How do you, as a follower Christ, live out in this world? Jesus once told his disciples to “be shrewd as serpent and innocent as dove” as He sent them in the midst of “wolves” (Matt 10:26). The world can be a hostile place. The circumstance that the Israelites faced in the book of Judges was a similar situation that Jesus described – they were surrounded by “wolves”-like nations.
For that reason, the LORD God gave them tests – in fact, opportunities – for Israel to grow to be able to live out and represent the characters of God as a nation in the midst of hostile nations. This chapter shows how it went for Israel in the beginning of its nationhood.
Testing of the LORD (3:1-4)
In two dimensions the LORD God tested the Israelites – externally and internally. Externally, the LORD allowed some nations to remain so that the Israelites would learn how to wage war. Internally, the LORD tested the Israelites to see whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD. The testing of the LORD was a sign of His love and His father-son relation with Israel: the LORD God was discipling the Israelites just as a man disciplines his son (Duet 8:5). In order for the Israelites to establish a nation that would represent the characters of God and be a source of blessings to the surrounding nations, it was essential for them to undergo the two-dimensional tests.
Externally, the LORD tested the Israelites with the remaining nations for a very practical reason: to teach them how to defend themselves and to strategically wage war, if necessary. Military wars were unavoidable in a fallen world. In the fallen world, militarily strong nations would conquer weaker nations to oppress them and extract resources out of them. The land to be occupied by Israel would be surrounded by hostile nations that did not fear God. For this reason, the LORD left these nations to teach the generations who hadn’t experienced war how to fight. Connecting this to the New Testament, Jesus told his disciples “behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:26).” The Israelites needed to learn how to be as shrewd as serpents in the world filled with wolves.
Internally, the LORD tested Israel to examine the conditions of their hearts. In addition to the military and physical threat, the surrounding nations’ social system and the underlying philosophies posed a grave threat to the Israelites. Their society operated based on the principles where the strong dominate to exploit the weak and people serve false gods to worship prosperity and the desires of the flesh – all of them diametrically in contrast to the law of Moses. The author of the Proverbs urged people to guard their heart as springs of life flow from it (Prov 4:23). In order to live out a life worthy of their calling, the Israelites needed to learn how to defend their hearts, their thought systems against the worldview that diametrically opposed the values of the true God.
These were the tests given by the LORD God. From a different perspective, Israel was given an opportunity to grow by engaging in spiritual warfare to discern the truth from the falsehood.
Israelites Failed the Test (3:5-8)
Unfortunately, the Israelites utterly failed the test of the LORD in both dimensions.
Externally, they were tested to learn how to engage in warfare (3:2). Yet, the surrounding nations started to oppress them (3:8, 3:14). Internally, they were tested to follow the commands of the LORD by loving and following Him (3:4). However, Israel resided with the surrounding nations, adopted their culture, and intermarried them (3:5-6). Soon, Israel forgot the LORD and served other gods, committing what was evil in the sight of the LORD (3:7).
The moment Israel lost their identity as the people of the LORD by serving other gods, the LORD sold the Israelites into the hands of Cushan king of Mesopotamia (3:8). Is it strange to read that the LORD “sold the Israelites into” another nation? The default state is the world in which strong nations conquer and oppress the weak nations – this is considered “natural” in the fallen world. The protection by the LORD was solely due to His goodness and grace. The moment Israel gave up to be God’s people, they lost the special protection that the LORD provided according to His grace.
The LORD Delivers 1: Absence of Northern Tribes (3:9-11)
Cushan came from the Aram area (currently near Syria), north of Israel, to oppress the Israelites. Instead, when the LORD heard the cries of His people, God raised Othniel from Judah, the most south located tribe, to prevail over Cushan to deliver Israel.
It is written that “the Spirit of the LORD came upon” Othniel. Noticeable was the absence of the actions from the Israel tribes located in the northern areas, such as Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun and Manasseh given that Cusha came from the north. Perhaps, the Spirit of the LORD was searching for the appropriate person among the northern tribes to save, but was not able to find one. That no one from the northern tribes was raised as a judge to deliver may indicate a serious degree with which Israel fell away from God to serve other false gods.
The LORD Delivers 2: Ehud vs Eglon (3:12-30)
Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD again soon after Othniel’s period. As a result, Israel was defeated by the coalition of three nations: Moab, Ammon, and Amalek. Moab and Ammon were descendents of Lot. God clearly indicated that the Israelites were not to attack Moab or Ammon (Deuteronomy 2). However, Amalek was a different story. Amalek was the nation that enraged God (Exodus 17). God told the Israelites to utterly destroy Amalek, but because of their failure to do so, Amalek came back to bite back Israel. Afterward, the Israelites were oppressed by the Moabites for 18 years.
The detail analysis of Ehud vs. Eglon story is very well presented in this website. I will defer to this website if you would like to enhance your understanding of this part of the story.
The LORD Delivers 3: Shamgar the Non-Israelite (3:31)
The LORD God loves to work with the marginalized. Neither the name of Shamgar nor his father’s name, Anath, was Jewish. Commentaries say that he was likely to be a non-Israelites, perhaps, a Kenite, among one of those who followed the Judah tribe to settle with them. Therefore, Shamgar was not likely in the mainstream of the Israelite society. However, the LORD empowered Shamgar to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
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