Judges 3

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. That statement could have been made by a space alien in a sci-fi novel, but it wasn’t. The apostle Paul wrote those words to the believers in Corinth (2 Cor. 10: niv), reminding them of a principle every Christian needs to take to heart: When God goes to war, He usually chooses the most unlikely soldiers, hands them the most unusual weapons, and accomplishes through them the most unpredictable results.

For example, God gave Shamgar an ox goad, and with it he killed 600 men (3:31). Jael used a hammer and tent peg to kill a captain (4:21), and Gideon routed the whole Midianite army with only pitchers and torches as weapons (7:20). Samson slaughtered 1,000 Philistines using the jawbone of an ass (15:15), and young David killed the giant Goliath with a stone hurled from a shepherd’s sling (1 Sam. 17). West Point isn’t likely to offer courses on how to use these weapons.

Though our world has changed dramatically since the days of the judges, the “world system” is still the same because human nature hasn’t changed (1 John 2:15–17). As long as we’re in this world, God’s people are involved in a spiritual battle against Satan and his armies (Eph. 6:10–19), and God is still looking for men and women who have what it takes to win: power, strategy, and courage. These three essentials for victory are illustrated in this chapter in the lives of the first three judges.

In this chapter, you will find “five lords of the Philistines” (v. 3) and the king of Moab called “lord” (v. 25); but more importantly “the Lord,” meaning Jehovah God, is named fifteen times in these thirty verses. That lets us know who is really in charge. The Presbyterian missionary leader A.T. Pierson used to say that “history is His story,” and he was right. As He executes His divine decrees, God never violates human responsibility, but He does rule and overrule in the affairs of individuals and nations to accomplish His great purposes on this earth.

The early church prayed, “Lord, You are God!” and they gladly confessed that their enemies could do only “whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done” (Acts 4:24, 28, nikjv). Poet T. S. Eliot said, “Destiny waits in the hand of God, not in the hands of statesmen.”

God’s mercy toward His people (vv. 1–4). The tribe of Judah was not able to hold on to the key Philistine cities they had taken (1:18; 3:3), and as we saw in chapter 1, the other tribes failed to conquer the Canaanite nations. These surviving nations adopted a “good neighbor” policy toward Israel that eventually defeated Israel from within. Sometimes Satan comes as a lion to devour, but often he comes as a serpent to deceive (1 Peter 5:8; 2 Cor. 11:3).

God could have judged Israel for sparing the wicked Canaanite nations, but in His mercy He spared them because He had purposes for them to fulfill. Israel had committed a serious blunder in not trusting God to give them victory, but God sought to use their mistake for their own good. Romans 8: worked even in Old Testament days.

He would use the enemy to train Israel, to help the new generation learn the meaning of war (Judg. 3:1–2; see Ex. 13:17). Life had been relatively easy for the Jews in the Promised Land, and they needed the challenge of ever-present danger to keep them alert and disciplined. This is not to say God always approves of war or that participating in conflict always builds character. Combat experience might do just the opposite. The point is that the Jews had to keep some kind of standing army, or their enemies could quickly unite and overpower them, especially when Israel was at such a low ebb spiritually. In the years to come, both Saul and David would need effective armies in order to overcome their many enemies and establish the kingdom.

God also used the Canaanite nations to test Israel and reveal whether or not His people would obey the regulations Moses had given them from the Lord (Judg. 3:4). God had made it very clear to the Jews that they were not to study “comparative religion” and get interested in the pagan practices of the Canaanites (Deut. 7:1–11). It was that kind of curiosity that had brought divine judgment on Israel in the land of Moab (see Num. 25), because curiosity is often the first step toward conformity.

Of course, Israel should have been a witness to the surviving pagan nations and sought to win them to faith in the true and living God, but they failed in that responsibility as well. What a difference it would have made in subsequent national history if the Jews had won the Canaanites to the Lord instead of the Canaanites winning the Jews to Baal!

God’s anger toward His people (vv. 5–8). God had put a wall between Israel and her neighbors, not because Israel was better than any other nation, but because she was different. Instead of worshipping idols, the Jews worshipped the one true God who made the heavens and the earth. Humans did not devise the laws and covenants of Israel; God did. Israel alone had the true sanctuary where God dwelt in His glory; it was the true priesthood, ordained by God; and it had the true altar and sacrifices that God would respect (Rom 9:4–5). Only through Israel would all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 12:1–3).

When Israel obeyed the Lord, He blessed them richly, and both their conduct and God’s blessing were a testimony for their unbelieving neighbors. (See Gen. 23:6; 26:26–33; 30:27; 39:5.) The pagan people would say, “These Jews are different. The God they worship and serve is a great God!” And the Jewish people would then have had opportunities to tell their neighbors how to trust Jehovah and receive His forgiveness and blessing. (See Deut. 4:1–13.)

Alas, instead of trusting God to change their neighbors, the gods of their neighbors changed the Jews, and everything Moses warned them not to do, they did. The Jews broke down the wall of separation between themselves and their godless neighbors, and the results were tragic. Contrary to God’s law, Jewish men married pagan wives, and Jewish women married pagan husbands (Gen. 24:3; 26:34–35; 27:46; Ex. 34:15–16; Deut. 7:3–4; Josh. 23:12). The idolaters gradually stole the hearts of their mates from worshipping Jehovah to worshipping false gods. King Solomon made this same mistake. After all, when you marry outside the will of God, you have to do something to keep peace in the family! (See 1 Kings 11:1–13; 2 Cor. 6:14—7:1.)

Is it any wonder that God became angry? Is it any wonder He humiliated Israel by using pagan nations to discipline His own people? Since Israel was acting like the pagans, God had to treat them like pagans! “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd” (Ps. 18:25–26 niv).

Jehovah is the God of all the nations, “for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations” (Ps. 22:27–28 niv). Proud King Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way “that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (Dan. 4: nkjv).

Four times in the book of Judges we’re told that God “sold” His people to the enemy (2:14; 3:8; 4:2; 10:7; and see 1 Sam. 12:9; 1 Kings 21:20, 25; Ps. 44:12). The Jews acted like slaves, so God sold them like slaves. Had the Jews been faithful to the Lord, He would have sold their enemies into Israel’s hands (Deut. 32:30).

The name of the king of Mesopotamia means “doubly wicked Cushan,” which may have been a nickname that his enemies gave him. We aren’t told where he invaded Israel, although logically the attack would have come from the north; nor are we told how much of the land he subjugated for those eight painful years. Since the deliverer God raised up was from Judah, it’s possible that the invading army had penetrated that far south in Israel when the Lord decided to intervene on behalf of His suffering people.

Charles Spurgeon said that God never allows His people to sin successfully. Their sin will either destroy them or it will invite the chastening hand of God. If the history of Israel teaches the contemporary church anything it’s the obvious lesson that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14: niv).

God’s salvation for His people (vv. 9–11). There’s no evidence that the people repented of their sins when they cried out to God for help, but the Lord responded to their plight and gave them a deliverer. It was the exodus experience all over again: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them” (Ex. 2:24–25). The word “knew” means much more than intellectual understanding, for God knows everything. It means that God identified with their trials and felt a concern for their welfare.

The deliverer He raised up was Othniel, the man who captured Hebron and married Caleb’s daughter (1:10–13). Bible scholars don’t agree as to the exact blood relationship Othniel had to Caleb. Was Othniel Caleb’s nephew—that is, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother—or was he simply Caleb’s younger brother? As far as the text is concerned, either interpretation is possible.

If he was Caleb’s brother, then why was his father’s name Kenaz instead of Jephunneh (1 Chron. 4:13; Josh. 14:6)? Perhaps Jephunneh had died, and Caleb’s mother married Kenaz and gave birth to Othniel. Thus, Othniel would have been Caleb’s half-brother. First Chronicles 4: indicates that Othniel was the son of Kenaz, but the word “son” is used rather broadly in Jewish genealogies and doesn’t always mean a direct father/son relationship.

Fortunately, we don’t have to untangle the branches in Othniel’s family tree before we can benefit from the example of his life and ministry. By blood and by marriage, he belonged to a family noted for its courageous faith and its willingness to face the enemy and depend on God for the victory. When God called Othniel, he was available for the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and empowered him for battle (Judg. 3:10).

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4: nkjv). This was the secret of Othniel’s strength, as it was with Gideon (Judg. 6:34), Jephthah (11:29), and Samson (14:6, 19; 15:14); and it must be the source of the believer’s power today (Acts 1:8; 2:4; 4:8, 31; Eph. 5:18). One of the former directors of the Evangelical Alliance Mission, T. J. Bach, said, “The Holy Spirit longs to reveal to you the deeper things of God. He longs to love through you. He longs to work through you. Through the blessed Holy Spirit you may have: strength for every duty, wisdom for every problem, comfort in every sorrow, joy in His overflowing service.”

Othniel not only rescued his nation from bondage, but also served his people as judge for forty years. This meant that he exercised authority in managing the affairs of the nation, and it was his spiritual and civil leadership that brought rest to the land. Never underestimate the good that one person can do who is filled with the Spirit of God and obedient to the will of God.

Unlike Moses, who appointed Joshua to lead Israel, the judges didn’t have the authority to name a successor. When God called men and women to serve as judges, they obeyed, did His work, and then passed from the scene. One would hope that their godly influence would make a lasting difference in the spiritual life of the nation, but such wasn’t the case. No sooner was a judge off the scene than the people were back to worshipping Baal and forsaking the Lord.

You would think that gratitude alone would have motivated the people of Israel to obey the Lord and be faithful to His covenant, especially after enduring eight years of painful servitude. And think of all that God had done for Israel in the past! They would have been a forgotten little nation if God hadn’t loved them and chosen them for Himself (Deut. 7:1–11). They would have perished in Egypt or in the wilderness if God hadn’t delivered them and cared for them. They would have died on the battlefields of Canaan if the Lord hadn’t given them victory over their enemies. They would have been wallowing in moral sewage if the Lord hadn’t given them His law and the priests to teach it to them. They had God’s presence in the tabernacle and God’s promises in the covenant, so what more could they want?

Somewhere the system broke down, and I think it was with the priests and the parents. The priests and Levites were not only to officiate at the tabernacle, but they also were to teach the law to the people and encourage them to obey it (Lev. 10:11; Deut. 33:8–10; 17:8–9; 1 Sam. 2:12–17; Mal. 2:1–9). Jewish parents were expected to teach their children the ways of the Lord (Deut. 6:6–25; 11:18–21; and see Gen. 18:17–19 and Job 1:5) and be good examples for them to follow. During the period of the judges, however, it appears that the older generation neglected the important ministry of instructing the new generation about the fear of the Lord (Ps. 34:11).

Eglon, the oppressor (vv. 12–14). The armies of Mesopotamia came a long distance to invade Israel, but the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites were not only neighbors but also relatives of the Jews. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was the ancestor of Moab and Ammon (Gen. 19:30–38), and Esau, the brother of Jacob, was the ancestor of Amalek (Gen. 36:12, 16; Deut. 25:17, 19).

Eglon, the king of Moab, organized the confederacy and set up his headquarters at Jericho, “the city of palm trees” (Deut. 34:3). Jericho was under a curse (Josh. 6:26), and there’s no evidence that the city had been rebuilt, but the location was ideal for directing military operations, and there was an abundance of water there. For eighteen years, Eglon and his allies made life miserable for the Jews. It must have been especially galling to them to be under the heels of blood relatives who were also their longtime adversaries.

Ehud, the deliverer (vv. 15–30). Othniel, the first judge, had come from the tribe of Judah. The second judge, Ehud, a lefthanded man, came from Judah’s neighbor, Benjamin—the name “Benjamin” means “son of my right hand.” (The Benjamites were known for their ambidexterity. See Judg. 20: and 1 Chron. 12:2.) However, the text of Judges 3: can be translated “a man handicapped in the right hand,” which suggests that he was not ambidextrous at all but able to use only his left hand. If that indeed is the meaning of the text, then Ehud’s plan for killing Eglon was a masterpiece of strategy. It’s also a great encouragement to people with physical disabilities who may have the erroneous idea that God can’t use them in His service.

Ehud had several problems to solve, and he solved them successfully. At the top of the list was how to gain access to King Eglon without making anybody suspicious. He accomplished this by making himself the leader of the commission that brought the king his annual tribute. The paying of tribute not only added to the king’s wealth, which he would enjoy, but it also acknowledged the king’s authority over Israel, and Eglon would enjoy that as well. Of course, Eglon didn’t know that Ehud was God’s appointed leader to deliver Israel, otherwise, he would have had him killed on sight.

The second problem was securing a private audience with the king without exciting the distrust of his attendants and guards. Ehud did this first by leaving the king’s presence together with his men after they had done homage to Eglon, and then Ehud coming back later alone as though he had an urgent message for the king. A solitary man with a lame right hand couldn’t be much of a threat to a powerful king, and perhaps this despised Jew really did have a word from his God. Eglon may have felt proud that the God of Israel had a message for him, and since he was no doubt afraid not to listen to it, he dismissed his guards and attendants and gave Ehud a personal interview in his private chambers.

Since Ehud had to kill Eglon in a way that was quick and quiet and that would catch the king by surprise, he made use of his disability. Ehud made a very sharp dagger and hid it under his clothing on his right side. Even if the guards frisked him, they would most likely examine the left side of his body where most men carried their weapons. Seeing that he was a handicapped man, they probably didn’t examine him at all.

Even a king must stand to receive a message from God. When Eglon stood, Ehud may have gestured with his right hand to distract him and show him there was nothing in his hand, and then Ehud reached for his dagger and plunged it into the fat king’s body. It must have been a powerful thrust because the point of the dagger came out the king’s back, and Eglon was dead instantly.

The next problem was how to escape from the palace without getting caught, and this he accomplished by locking the door of the private chamber and delaying the discovery of the corpse. As Ehud hastened away, the attendants concluded that the interview was over, so they went to see if their king wanted anything. The three “behold” statements in verses 24–25 indicate the three surprises that they experienced: the doors were locked, the king didn’t respond to their knocks and calls, and the king was dead. All of this took time and gave Ehud opportunity to escape.

His final problem was to rally the troops and attack the enemy. The trumpet signal called the men out, and he led them to the fords of the Jordan, assuring them that the Lord had given Moab into their hands. The victory would come by trusting the Lord and not by depending on their own strength. By guarding the fords, the Israelites prevented the Moabites from escaping or from bringing in fresh troops. Since Ephraim was one of the most powerful tribes in Israel, Ehud had excellent soldiers to command. Accordingly, they killed 10,000 of the best Moabite soldiers. Not only was Moab defeated, but also the tables were turned and the Moabites became subject to Israel. We assume that Moab’s defeat was the signal for their allies, Ammon and Amalek, to leave the field of battle.

If the Jews had been asked to vote on a leader, Ehud probably would have lost on the first ballot. But he was God’s choice, and God used him to set the nation free. Moses was slow of speech and Paul was not imposing in his appearance, but Moses and Paul, like Ehud, were men of faith who led others to victory. Ehud turned a disability into a possibility because he depended on the Lord.

Only one verse is devoted to Shamgar, and it isn’t even stated that he was a judge. Judges 5:6–7 indicates that he was contemporary with Deborah and Barak. “Son of Anath” may mean that he was from the town of Beth Anath in Naphtali (1:33), which was also the tribe Barak came from (4:6; see 5:18). Since Anath was the name of a Canaanite goddess of war, perhaps “son of Anath” was a nickname that meant “son of battle”— that is, a mighty warrior.

What was significant about Shamgar was the weapon that he used. An ox goad was a strong pole about eight feet long. At one end was a sharp metal point for prodding the oxen and at the other end a spade for cleaning the dirt off the plow. It was the closest thing Shamgar could find to a spear because the enemy had confiscated the weapons of the Israelites (5:8; see 1 Sam. 13:19–22).

Here was a man who obeyed God and defeated the enemy even though his resources were limited. Instead of complaining about not possessing a sword or spear, Shamgar gave what he had to the Lord, and the Lord used it. Joseph Parker said, “What is a feeble instrument in the hands of one man is a mighty instrument in the hands of another, simply because the spirit of that other burns with holy determination to accomplish the work that has to be done.”

Shamgar may have killed all 600 Philistines at one time in one place (see 2 Sam. 8:8–12), but it’s also possible that 600 is a cumulative total. An ox goad would be an unwieldy weapon to use if 600 soldiers had attacked Shamgar at one time. Since we don’t know the details, we must not speculate. It’s just encouraging to know that God enabled him to overcome the enemy though his resources were limited.

The few words that are recorded about Shamgar give me the impression that he was a man of persistent courage, which, of course was born out of his faith in the Lord. To stand his ground against the enemy, having only a farmer’s tool instead of a soldier’s full military equipment, marks Shamgar out as a brave man with steadfast courage.

Charles Spurgeon once gave a lecture at his Pastor’s College entitled “To Workers with Slender Apparatus.” Shamgar didn’t hear that lecture, but I’m sure he could have given it! And I suspect he would have closed his lecture by saying, “Give whatever tools you have to the Lord, stand your ground courageously, and trust God to use what’s in your hand to accomplish great things for His glory.”

To paraphrase E. M. Bounds, the world is looking for better methods, but God is looking for better men and women who understand the basics: the power of the Holy Spirit, wise strategy, and steadfast courage.

Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar have shown us the way. Will we follow?