wives. Israel killed all the women of Benjamin, apparently in their zeal.

⁵ And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD [That is, to fight Benjamin]? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh [When Israel gathered together to fight Benjamin.], saying, He shall surely be put to death. ⁶ And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. ⁷ How shall we do for wives for them that remain [The 600 at Rock Rimmon], seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? ⁸ ¶ And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? [Which is just repeating what they’ve already said.] And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. ⁹ For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.

Jabesh-Gilead was on the east side of the Jordan. For whatever reason they didn’t show up for the battle against Benjamin.

¹⁰ And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. ¹¹ And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

Wow, again, if only Israel could have been so determined with the real enemy – the Canaanites. This is what God wanted them to do with those pagan nations around them. And now because they disobeyed him, they’re having to fight Canaanism from within their own people.

¹² And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

¹³ ¶ And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.

Just like the Levite did to his concubine.

¹⁴ And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: [So, that’s 400 girls for 600 men of Benjamin.] and yet so they sufficed them not. [200 left.] ¹⁵ And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ ¶ Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

By the way, I don’t really think Israel needed to destroy the women in Benjamin. But that’s a moot point by now. What’s done is done.

¹⁷ And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. ¹⁸ Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.

So, we can’t have a lost tribe. And we can’t give our daughters voluntarily to Benjamin. What to do…

¹⁹ Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

Wow, there are still some people who are observing some of the feasts that the Lord had ordained? Yeah, apparently.

²⁰ Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; ²¹ And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

So, target the ones who are actually worshipping the Lord and take them away to be wives for these rebellious Benjamites. Good idea.

²² And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain,

And you can imagine that they will!

that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: [So, we messed up. And…] for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

Again, the idea is that you men of Shiloh aren’t guilty because you’re not voluntarily giving your daughters to the men of Benjamin. Rather, they’re being stolen. Oh, that’s much better. Right? Anyone?

²³ And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. ²⁴ And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

You say, I just don’t understand. That was so weird. So confusing. What’s the message the narrator wants us to get from this 3-chapter marathon of perversity, sin, and confusion? Verse 25.

²⁵ ¶ In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

You can be assured that when everyone’s playing by their own rules that perversity, sin, and confusion will abound. The narrator paints this awful messy picture for us, then puts it aside and speaks his message right to you – Israel needs a king. He could have said that and saved us this whole section – or really, this whole book. But God wants you to feel the need – not just know that the need existed, but to feel the need that Israel had for a king.

So, Bethlehem has earned a bad reputation. Chapters 17 and 18 had the idolatrous Levite from Bethlehem. Chapters 19 through 21 today had this unfaithful concubine from Bethlehem. You might start wondering if anything good can come from or happen in Bethlehem.

That’s why when you continue on past the book of Judges, the very next book you come to also occurs in Bethlehem. And it happens in the days when the Judges governed. And so you’re expecting more immorality, more carnality, more confusion. But what you get is the story of two faithful loyal godly individuals – Ruth and Boaz. And they end up getting married and bearing a son. His name is Obed. Obed is the father of Jesse. And Jesse is the father of… David. Oh yes, David. The King. Wait a second, is this the king that Israel needs? The one this book we’ve been studying for the last several months has kept calling to our attention that we need? I think so.

And so, next week, we’ll shed this rather discouraging book and move on to a book of four chapters where the characters aren’t doing right in their own eyes. They’re doing right in the Lord’s eyes.

So the destruction of Sisera was a pretty quick matter. But the destruction of Sisera’s king, Jabin, took a little longer. And yet it happened eventually. The Lord saved his people from their enemy. He used a “weaker vessel” as Peter would say to do it. But isn’t that how God works? He uses the weak to confound the strong.

Judges 5:1-8

Now, all of this calls for a celebration. We’ve heard the facts of the story. We’ve heard the timeline of things. But now we’re going to celebrate the Lord’s victory with a song in the form of Hebrew poetry in chapter 5. Chapter 4 gave us the events. Chapter 5 now gives us some of the emotion behind the events. It also fills in some details we didn’t hear about in chapter 4. Let’s begin by reading verses 1 through 8 of chapter 5.

5:1 ¶ Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,

² Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. ³ Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. ⁴ LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. ⁵ The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel. ⁶ In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. ⁷ The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸ They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

The song starts out with praising the Lord for the people offering themselves willingly for the battle. We’ll see that elaborated below. The song then personifies God as coming from the southeast in Edom to Kedesh where the battle happened. Then we’re given a picture of the desolation that the Canaanite oppressors brought to Israel in the days of the first minor judge Shamgar and Jael. Why the desolation? Why the oppression? Verse 8 – Israel chose new gods. And the true God – their God – then disarmed them and sent the oppressors.

Judges 5:9-13

Let’s read the next section in verses 9 through 13.

⁹ My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD. ¹⁰ Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. ¹¹ They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. ¹² Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. ¹³ Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.

I won’t say much about this section. Only that again Deborah and Barak are giving thanks for the people of Israel who willingly offered themselves.

Judges 5:14-18

And verses 14 through 18 elaborate on this fact.

¹⁴ Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. ¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. ¹⁶ Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷ Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches. ¹⁸ Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.

Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir in Manasseh, Zebulun, Issachar. All of these tribes were those who participated willingly in the battle. And they are heartily commended in this song. But then we have those who didn’t participate. See? You wouldn’t have known this information without this song. In the narrative we didn’t get any idea that some people didn’t participate in this battle. We do here though. Reuben is viewed as hiding away with the sheep and listening to their bleating. Gilead stayed in his land, too. Dan remained in ships, because obviously his original territory was on the sea coast. So was Asher’s. Then finally the song extolls in a special way Zebulun and Naphtali.

Judges 5:19-23

Then we’re told of what happened when these tribes came together willingly. Verses 19 through 23.

¹⁹ The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. ²⁰ They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. ²¹ The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. ²² Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. ²³ Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

Poetically, we’re told that stars fought against the Canaanites. The Kishon River is also poetically pictured as sweeping away Israel’s enemies. This is what can happen in poetry. Objects in nature can be personified.

Then verse 23 kind of cuts into the song with a curse. Meroz apparently was a city that did not come to help Barak fight against Sisera. This song has extolled again and again the people who fought willingly. And in contrast it issues the strongest rebuke to those among God’s people who won’t offer themselves willingly to his work.

Judges 5:24-27

But the song doesn’t stay focused on curses and this lack of willingness. Verses 24 through 27 focus on our very unlikely hero in this story – Jael.

²⁴ Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵ He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶ She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. ²⁷ At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

In contrast to faithless Meroz, Jael willingly offered herself to fight for the Lord’s cause.

Judges 5:28-31

So she’s an example of a woman who was on the right side of this battle. And the song ends with a close-up of another woman. This time it’s Sisera’s mother. Let’s read verses 28 through 31.

²⁸ The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? ²⁹ Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰ Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil? ³¹ ¶ So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.

And the land had rest forty years.

So Sisera’s mom and her wise women console themselves in vain imaginations. They reassure themselves that Sisera will be home soon. “You now — they’re just picking up some ladies as plunder. They’re just dividing the rest of the spoil. Don’t worry. They’ll be home soon.” You might be tempted to feel sorry for Sisera’s mother. Please don’t. One of the thoughts she consoles herself with is Sisera’s exploitation of captive women. She says in verse 30 that Sisera and his men each get a damsel or two. The word “damsel” is “rechem”. It can mean “girl”. But it’s also often literally translated “womb”. One modern English version sort of supplies the idea that Sisera’s mom was probably expressing when they translate her statement as “a girl or two for each man to rape!” That’s the kind of brutality that comes along with pagans going to war. And it’s the kind of brutality and immorality that Sisera’s mother was encouraging and even hoping for in her son. She was consoling herself with this thought!

But the song ends with comfort and assurance. May all the enemies of the Lord, just like Sisera, perish. But Lord, strengthen the ones who love you. And then the land has rest for 40 years.

What a stirring conclusion. But you know it’s just going to get worse again. In these two chapters we saw a failure of male leadership. But we had a happy ending. But just in the next verse we have the children of Israel doing evil in God’s sight. And then we’ll see the Lord raise up a man named Gideon.

The actions of the sexually perverted mob was shocking. But the coldness of this Levite is almost worse. You mean to say he slept comfortably through the night, knowing what was happening to his concubine? And then he just barks at her to get up when he sees her lifeless body?

And dwelling on the process that would have been involved in the dividing of the body of the Levite’s concubine is a little more than I care to meditate upon. So, we’ll move on.

20:1 ¶ Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh. ² And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? ⁴ And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. ⁵ And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.

So, the Levite conveniently leaves out the part about how he threw her to the wolves.

⁶ And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. ⁷ Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel. ⁸ ¶ And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. ⁹ But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; [To fight them.] ¹⁰ And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people,

So, some will feed the troops who attack Gibeah.

that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

Wow, finally, some unity in Israel. Too bad it took a Civil War to accomplish that unity.

¹² ¶ And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? ¹³ Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel.

That’s a reasonable request. They committed a crime. Now they pay.

But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: ¹⁴ But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. ¹⁵ And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. [So 26,700 warriors.] ¹⁶ Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. ¹⁷ And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war. [400,000:26,700]

¹⁸ ¶ And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

Does this sound familiar? It should. This is eerily reminiscent of chapter 1 of this book. Only, back then Israel was fighting external enemies. Now they’re fighting themselves. So, God commands Judah to go first.

¹⁹ ¶ And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. ²¹ And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.

Oh, but I thought God told them to go. But they lost. That’s concerning.

²² And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. ²³ (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)

God again gives them the green light.

²⁴ ¶ And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. ²⁵ And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

40,000 Israelites dead so far. 10% of their forces.

²⁶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. [They’re serious now.] ²⁷ And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸ And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) [So, the events recorded here, just like last lesson, happened relatively soon after Joshua died. Again, how far and how fast Israel fell.] saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

Finally, the Lord gives assurance of victory.

²⁹ ¶ And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.

Sounds like Bethel again…

³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. ³¹ And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. ³² And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. ³³ And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. ³⁴ And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. ³⁵ And the LORD [THE LORD!] smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

So, Benjamin started with 26,700 men. They just lost 25,100 men. That leaves 1,600 men.

Then verses 36 through 46 retells the events we just heard about, but in greater detail. That’s not uncommon in Hebrew narrative.

Skip to verse 47.

⁴⁷ But six hundred men [Of Benjamin] turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

Which is also the same amount of time the Levite’s concubine fled from him.

⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Basically, Israel is doing to Benjamin what it should have been doing to the Canaanites – destroy every last one of them. Now, Israel had to do what they just did. But what a sad state of affairs that led to the need to almost completely wipe out an entire tribe in Israel.

Let’s open our Bibles to Judges chapter 4.

We’ll cover the 4^th and 5^th chapters in this book today. It’s the story of another judge – another tribal leader. Remember — we’ve seen three judges so far. The first was Othniel the nephew of Caleb. He comes at the beginning of this long sequence of judges. And they get worse and worse. So it doesn’t get any better than Othniel in terms of the quality of his judging Israel. He fought the dark, doubly-wicked king from Mesopotamia. Then we had Ehud. He assassinated Eglon the rotund king of Moab and led Israel to slay many Moabite soldiers. In each case the land had rest from war for decades after they delivered Israel. Then Shamgar doesn’t have much said of him, but he too judged Israel and delivered them from the Philistines.

And why are these judges needed anyway? Let’s rehearse that. It’s because a new generation arose and did not know the Lord. They didn’t have a personal walk with him. They didn’t care about what he said. They turned from him to serve worthless idols. And because they did, the Lord was angry. He would send oppressors to oppress his people in response to their unfaithfulness. And he did that so that they would turn from their idols and turn to him. And it would work, at least temporarily. I just read this morning in 1^st Samuel. And there in chapter 12 Samuel is giving a history of Isarel’s disobedience to the Lord. He says that their fathers would disobey in times past. And when they did God would send oppressors. And when that happened the people would cry out to the Lord and say, “…We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.” So, that sounds like true repentance. But chapter 2 of this book of Judges leads us to believe that this repentance was short-lived or maybe just partial – like maybe some truly repented while the rest of Israel did not. Whatever the case, Israel’s crying out to the Lord for deliverance was at the very least short-lived.

Now, even though their cry may have been completely selfish and for the most part lacking true repentance, the Lord had mercy on his sinful people and sent someone to save them. And that’s where these stories about individual judges come in. These judges are called to save or deliver the Lord’s people. And as I said the judges that we’re presented with go from pretty good… to alright… to bad… to awful. And as we begin our lesson today we transition from good/OK to… well, I’ll let you decide as we go through the text. How does our judge today fare in comparison to Othniel and Ehud?

Judges 4:1-3

So, let’s get acquainted with our judge for today. But first we need to get a picture of why the judge was necessary. Let’s read verses 1 through 3.

^KJV Judges 4:1 ¶ And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. ² And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. ³ And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

Now, this Jabin guy might sound familiar to you if you remember our lessons in Joshua. Jabin was the king of Hazor back in Joshua 11. He led a coalition of the northern Canaanite cities who opposed Joshua. But he was defeated and killed. Further, his city Hazor was totally destroyed and burned. But Canaanites have a way of cropping back up. They’re resilient – especially when they’re being used as a chastisement from God for his disobedient people. So this Jabin is not the same person. Perhaps the name Jabin was used like name Pharaoh was in Egypt – it’s really a title rather than a personal name.

And so we’ve said a little about this Jabin fellow. But really he’s not at all a main character in this story. He’s mentioned once more in the entire book of Judges. So he’s really brought into the story to bring the main adversary into the picture. His name is Sisera. And he’s the captain of Jabin’s army. And it’s a well-equipped army. 900 chariots. What’s interesting is that this group of Canaanites is mentioned back in Joshua 11 as having many horses and chariots. So I guess chariots were something of a specialty for them. But you know, in Joshua the chariots weren’t a problem at all. God delivered Israel from these chariot-riding Canaanites. But he’s not doing that this time. The people’s disobedience calls for God to not only not deliver them from the king of Hazor and his commander. It also calls for God to actively use these Canaanites to oppress his people in order to get their attention.

Judges 4:4-7

So for 20 years Sisera oppresses Israel. We’ll get a better idea of what that oppression may have involved in chapter 5. It’s not pretty. And Israel is miserable and in great pain. So they cry out to the Lord. And God mercifully sends a judge to deliver them. Let’s read about him… or her in verses 4 through 7.

⁴ ¶ And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. ⁵ And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶ And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? ⁷ And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

Now, two times in this section “judged” or “judgment” is mentioned in relation to Deborah. So, is she the judge? But then she commissions Barak. And God wants him to do what the typical judge did in this time frame. So… who’s the real judge here? Deborah? Barak? Both of them? Hopefully it’ll become clearer as we continue.

Now, it seems that Deborah is from Ephraim. Barak hails from north of there in Naphtali. Deborah is a prophetess. As we see here she is someone to whom the Israelites go to have some sort of verdict pronounced in their disputes. And that kind of position is needed, surely. But is that how the first three judges in this book have been pictured? As settling disputes? No, we haven’t seen judges do that yet. Well then, maybe she’s not the judge in this story. But here’s another thing she does. She acts as God’s mouthpiece to call Barak to action. Action! Delivering Israel from their enemies! Now, that’s the role of a judge. Maybe Barak then is the judge in this story. Now, we don’t know how the first three judges were called by God. But here we see Barak’s calling to that position. Deborah, speaking for God, tells him that God will surely deliver Sisera into his hand. That’s really exciting. I can’t wait to see him do it!

Judges 4:8

Oh, but… as we look to the next verse we don’t see action. We see… something less encouraging from this potential judge. Let’s read verse 8.

⁸ And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

What?! This man who’s called by God through Deborah, his mouthpiece, to be a judge is accepting it with conditions? When God tells you to do something you don’t put conditions on your obeying him! And his condition honestly makes Barak look pretty weak. He won’t go unless this lady Deborah goes with him. Some think he’s declaring that he refuses to go into battle without God’s guidance – which Deborah represents, since she’s God’s prophetess.

Judges 4:9

But I don’t think this request is noble. How do I know? Look at Deborah’s response in verse 9.

⁹ And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

If this was your first time reading this story who would you think the woman is that Deborah refers to? Herself — right? So again you’re maybe back to thinking that she’s the judge in the story. But I’ll just cut to the chase and inform you that Deborah is not the woman who kills Sisera. But this whole back and forth between who’s the real judge in the story – combined with Barak’s apparent wimpiness — I think it all gives us an idea of what’s happening at this time in Israel’s history. I think what we see in Barak and Deborah’s story is “A Failure of Male Leadership” in Israel at the time of the judges. There’s failure on every hand during this time – but this story points out a failure of male leadership.

Barak balked at God’s promise. He didn’t immediately obey God’s clear call. This is a problem not just for Israel in the days of the judges, is it? Can I encourage us all to be careful to not doubt God’s promises – but to believe them and act accordingly? Let’s not put conditions on our obedience to what we clearly know God wants us to do.

So, I’ve raised the issue of who the judge is in this story. Is it Deborah? Is it Barak? Or both? And honestly it’s confusing. The text says Deborah was judging Israel. But she’s not involved in the delivering of God’s people that’s always associated with a judge. Barak does act to deliver God’s people, but he’s not acting with much confidence in God. So he’s somewhat suspect, too. So, here’s what I come to. I believe the narrator of this story left us intentionally in suspense to tell us about this deficiency in Israel of male leadership. Why was Deborah a judge anyway? Shouldn’t an elder — who would probably always be a man – fill that position? She’s a prophetess. Well, so was Miriam. But Miriam’s prophesying seemed to lie in her musical proclamations, rather than her plain verbal foretelling of events. Why did Deborah need to be God’s mouthpiece? Where are all the men? I think these things are intended by God to be somewhat confusing. And in the confusion we see this major problem in Israel with male leadership. So, who’s the judge? I don’t know. Maybe both. I lean toward Barak being the judge.

Well, Barak eventually did go — with Deborah by his side. And verse 10 tells us that “…Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.”

Judges 4:11

Then we’re given another introductory element of the story in verse 11.

¹¹ ¶ Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

So, now we have this Heber fellow introduced for us. He’s a Kenite. The Kenites were the group who came to Judah at the beginning of this book from Jericho. But for some reason Heber separated himself from the rest of his clan and moved up north to Naphtali – right next to where Barak and his army now stand. What a coincidence! We’ll hear more about Heber – or more precisely his wife – later in the story.

Judges 4:12-16

Alright, Barak is ready to fight. He was reluctant. But he has the prophetess with him and so he’s good now. He did exercise some faith. That’s why he’s mentioned in Hebrews 11. So, what happens next? Sisera enters the picture in verses 12 through 16.

¹² ¶ And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. ¹³ And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. ¹⁴ And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. ¹⁵ And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. ¹⁶ But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

So what we’re not seeing is an exceptional amount of courage and manliness from the men in this story thus far. Deborah commands Barak to go and fight Sisera. Then when the Lord starts routing Sisera’s army he flees. Commanders don’t flee! Or they shouldn’t.

Judges 4:17-20

But despite the lackluster show of manliness, did you hear what Deborah said to Barak? The Lord has delivered Sisera into his hand! Maybe God changed his mind. Maybe he’ll let Barak kill Sisera after all. But it doesn’t look like Deborah’s the one to kill Sisera. We don’t hear about her fighting. How is Sisera going to die then? Let’s read verses 17 through 20.

¹⁷ ¶ Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. ¹⁹ And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. ²⁰ Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

So here’s another mention of Heber the Kenite. But now we discover that this man was on the wrong side of things. Heber supported Jabin – Sisera’s king. Oh no. And now it looks like Sisera’s going to get shelter and protection from Heber’s wife Jael. (Come on, pretend you’ve never heard this story before please!) She even treats him to some good Bedouin hospitality. Covering him with a mantle and giving him some curdled milk. Yes, apparently that was a sign of hospitality. If anyone gave me curdled milk I’d probably immediately detect they were a foe. But Sisera doesn’t interpret this gesture that way. He is completely at ease now in Jael’s home – or tent. I think what’s pretty funny is his statement at the end of verse 20. If anyone comes looking for a man you go ahead and tell them that there’s no man here. It’s ironic for two reasons. One, the men in this story are seeming to have some trouble acting the part. Second, well… pretty soon Sisera won’t be there in a sense. He’ll be dead.

Judges 4:21-22

Let’s read verses 21 and 22.

²¹ Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. ²² And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

So God did deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman – just like Deborah prophesied. And yet God was merciful to Barak and allowed him to defeat the enemy, overall. Thus the enemy was delivered into the hand of both a woman and Barak.

And what an interesting woman this Jael is. She’s a gentile. Her husband is friendly with Israel’s enemies. And yet somehow she had the bravery to slay the enemy of Israel. Did she hear about Israel’s God and come to fear him? Is that what motivated her bold actions? I don’t know. But I have no other explanation for why she helped God’s people when she didn’t need to, and – in fact – when it was dangerous to do so.

Judges 4:23-24

And as a result of her action and Barak’s reluctant obedience we have the happy report of verses 23 and 24.

²³ ¶ So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. ²⁴ And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

So the destruction of Sisera was a pretty quick matter. But the destruction of Sisera’s king, Jabin, took a little longer. And yet it happened eventually. The Lord saved his people from their enemy. He used a “weaker vessel” as Peter would say to do it. But isn’t that how God works? He uses the weak to confound the strong.

Continue to Judges 5

Now, all of this calls for a celebration. We’ve heard the facts of the story. We’ve heard the timeline of things. But now we’re going to celebrate the Lord’s victory with a song in the form of Hebrew poetry in chapter 5. Chapter 4 gave us the events. Chapter 5 now gives us some of the emotion behind the events. It also fills in some details we didn’t hear about in chapter 4. Let’s begin by reading verses 1 through 8 of chapter 5.

So, let’s take a step back. Think of what we’ve read so far. Idols, a Levite leaving his ministry to take on the administration of a house of idols. The owner of that house looking at all that’s transpired and thinking “Wow, the Lord is really blessing me. I even got me a Levite to be my priest!” Disobedience. Superstition. Utter spiritual blindness everywhere. What’s the explanation? What can possibly account for this chaos and disorder? Verse 1 of chapter 18.

18:1 ¶ In those days there was no king in Israel:

Oh yes. I can’t believe you all forgot about that. There’s no king! No one to restrain these people. No one to be physically amongst these people telling them what to do and what not to do. Without that kind of restraint, these people are coming apart at the seems.

Now, we’ve already seen a wandering Levite. Now we’re going to see not just an individual wandering, but an entire tribe. Continue with verse 1.

and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

We’ll stop here and just ponder what this statement means. It appears to be saying that this tribe hasn’t received any of it’s inheritance yet. But that’s so strange. I mean, after all, Joshua assigned land to each tribe before he died. Has Dan really not taken its land up until now? If you add up all the years mentioned in the book of Judges you’d get over 400 years. However, I think there’s some overlap in times in the book. And so I think the timespan covered in Judges is somewhere around more like 300 years.

And so here’s why I mention the time factor. How long do you think Dan went without having land? Remember – back in Judges chapter 1 we saw Dan driven out of their territory by the Canaanites. Did they wait a full 300 or so years before moving to take land somewhere else? I think that’s unlikely.

So, here’s what I’m getting at. We are in the conclusion to the book of Judges. And yet, I don’t think that the events of this story fall at the very end of the chronological timeline of the book. I think the events we’re witnessing in this story may have happened relatively soon after Joshua passed off the scene. And the thing I find most shocking about that is the testimony it gives to how wicked human kind is. How quickly we can fall. And how far that fall can be. We can have a godly gifted leader. And yet the moment he goes away we’re so prone to evil.

So, I just say, get used to the thought that these events are not hundreds of years after Joshua’s death. And I think we’ll see more confirmation of that both at the end of this story and in our next and final lesson.

Judges 18:2-6

Now, back to the story. We’ve got a wandering tribe who was driven out of its territory by the Canaanites back in chapter 1. Now, verse 2.

² And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts [Borders], men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, [We heard of these two cities from Samson’s story.] to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. ³ When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? ⁴ And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. ⁵ And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. ⁶ And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.

Isn’t this a sad sign of complete reversal? Israel comes to the land, spies it out, and then conquers it. But now because of their sin, one of their tribes is forced to renew this pattern of going to new land, spying it out, and then conquering it.

And it’s so strange. It was too hard for Dan to possess their land that Joshua gave them. And yet they think nothing of traveling miles and miles on foot to find new land – easier land. Land whose inhabitants they can overcome without the help of Yahweh. In their own strength. They are truly doing what’s right in their own eyes. Yahweh’s way didn’t work. So, they’re going to innovate.

Now, they just happen to come across the idolatrous Levite in Micah’s house of gods. It’s curious to me how these men would have known the voice of this Levite. So, I don’t know how they knew the Levite’s voice, but they did. And so the Levite converses with the 5 Danites. The Danites ask for the Levite to divine whether or not their way will be prosperous. And by now, they know that this Levite is unorthodox. He’s taking care of an idolatrous shrine stocked with images. And so I suppose the Danites are showing their own unorthodoxy by even putting any amount of faith in the ability of this Levite to get ahold of God’s ear. We don’t know if the Leite even seeks God in response to the Danites request. All we know is that this man who’s doing what’s right in his own eyes, rather quickly gives his approval of their journey. Their way is before the Lord. It has his approval. Why, they’ll be just as prosperous as Micah as they continue on disobeying the Lord. You have the idolatrous Levite’s stamp of approval!

Judges 18:7-10

So, away the 5 Danites go. Up north to the northenmost reaches of Israel. Up by Sidon. Verse 7.

⁷ ¶ Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, [Not in any negative sense. They just didn’t have any cares in the world. They were without care – care-less. They dwelt…] after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. ⁸ And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? ⁹ And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. ¹⁰ When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

I think the rhetoric of the 5 Danite spies is astonishing. They’re talking just like the two faithful spies who went to spy out the land back in Moses’ day. They’re speaking in terms similar to what Moses himself used decades prior to this. And yet their hearts aren’t right with the Lord like Moses’ was and like Caleb’s and Joshua’s were. But the Danites are assuming the same level of leadership by God as did these godly men of old. I’d say that’s a little presumptuous.

Judges 18:11-14

But the Danite spies sell their case. And so it appears that the whole tribe of Dan departs from the allotment of land given them by the Lord. Verse 11.

¹¹ ¶ And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. ¹² And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.

¹³ And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. ¹⁴ ¶ Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim [Household idols], and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

I love the subtelty of these spies. “Consider what you should do. There’s all these covetable things in this house. You can guess what action you’re supposed to take.”

Judges 18:15-18

You wish the response of the people would be to destroy the idols and idolators around there. But what does the tribe of Dan actually do? Verse 15.

¹⁵ And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, [They were living in the same place.] and saluted him. ¹⁶ And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. ¹⁷ And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. ¹⁸ And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image.

So they’re taking the instruments of Micah’s idolatrous worship. But not for the purpose of destroying them, I’m afraid. Let’s see the priest’s reaction to all of this. Middle of verse 18.

Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

How do you imagine him asking that question? Full of worry and concern for his sponsor, Micah? Full of anger and rage that the Danites are stealing the objects with which he’s been “ministering”? No. I think it’s more of a question of curiosity.

Judges 18:19-20

We’ll see if their response to him and then his reaction to their response confirms that. Verse 19.

¹⁹ And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? [That kind of language reminds me of what Abimelech said before carrying out his evil plans. Anyway…] ²⁰ And the priest’s heart was glad [He likes the look of this deal. The priest of a whole tribe? Awesome!], and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

Judges 18:21-26

Where’s the loyalty? There is none. Not in the days of the judges. Verse 21.

²¹ ¶ So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. [Which indicates to me that they’re expecting someone to pursue them, so they’re protecting their most vulnerable.] ²² And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. ²³ And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they [Dan] turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee [lit. “What to you?”], that thou comest with such a company? ²⁴ And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made [A truly pathetic and yet absolutely true admission. He made his gods – the very ones he’s so foolishly worshipping.], and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? [“What to you?”] ²⁵ And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows [lit. “Men bitter of soul”] run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. ²⁶ And the children of Dan went their way: [So, they threaten to murder Micah.] and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

What more can he do? I guess he was wrong about God propsering him on account of him having a Levitical priest. So much for that superstition. And with that, Micah bows out of the story, never to be heard from again.

Judges 18:27-31

But the Danites and their new priest are still in view. Verse 27.

²⁷ ¶ And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. ²⁹ And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. ³⁰ And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

The narrator gives us two pretty shocking revelations.

First, he finally reveals the identity of this idolatrous Levite. He’s none other than Jonathan! You’re not shocked by that, though. Ah, but Jonathan is the son of Gershom! Well, that’s interesting, but maybe not quite at the level of shock yet. Here’s the shocking part. Gershom is the son of Mannasseh. Big deal right? It s a big deal. I know it’s hard to believe in English, but in the Hebrew text, Mannasseh actually is very similar to another Hebrew name – Moses. In fact, you get the name Mannaseh by simply adding the English equivalent of an “N”. But in the Hebrew text that “N” – the one letter distinguishing Mannasseh from Moses – it’s floating above the baseline – which is really unusual. And the rabbis who copied the text explained their reasonings for doing this. They acknowledged that Moses was the original name in the text. But they didn’t want to dishonor Moses’ memory by admitting that this man’s grandson was an idolater. And yet, we should’t be surprised to see this kind of thing in this book. The harsh reality is that Moses – that mighty man of faith – his own grandson was an apostate. And that gives you an idea of when this part of the book took place. Within the lifetime of a grandson of Moses. How quickly Israel fell.

The second and last thing I’ll point out is the very last verse. We have a whole tribe involved in idolatry. Well, maybe that was because God’s house got lost somewhere along the line. I mean, we don’t hear too much about it in this book, do we? We don’t – and yet, the last verse tells us it was still there. Right in Shiloh. It was avaiable. But it seems very few if any were tending to it.

What a horrible picture this paints of religion in Israel. Israel started this book out having trouble with foreign idols. Now the idols are home-grown. Israel also had trouble battling foreign armies at the beginning of this book. And next time, we’ll see them experiencing trouble with domestic armies – civil war.

In Judges chapter 3, verses 1 through 4 we get a list of the nations that God left in Canaan and a few more pieces of information.

 3:1 ¶ Now 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; ² Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; ³ Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. ⁴ And 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.

Well, here’s another reason that God left the Canaanites in the land. God did this first because Israel wasn’t obeying him. Second God wanted to test Israel and see if they would obey him. And now we see that God actually wanted to teach Israel how to fight. So even God’s punishment is instructive and edifying for his people.

Judges 3:5-6

Then the introduction to this book ends with this ominous note – verses 5 and 6.

 ⁵ And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: ⁶ And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

Israel intermarried with the Canaanites. And – no surprise to anyone – that intermarrying led to idolatry, just like God said it would. And this issue of intermarriage with pagans would dog Israel even up until the last events we have recorded in the Old Testament. Do you remember in the book of Nehemiah that one of the big problems that God’s people were still struggling with was marrying unbelievers? So this would turn out to be a perennial problem for Israel.

And so anyway, this is how the introduction to the book ends. We had the first introduction. It told us how Israel slipped by failing to drive out foreign armies. Then we have the second introduction. It tells us about Israel failing to resist idolatry and the pattern of disobedience, judgment, and deliverance they would participate in.

And then what do we see for the next 13 or so chapters? Israel participating in a pattern of disobedience, judgment, and deliverance. So, Lord-willing, next lesson we’ll start seeing that pattern filled-out in detail.

Open your Bible to the 3^rd chapter of the book of Judges.

Today’s the day we’ve been waiting for. For the last two weeks we’ve been in the introduction to this book. And you recall that it’s a double introduction. Are you annoyed with me pointing out that the book of Judges has a double introduction? Well, I’m going to keep telling you all that this book has a double introduction until it sticks in your head and forevermore when you read this book you’ll remember why it seems to mention Joshua dying twice. I’ll keep telling you about the double introduction until you remember that the first introduction tells us about Israel’s failures regarding foreign armies and that the second introduction tells us about Israel’s failures regarding foreign idols. And if you don’t remember… I’ll probably tell you again next week.

Alright, now that we all remember the double introduction! We need to remember what the book of Judges chronicles. Throughout this book we will witness the Canaanization of Israel. It’s a progressive thing. It gets worse and worse. And isn’t that the nature of sin? Give it an inch and it will take a mile.

Judges 3 Commentary
Israel Was Sinning

And Israel was sinning. They disobeyed God by not driving out the Canaanites. Instead, they were actually marrying the Canaanites and worshiping their false gods – Baal and Ashteroth and I’m sure many more.

Judges 3 Commentary
God Was Angry

Now, God wasn’t going to take this sitting down. He was very angry with his people for their sin against him. He swore to not drive out the Canaanites. These Canaanites will serve a few of God’s purposes. First, they will prove whether Israel will obey the Lord or not. Those silly rain deities that the Canaanites had were surprisingly attractive for ancient Israel. Would Israel choose Baal? Or would they choose the true God who had rescued them from Egypt and brought them into a covenant with himself? The Canaanites would prove which way Israel’s heart was inclined.

Judges 3 Commentary
Why God Left the Canaanites

The second purpose Yahweh had for leaving the Canaanites in the land was so that the inexperienced Israelites could learn war. The new generation that arose and didn’t know the Lord also didn’t know how to fight. God amazingly even while punishing this nation is letting them derive some benefit during the punishment.

Judges 3 Commentary
Sending Oppressors

Now, not only was the Lord allowing the Canaanites to remain in the land. But when he was sufficiently provoked to anger with Israel he would actually send oppressors to oppress them. He wanted to get their attention. You can imagine the Lord saying something like this through sending oppressors to Israel — “Hey look! The gods whom you’re serving aren’t strong enough to deliver you! Can’t you see that I AM and there is no other? Turn to me and be saved!”

Judges 3 Commentary
Israel Cried Out

And you know what? The Israelites did react. They would cry out. And you might think that sounds really good. Maybe it’s a cry of repentance! We could only wish. I’m afraid their cry was far short of repentance. Israel was like a child who cried when his father declares his intent to discipline the boy. But is he crying because he’s repentant? Or is he crying because he’s being punished? Unfortunately it does seem that when Israel cries out she does so out of pain and misery. But she’s far from repentant. Because once the judge dies, Israel’s right back to her evil ways. And they’re even worse than they were before!

Judges 3 Commentary
The Lord Responded

So, Israel’s cry isn’t one of repentance. You might expect the Lord to not answer such a cry. But actually… he does. The Lord responds in pity and compassion to his evil disobedient nation. It’s like he can’t help his heart from going out to those oppressed individuals. Their oppression is their own fault. And God could cross his arms and turn away from them. But he didn’t. He can’t shut off his mercies to them. He just won’t.

Judges 3 Commentary
Love God

Is this not a God who deserves our love? A God so holy, so just, so upright. And at the same time he’s a God who is so full of pity, of love, of compassion. And this same God is our God. And you are in a covenant with him if you’ve trusted Christ. You’re espoused to Christ. And no one can take you out of his hand. Remember Pastor Fuller’s message last Sunday night? A big point of that message was this – “let love for Christ drive out all idols.” How could you not love such a merciful, forgiving, compassionate God?

Now, God does respond to Israel’s cry of pain and misery. And his chosen response is to send saviors to them – judges or tribal rulers. These men – well, I’ll say individuals – are charged with delivering or saving God’s people. And once these tribal rulers have done their job and delivered God’s people from their oppressors the people are safe for a while… Until… they sacrifice to idols, intermarry with pagans, and provoke the Lord to anger. When this happens we go right back to where we started this discussion.

Judges 3 Commentary
Worsening Conditions

And this cyclical process gets worse and worse as I said. Do you know what that means? It means that the first judge that we’re going to see is really the best judge – the prototypical judge – the model judge after which all other judges will be (pardon the pun) judged. So perhaps we could call this lesson “The Worst is Yet to Come.”

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 7-8

So, who is this first judge? Well, let’s read about him in 3:7-8.

^KJV Judges 3:7 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.

So, actually we didn’t get to the judge yet. The scene is being set for him still. And this is the scene. Israel sinned and made God very angry. They’re worshipping the Canaanite storm god Baal and some wooden symbols of some other sort of deity. Apparently Israel is very happy to serve these dark doubly-wicked deities. And so you know what? God sells the Israelites into the hands of Chushan-Rishathaim. Do you know what his name means? “Dark, doubly-wicked” – just like their false deities. And by the fact that this guy has a name like this we can imagine that he’s pretty bad. He hails all the way from Mesopotamia. So he’s come from a long way. And he’s a really evil guy. And he crushes Israel under his boot for eight years. It’s interesting to note how the text describes this situation. Verse 7 – Israel served dark wicked deities. Verse 8 – the result – Israel served this dark wicked king. The punishment matches the crime.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 9-11

The situation is bleak. Israel is subject to this evil king. The Lord has rightfully abandoned them. They’re seeing how hopeless they are. And they’re in pain. So finally they take a step in the right direction and God’s compassion is kindled. Verses 9 through 11.

⁹ And 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. ¹⁰ And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. ¹¹ And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

You can’t ask for a better outcome. Israel cries out to the Lord because of their pain and misery. The Lord then takes the initiative to raise up a savior for his wayward people. His name? Othniel. He’s Caleb’s brother. And he’s the son of Kenaz. And here’s something interesting. Apparently Kenaz isn’t a natural born Israelite. He would have been a convert to the religion of Yahweh. Nevertheless, he’s a supremely godly individual. He was somehow grafted into the tribe of Judah. He’s the relative – probably the nephew – of one of the godliest Israelites – Caleb. His wife Achsah is completely in-tune with The Lord’s plans for the land. And these are things we’ve already known.

Beyond those things, we have a few more items to note in this passage. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Caleb. And in that strength and wisdom he went out and waged war and judged Israel. The Lord raised him up. The Lord put his Spirit on him. It’s as if the Lord himself and the man Caleb are one, fighting against the enemy. And together they defeat King Dark, Doubly-Wicked from Mesopotamia. The land has rest for 40 years and then Othniel dies.

Now, why is there so little said about this judge? I mean, if he’s the prototypical example, why does a character like Samson have several chapters devoted to his story while Othniel has not even a whole chapter? What I think we’ll see is that more ink needs to be spilled for the other judges in order to document their idiosyncrasies, flaws, and everything else. Othniel did things by the book. God raised him up and empowered him and he just went and did the work. No abnormalities. No moral failures. He just gets the job of saving the Lord’s people over and done with.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 12-14

Alright, now that this first major or cyclical judge finished his task, we move a bit north from Judah to the tribe of Benjamin. Let’s read verses 12 through 14.

¹² ¶ And 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. ¹³ And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. ¹⁴ So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Let’s note a few things here. First, who’s the enemy? His name is Eglon. Who is he? The king of the land of Moab just south-east of Israel on the other side of the Dead Sea. And what does he do to Israel? He strikes Israel and takes possession of Jericho – the city of palm trees. This is as you recall the very first city that Israel took when they crossed the River under Joshua’s leadership. And now it appears to be the very first city they’ll be giving back to the Canaanites whom they should have destroyed. But how can this evil Moabite king have such an influence over Israel? Such power to defeat them? We’re told in verse 12. The Lord himself strengthens this king to oppress his evil people. Why does the Lord allow them to be oppressed anyway? Because they did evil in the Lord’s sight. And remember that this would certainly include Israel bowing down to idols and marrying lost people from the surrounding nations.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 15-17

So this is a hopeless scene. Israel is oppressed. And it’s the Lord himself who is strengthening the oppressor. God’s people have gotten themselves into a big mess. In fact, it’s so hopeless that there’s nothing they can do to save themselves. They need salvation from the Lord. Let’s read about this next “savior” of God’s people, Israel, in verses 15 through 17.

¹⁵ ¶ But 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. ¹⁶ But 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. ¹⁷ And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

Israel cries out to God because of their pain and misery. And so God raises up a savior, a deliverer, a judge. His name is Ehud. He’s not from Judah, like Othniel was. He’s from Benjamin – and in this book this particular tribe wasn’t cast in the best light. In the first chapter Benjamin follows Judah in trying to drive out the Canaanites. Judah does well, though they fail. Then Benjamin steps up to the plate and… doesn’t even swing. They fail to drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, which was already weakened by Judah. That’s the first we hear of Benjamin in this book. This tribe is mentioned a few more times, but the majority of the discussion about them centers in the conclusion to the book. Remember the Levite and his concubine? Then all Israel goes to war with Benjamin, leaving that tribe almost wiped out. So Benjamin gains a pretty bad reputation through this book. But here, God raises up a deliverer from this tribe.

Now, this man Ehud is left-handed. Some see this as sort of an insult to him. Apparently ancient cultures were a little suspicious of left-handed individuals – like they were somehow unnatural. But I don’t that’s why the author of Judges mentions this. Why does he mention this fact then? I think it leads up to the statement in verse 16. This fellow made a dagger about a foot long or maybe a bit longer. And where does he put it? On his right thigh. Now, I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what’s to come. So, I’ll just say this. Ehud is being sent with some money to Eglon. Ehud is going to deliver Israel from Eglon. Ehud made a dagger and put it on his right thigh under his clothing. Surely the guards would check Ehud’s left thigh, since most people were right-handed and since that’s apparently where people would keep weapons. But would the guards check the right thigh?

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 18-23

The end of verse 17 adds suspense to this story. Out of the blue we’re told – now Eglon was a very fat man. The name Eglon comes from a word that means calf. The “on” ending probably makes it mean something like “young calf.” So here we have a young fattened calf. A man who has been fattened by oppressing and extorting from God’s people. And on the other side of the ring is a man carrying a sharp instrument for the purpose of slaughter. It sounds to me like we have a sacrifice coming up – not literally, but in a sense that’s what this kind of situation might recall to the Israelites’ minds. A fattened calf and a knife. Sacrifice time. Let’s see what happens next. Verses 18 through 23.

¹⁸ And when he [Ehud] had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. ¹⁹ But he himself turned again from the quarries [this could also means “stones” or “idols”, since idols were often made of stones] that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand [or “word” or “matter” or “thing”] unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. ²⁰ And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. ²¹ And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: ²² And the haft [or “handle”] 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. ²³ Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

Sacrifice accomplished, I’d say. So, Ehud came with a few other Israelites to give tribute to this oppressive king. Once this is finished Ehud and his assistants go back to wherever they came via Gilgal. And on this journey back in Gilgal Ehud sends everyone else back ahead of him. Does he spend some time by these quarries or by these idols – whatever translation it is? If there are idols there then does seeing these idols provokes Ehud to anger and a sense of vengeance for his God? If we’re talking about just plain stones, could these have reminded Ehud of the stones which Joshua had the children of Israel set up when they crossed the River? Whatever the case, something happens to Ehud in Gilgal. And he turns back to face the enemy.

He approaches Eglon and reveals that he has a secret for him. Again, “errand” is the word that can mean “word” or “matter”. Ehud has a secret matter for the king. He keeps it discreet and mysterious. We can imagine Eglon bouncing up and down and jiggling with delight at the prospect of a treat – maybe a tasty bit of food, maybe more money to spend on his appetite. Whatever it is, he hastily sends his guards away. We can assume from this that Ehud probably didn’t look or act sinister in any way. He probably wasn’t a tall foreboding character. Eglon felt perfectly comfortable in his presence without any guards. Besides, I would assume that the guards already checked his person for weapons – at least on his left thigh!

And this scene all happens in Eglon’s cool summer parlor. Again the contrast between Israel and her oppressors is laid before us. Eglon is fat from Israel’s offerings. He has a splendid cool summer palace while the oppressed Israelites languish.

Once the guards leave the room I assume they move a considerable distance away from the king’s personal chamber. Otherwise I imagine they might hear the sound of what happened. So, they leave and go somewhere for a little while. Long enough for Ehud to stab Eglon. And the description of what happened is sort of comical, though of course we’re speaking of the demise of a real human, so let’s not laugh too hard. But we’ve been set up for this. The guy is fat. Really fat. And he oppresses God’s people. He manages to get himself up out of his chair to receive his treat. And then Ehud pulls the weapon from his right thigh and plunges it into Eglon’s belly. Eglon is so fat that the dagger enters his belly sinking all the way into him. The fat – another sacrificial term or concept – covers even the handle of the dagger and cannot be retrieved. And ultimately we have the King James Version telling us that the “dirt” came out. Yuck! This probably means that excrement came out of Eglon’s body as a result of this attack.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 24-25

Ehud escapes and locks the door behind him. Then the guards return. Verses 24 and 25.

²⁴ ¶ When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. ²⁵ And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

So even this part is intended to be humorous I think. And I’m sorry if this is distasteful – well, there’s no “ifs” about it – it is indeed distasteful. But, seeing as the “dirt” came out earlier on in the story and now that Eglon isn’t coming to the door, the guards put two and two together. Covering one’s feet is an ancient Hebrew euphemism for our modern English euphemism “using the facilities.” He’s not coming to the door. The smell may have been noticeable. Again, I’m sorry for the unpleasantness. And these guards at first wait patiently. Then as the minutes pass they start to wonder. But really who is going to be the first to knock and risk embarrassing their liege? They wait until they are ashamed and can’t wait any longer! So they get the key, open the door, and find their corpulent and godless leader dead on the ground.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verses 26-30

What happens next? Verses 26 through 30.

²⁶ ¶ And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries [or, again, perhaps “idols” or just the “stones” that were in Gilgal], and escaped unto Seirath. ²⁷ And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. ²⁸ And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. ²⁹ And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty [or “robust” or “large” or even “fat”], and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

What an ending! Ehud escapes. But not one of those fat, large, or robust men of Moab does.

It’s interesting that Ehud escapes to Ephraim. Again, he’s from Benjamin, but I think this shows that judges could be the tribal ruler over several tribes, not just one. So, apparently a number of men from all Israel followed after Ehud down to the fords of Jordan where people would cross over to Moab. And they kill a lot of these fat/large/robust men – apparently they’re this way from their consumption of Israel’s goods just like Eglon. 10,000 of them or thereabouts. But later on in the book there will be an even larger slaughter at this very same place – the fords of Jordan. It’s there at the end of Jephthah’s time that the Gileadites led by Jepthah slaughter not 10,000 but 42,000. But that’s not the number of foreign enemies in chapter 12. It’s the number of Ephraimites that are slain under Jephthah’s rule – these very Ephraimites who are helping Ehud destroy the foreign enemy – Moab.

But for now, Ehud did his job. The foreign enemy is put down. And the land – whether that’s all Israel or just that immediate area – has rest for 80 years – two generations.

So, what do you think about Ehud? I’d say he’s generally a good judge. There really isn’t anything bad said of him – unless you think that being left-handed is a negative quality in a person. He did use deception, whereas we’re not told that Othniel did. But I’m not sure that we should look down on him because of that. Deception is a lawful tactic in war. And Israel certainly was in a war. So I think he’s fine. But even the fact that we’re having to weigh Ehud’s actions and character are an indication that things are on a downward progression in Israel, though the progression is slow at this point.

Judges 3 Commentary
Verse 31

Well, we’ve seen two major or cyclical judges. Then we end the chapter with a minor or non-cyclical judge. Let’s read verse 31.

³¹ ¶ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

We can assume that Shamgar did much more than we have recorded. But we have recorded here all we need to know about this man for the sake of the message of this book. Shamgar is the first minor judge. He’s the son of Anath. Anath could be his father’s name. Or it might indicate that he was a military figure, maybe a mercenary. And he kills not Moabites like Ehud or Mesopotamians like Othniel. Shamgar kills Philistines. And since he’s dealing with Philistines he probably lives around the coast of the Mediterranean Sea where the Philistines lived. The tribes around there include Judah, Simeon, Dan, Ephraim, and Benjamin. So it’s likely that he’s from one of those tribes. But I’ve read that Old Testament scholars think he may not have been a native Israelite – just like Othniel.

Now, Shamgar kills 600 Philistines. And he does it with a pretty unusual instrument – an ox goad. That’s the instrument farmers would use to move their oxen along. 600 dead with a simple ox goad. That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment. It is amazing. But just imagine what Israel could have been doing this whole time if only they had been faithful to the Lord instead of serving Baal.

So, now we’ve considered the first three judges in this book. We have nine left. And as I said at the beginning, it doesn’t get any better than this. It’s all downhill from here. Israel gets worse and worse and so do their judges. Next time we’ll hear about a female judge named Deborah and her reluctant sidekick Barak.