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Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar

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5 ✦ judges 3:7–31 SUMMARY These verses contain the story of Israel’s frst three deliverers, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. In each case, Israel turns away from the Lord, suf‐ fers the consequences of its rebellion by feeling the blows of a foreign oppressor, and in the end is delivered by God’s grace from the painful diffculties caused by spiritual waywardness. COMMENTARY 3:7 Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; they forgot the LORD their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years. The writer now introduces the frst “sin-cycle” of his book. These cy‐ cles always begin with Israel’s defection: The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. Their sinful actions lay not in commission but in neglect—a passive evil in which the sinner does nothing (that is the evil). A spiritual life that is not attended is like a garden that is not cultivated: it doesn’t improve, it degenerates. By defnition the wor‐ ship of the true God is active: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” Israel, by contrast, simply forgot the Lord. The world system that sur‐ rounds believers makes a point of singing lullabies to us. It soothes us 59 to sleep with simple lyrics: “what you see is all there is.” There is no Creator. There is no great Lover beyond the matter in which we fnd ourselves encased. That is not to say that Israel did not worship. Being worshiping crea‐ tures by nature, they worshiped what everyone else worshiped: the Baals and the Asherahs. And when creatures adore the things that cannot help them, God sometimes shakes them awake by giving them a dose of divinely imposed slavery. Such was the case now: the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to King Cushan- rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. The latter term means “Aram [Syria] of the twin rivers” and refers to the territory from which the founder of the nation, Abraham, had come six centuries before. A Syrian king, a ruler of the people that Abram had left behind, began to invade the land settled by Abram’s descendants. Abram had left Aram-naharaim and his idolatrous kin behind (Gen. 24:10; Josh. 24:1-2). Now God was using their offspring to discipline his. They served him eight years. By this the author primarily conveys the notion of economic servitude. The Israelites were forced to pay taxes (probably in the form of a spec‐ ifed portion of their annual harvest) to a distant ruler who did noth‐ ing for them. Failure to comply risked confscation of the entire crop and the prospect of starvation. 3:9 The Israelites cried out to the LORD. So the LORD raised up Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s youngest brother, as a deliverer to save the Is- raelites. 10 The Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel went out to battle, and the LORD handed over King Cushan- rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel overpowered him. 11 Then the land had peace for forty years, and Othniel son of Kenaz died. As a result, the Israelites cried out to the Lord. It would be wrong to draw the conclusion that this cry expressed sorrow or repentance for the wrongs they had done the Lord. The Lord was simply another pos‐ sible source of help for them. If they were to proft spiritually from the bitterness of their condition, someone would need to point that out to them, and someone did. The reader now sees a familiar face in the story. Othniel, Caleb’s nephew and victor over Hebron, is the frst great Israelite deliverer. The writer carefully points out that the dramatic rescue to come be‐ 60 gins with divine enablement: The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel. Othniel became his nation’s rescuer in more than one sense. First came the physical: Othniel went out to battle, and the Lord handed over King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram to him, so that Othniel over‐ powered him. It is probably to be understood that Othniel did not face Cushan and his raiders by himself, but it is unlikely that Othniel en‐ gaged in a simple act of conventional warfare. He did not recruit addi‐ tional troops so that he could outnumber the Syrian invader. Rather, the Spirit of God (and perhaps a few good men) were all that were needed to send Cushan’s armies away and end the oppression. After that, the land had peace forty years. And so ends the frst deliverance of the book of Judges. 3:12 The Israelites again did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the LORD’s sight. 13 After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms. 14 The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years. Did Israel learn the lesson that God intended from the experience? No. The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and a new enslavement began. This time the enemy came from close by, from the land of Moab, from a much smaller country. In fact, King Eglon found it necessary to recruit two neighboring monarchs to join him in the project of enslaving Israel: Eglon convinced the Am‐ monites and the Amalekites to join forces with him. Nor did the trio try to conquer the whole land, but only a fertile part of it close to Moab: he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the City of Palms. The last expression typically means Jericho (Deut. 34:3; 2 Chron. 28:15), the city destroyed under Joshua. Apparently its fa‐ vored location, water supply, and warm climate had already begun attracting settlers to the site of its devastation, and Eglon saw it as a suitable base for collecting revenues from a subdued nearby popula‐ tion. The Moabite oppression would last for eighteen long years. 61 3:15 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjaminite, as a deliverer for them. The Is- raelites sent him with the tribute for King Eglon of Moab. The Israelites again cried out to the Lord on the basis of their misery (again, no mention is made of repentance), and the Lord responded. He raised up Ehud, a left-handed Benjaminite as a deliverer for them. Unlike Othniel, who apparently met the Syrians in open confict on the battlefeld, Ehud achieves his goals by stealth, deception, and as‐ sassination. He is described here as a left-handed man; literally, “a man restricted with regard to the right hand.” Whether this restriction came merely from lack of skill with the right hand, from a birth de‐ fect, or from some other cause is not immediately clear. It is no doubt ironic that “Benjamin” means “son of the right hand,” so Ehud was certainly a non-standard Benjaminite. 3:16 Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes 17 and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man. 18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it. 19 At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.” The king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants left him. 20 Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and the king stood up from his throne. 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 22 Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out. 23 Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room be- hind him. Ehud’s left-handedness explains why he had made himself a sword… that he strapped to his right thigh for easy access. Ehud’s access to Eglon may have been made easier by his collaboration in the oppres‐ sion of his countrymen. Ehud apparently was a tax-collector, a mem‐ ber of Eglon’s staff, appointed to convey the tribute or tax money of Israel to the king (3:18). That he delivered the tax money before ob‐ taining a second audience with the king may have caused Eglon to 62 relax, since he must have been encouraged by the arrival of these funds. The people who had carried the money were soon dismissed, and Ehud took his leave as well. However, Ehud was soon back in Jericho. At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.” The references to these images poses a question: Why did Ehud turn back upon seeing them? At least two possibilities: (1) Perhaps they served as a fresh reminder to Ehud of Israel’s defection, a re‐ minder that proved unpleasant to the deliverer, whose conscience probably was weighing on him.
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