Delivered from mesopotamian oppression. the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. Jdg 3:8
INTRODUCTION
This is a history of the chosen people during the 400 or 450 years which intervened between the death of Joshua and the time of Eli, Act_13:20. It is not a connected history, but a collection of outstanding incidents, which determined the fortunes of the chosen people, and gave special illustrations of the power of faith in God. The chief lesson of the book is the intimate connection between loyalty or disloyalty to God and the corresponding results in well-being or misery. This is distinctly stated in Jdg_2:11-23.
The judges were extraordinary agents of the divine pity and helpfulness, raised up as the urgency of the people’s need demanded, to deliver Israel from their oppressors, to reform religion, and to administer justice. Their administration was generally local, as Barak among the northern tribes, Samson in the extreme south, and Jephthah across the Jordan in Gilead.
It must not be supposed that Israel perpetrated an unbroken series of apostasies. Though these and their special deliverances occupy the major part of the book, there were evidently long interspaces of fidelity and prosperity. And in the darkest hours, there were probably large numbers who, amid the abominations, sighed and cried for a better day.
There are two appendices, relating events which took place not long after Joshua’s death, and therefore preceding the greater part of the history. We may almost consider the book of Ruth as the third. The touches of human characteristics are very vivid and instinctive, and the book deserves much more attention than it receives from the ordinary reader.
Israel’s Apostasies and Deliverances
INTRODUCTION, Jdg_1:1-36; Jdg_2:1-23; Jdg_3:1-432.
RULE OF THE JUDGES, Judges 3:5-16:31
Following repeated apostasy and oppression, the Israelites were successively delivered:
1. From the King of Mesopotamia by Othniel, Jdg_3:5-11
5. What were the Israelites taught by God’s discipline?
Judges 3:1-14
THE LORD RAISES UP JUDGES
Now these are the nations which the LORD left [in order] to test Israel by them (that is, all [the people of Israel] who had not [previously] experienced any of the wars in Canaan;
only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, at least those who had not experienced it previously).
The remaining nations are: the five lords (governors) of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
They were [allowed to remain] for the testing of Israel, to determine whether Israel would listen to and obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers (ancestors) through Moses.
Jdg 3:5 And the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites;
nd they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their [pagan] gods. [Exo_34:12-16]
OTHNIEL
And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. [Jdg_2:13]
So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD [for help], the LORD raised up a man to rescue the people of Israel, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
And the land was at rest [from oppression for] forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
EHUD
Now the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, since they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
And Eglon gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck down Israel [in defeat], and they took possession of the City of Palm Trees (Jericho).
And the Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Judges 3:1-14
DELIVERED FROM MESOPOTAMIAN OPPRESSION
Our sins and failures will sometimes be so overruled as to promote the growth of our souls in the true knowledge of ourselves and of God. It would be better to acquire these great lessons and virtues by the regular advance of an obedient and believing life. But where this method fails, God will teach us through our faults. The presence of the Canaanite taught Israel war and self-knowledge. See Jdg_3:2; Jdg_4:1-24.
Othniel had a noble estate of his own, which might have made him indifferent to the national crisis. But he and Achsah were animated by the high courage of Caleb, the lion-cub. See Jdg_1:12. Let us be quick to feel the impulse of the Spirit of the Lord, and yield to it when it prompts us to go forth to war in some sacred cause. No thought of our own comfort or ease must hold us, when there is a wrong to right or an oppressor to beat to the ground! Dare to trust the unseen Christ who summons you, and as you step out, the ether will be rock beneath your feet.
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