The First Two Periods of Disobedience
Chapter 3 records the first two periods of disobedience. The First Rebellion.
- Their sin:
They allowed the Canaanites to live amongst them.
They took wives from the Canaanites. They gave their sons and
daughters to the Canaanites. They served the Canaanite gods. Verse
7 sums it up, "They did evil in the sight of the Lord."
- Their servitude:
God sold the people of Israel into the hands of
the King of Mesopotamia (between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers),
and they served him for 8 years.
- Their repentance:
"They cried out unto the Lord."
- Their restoration:
The Lord sent Othniel, son of Caleb's younger
brother, the one who married his cousin in chapter 1, Caleb's
daughter. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel and he went out
to war and delivered Israel from the King of Mesopotamia.
- Their rest:
There was rest in the land for 40 years.
The Second Rebellion.
- Their sin:
"The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord."
- Their servitude:
God allowed Eglon, King of Moab, to assemble
the forces of Ammon and Amalek and they came and possessed Israel
for 18 years.
- Their repentance:
"The children of Israel cried out unto the
Lord."
- Their restoration:
The Lord sent a man by the name of Ehud, the
son of Gera a Benjaminite, a "left handed" man. It's interesting
that the name Benjamin means, "son of my right hand", yet most
Benjaminites were left handed. The Hebrew words used here and
translated "left handed", literally means, he had no use of his
right hand. This could indicate a birth defect or loss by accident.
This is just another account of God using "imperfect" people to do
his will. The plan required a strong man with dexterity, since Ehud
probably didn't have either; he had to rely on the Spirit of the
Lord. Notice the plan that God had for Ehud. He was to take a
present to King Eglon. He was to hide an 18-inch, two-edged knife
under his garment. When he got into the presence of King Eglon, he
was to tell the king that he had a secrete message for him, and when
the king sent his servants out of the room, Ehud was to kill the
king with the knife. It worked quite well. Ehud locked the door
into the king's chamber and left by the back door. The servants
finding the door locked, assumed that the meeting was still going on
or that the king was resting. When they finally got worried about
the kings well fare, they obtained a key and entered the room.
There they found the king dead. In the meantime, Ehud had escaped.
In the confusion that resulted in the loss of their king, Ehud
crossed the Jordan with the Israeli troops and killed 10,000
Moabites.
- Their rest:
There was peace in the land for 80 years.
The chapter ends with an account of a man by the name of Sham-gar, used of
God to kill 600 Philistines. It took care of the annoying problem of the
Philistines, at least for a while. Not much background is given here but in
the Song of Deborah, she tells of the conditions in S-W Israel where the
highways were deserted because of the plundering of the Philistines. Tradition
says that Sham-gar was plowing his field and 600 Philistines showed up. He
took his plow and killed all 600 of them by the strength of the Lord. Verse 31
says he used an ox goad, either way, God accomplished what seemed to be an
impossible task with a very weak weapon. He only killed 600 but it slowed down
the plundering of the Philistines for a while.
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