Unlikely Delieverers

As we begin to move through the cycles of the judges, we must bear in mind how the author has set things up for us in the prologue. He gave us the pattern of the cycles in chapter two, and as we move into the cycles themselves, we will see that pattern unfold.

We must be on guard for attempts to moralize the text. If we fall into that trap we will miss what the author was trying to communicate.

The two themes that will emerge over and over again are the increasing Canaanization of the people of Israel, and the Covenant faithfulness of God.

Othniel: Forgetting but not Forgotten

Judges 3:7–11 ESV

7 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

This paragraph gives us the paradigm for the whole book. Just as it was said in chapter two, so it plays out in the first cycle.

The people forsake the Lord.

Verse seven says that they “forgot” the Lord and served the Baals. This word for “forgot” doesn’t carry the idea that something just slipped their minds, like they developed a form of spiritual amnesia. It speaks of having a lack of regard for something. They did not pay suffient attention to something that they ought to have focused on, namely the Lord!

Forgetfulness is semi-major theme throughout the Old Testament. We are commanded to remember!

When I was in college, I learned a painful lesson about forgetfulness. I was hired by a church to perform certain duties, and in the midst of all the things going on with school and work and church....I forgot about some of my responsibilities. They just weren’t in my head.

For a while I thought that this absolved me of wrongdoing. You can’t fault a guy for forgetting! I didn’t deliberately ignore or brush things off. I just got busy and....forgot.

I had to learn that forgetfulness only adds to the sin. My forgetfulness was evidence that I did not regard that responsibility high enough so as to remember. Part of my responsibility is to remember! To forget is an offense worthy of discipline on its own.

The people forgot the Lord their God. They did not regard him highly enough so as to keep his commands.

Instead, they served the fertility gods of the land.

And so we see God’s response. He delivers them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim. Again, God has every right to be angry. It is no small thing to serve the Baals and Asheroth, as we discussed last week. And just like God promised he would, he turns them over to the people of the land, in this case Cushan-Rishathaim.

Who is this guy? We only know of this man from this text, and that may be partly because of how his name is presented here. Cushan Rishathaim literally means “Cushan, the double wicked”. More than likely this was a pejorative title given to him by those he oppressed. As a result we don’t have much by way of extra-biblical resources on him. It says he the king of Mesopotamia....the Hebrew words that are translated there refer to a region, and would be literally translated “the land of the double rivers”

Thus you have Cushan the Double-wicked King of the Double-Rivers land. A phrase that rhymes in Hebrew.

So God gives over the forgetful Israelites into the hand of this double-wicked ruler and they are oppressed for eight years.

But the people cry out to the Lord.

When we see this concept of “cried out” we need to be careful to not read more into that than what it says. This word on its own does not mean that they were repentant. In fact, it can be argued that this particular word is never used to signify repentance, but that idea has to come from other words in the context.

Rather the idea is that they cried out in agony. They groaned under the burden. They knew that they were in trouble, and they “remembered” God, and asked for help. “God I need your help right now”

How many of you have had friends that you knew if they were calling, it was because they wanted or needed something? I’ve known a few of those over the years. They didn’t stick around because I figured out what they were doing and put an end to it.

This is how most people in America interact with God. There is no prayer, no Scripture reading, no interaction with the God they claim to follow except perhaps occasional church attendance and the plea for help when things go wrong. What kind of faith is that? We are called to be God’s ambassadors....what kind of ambassador never communicates with his King outside of needing help??

This is the people of Israel.

Nevertheless, we see the faithfulness of God in his deliverance:

Judges 3:9–11 ESV

9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Though the people were forgetful, they were not forgotten.

God raised up Othniel to cast off the oppression of Cushan, the double-wicked.

This is Othniel’s second appearance in this book. We saw him back in chapter one. We noted when we moved through that text that Othniel was a Canaanite by birth. He was not an Israelite. Yet he was convinced that Yahweh was the one true God and he became a proselyte and was assimilated into the Israelite community.

Again, another testament to God’s mercy.

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him and he judged Israel, he went out to war, and the Lord gave this double wicked man into his hand.

Who is the primary actor in those verses? It’s God! Othniel was God’s instrument, but it was God who was at work!

And so we see the people move from sin, to suffering, to supplication, to salvation, to rest, and the first cycle is complete.

Ehud: Divine Comedy

Things didn’t last long in their newfound state of peace. 40 years is about one generation. That’s all it took to see the people slide back into idolatry once again.

Judges 3:12–14 ESV

12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Notice that it takes longer for the people to cry out this time. Already we are seeing the degradation in this detail alone.

Judges 3:15–25 ESV

15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. 24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

What are we to do with a story like that? As far as pure stories go, it doesn’t get much better than this, right? I mean, kids love this story! The text itself is just dripping with divine comedy, irony, and mockery of the Moabites.

First you have Ehud, a Benjamite who is left-handed. The name Benjamin literally means “son of my right hand” and here is a left-handed man. The irony is not lost on the Hebrew listeners.

Because he is left handed, he is able to conceal his weapon on the opposite side that would normally be searched by the guards. His dagger was around 18 inches in length, likely contained a blade with a handle with no cross piece.

Then there is Eglon. “a very fat man”. He is portrayed as not only being physically fat, but mentally dull. He has a “secret message” for the king and he falls for it hook line and sinker. When Eglon hears there is a secret message, we requires silence, which his guards interpreted as meaning “time to leave”, which left Ehud and Eglon alone on the roof chamber.

This was where the cool evening breeze could blow and apparently there was a private restroom chamber up there, as we will see in a moment.

Ehud then repeats that he has a message, but this time he says it is from God. Eglon staggers to his feet, only to be met with the dagger from Ehud’s hand “this is the message”. And being as fat as he was, Ehud didn’t even try to get the dagger back. it pierced him through and the text says the dung came out.

The means of Ehud’s escape is ambiguous from the Hebrew. It says he locked the doors and went out into the porch. Some scholars believe that he literally slide down the waste shaft from the toilet chamber to escape.

The guards, seeing the door is locked seek to give the king his privacy, until the embarrassment of waiting is worse than the potential embarrassment of intruding upon their king using the toilet.

And then we find the ccount of delieverance from the Moabites:

Judges 3:26–30 ESV

26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. 28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. 29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

What a story, huh? Depending on your perspective the details might be humorous or gross.

What do we do with that? Many have read this text and scratched their heads. How do we make sense and find application to today?

As I was studying this week and seeing how different commentators handled this text, several tried to moralize this text in a variety of ways:

Be like Ehud! He had problems, but he found clever solutions!

Or others say Don’t be like Ehud! He used treachery and deception to accomplish his purposes!

Are we just supposed to look at this text and find how we should or should not be like Ehud?

This text shows us a few things. First, history isn’t sanitized. The Bible doesn’t sugar-coat history.

The story is messy. And that’s part of the point.

Ehud was a treacherous man. He was deceptive. He used Canaanite tactics of the cunning and deceit to accomplish his assassination.

And yet, God used Ehud to accomplish HIS purposes.

By all accounts, Ehud isn’t the model leader. and yet he was used by God to cast off the Moabites.

Again, the main character of the story is God! Despite the faults of the men that God uses, God is still the one in control. He used Moab to punish Israel, and then he likewise judged Moab for her crimes.

And the land had rest for eighty years. Two generations seemed to remember God this time around. The rest lasted longer.

Just as an aside, part of me wonders if these statements of “the land had rest for x years” are additional subtle indictments. I mean, they for sure are statements of God’s mercy and grace as they recover from the hand of their oppressors. But what had God commanded them? To drive out the inhabitants.

What were they doing during these times of rest? apparently just living their lives and not driving out the inhabitants. Thus they are led into additional apostacy as the cycles get worse and worse.

And so from sin, to suffering, to supplication, to salvation, to rest, the second cycle is complete.

Shamgar: Obscure Victory

Judges 3:31 ESV

31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.

This is one of a few judges who have very little written beyond simply mentioning them.

What do we make of this?

First, Shamgar is not an Israelite name. It is a Canaanite name. Second, Anath is not the name of a person, but of a false god.

Shamgar was likely another proselyte that God used to deliver Israel.

An oxgoad is a long spear-like tool with a point on one end used to prod oxen in the proper direct, and it had a spade-like tool on the other end used for a variety of purposes.

It’s not clear if 600 Philistines was all at once or if it was a life-time total.

What is clear is that God used this man to “save” Israel.

It’s an obscure victory by an obscure judge. What do we make of it?

I once heard a sermon from this text saying that we can learn to use the tools available to us. Shamgar might not have had a sword, but he had an oxgoad. You may not have the tool you think you need, but what has God given you that you can use?

This moralizing of the text misses the entire point.

An obscure man. A man of pagan heritage! Used by God to accomplish his purposes.

The point is that God used this man. God is the primary actor here!

God often accomplishes his purposes through unlikely means, displaying his faithfulness to a forgetful people

I’ve titled this message “unlikely Deliverers” because these men are not what we expect from the people of God. But the reality is that these men are not the heroes of the story. As we will see throughout the book of judges, sometimes the character—or lack thereof—of the judges themselves reveals the depravity of the people and is part of the harrowing story. These men aren’t heroes to be idolized. They are flawed men…and yet God used them.

And that should be our focus: the real hero of the story here is God. God empower Othniel. God used Ehud, as deceitful as he was. God worked through Shamgar.

and yet despite his continual intervening in the lives of the Israelites, chapter four is going to pick right back up with the phrase that will be become all too common as we work through this book:

Judges 4:1 ESV

1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

Come on guys!

And yet, God was faithful.

This is what the author wants us to know. As he drives us to this need for a King, he portrays this vast contrast between the worsening wickedness of Israel against God’s covenant faithfulness.

God didn’t have to save Israel. Their cries were not true repentance. Despite their sin,