I really appreciate a good roller coaster! Wooden or steel,
tame or terrifying, hanging with my feet dangling or seated in a car, I enjoy these
thrill rides in all their iterations. Roller coasters provide exciting two/three-minute
experiences of highs and lows and loops and steep banks. That said, I wouldn’t
want to spend my entire life on one. At some point, if the ride was too long or
extreme, I imagine it might prove nauseating and even dangerous. Though
I’ve never known anyone to spend all of their time on an literal thrill ride, I
do know many who live their lives on a perpetual spiritual coaster. One compelling
example of this is found in the Book of Judges. With the introduction of this
book out of the way, Judges 3:7-14 describes three
victories that successfully take the reader through the first phase of one wild ride that
will continue through the remainder of the work. Ultimately, this passage teaches that there are there two ways to go about living one’s life--the preferred way of reaching new heights in God's grace through obedience and faithfulness, and the un-preferred way of descending to new lows by means of idolatry and evil.
The patterns identified in the introduction of this book (disobedience/idolatry,
punishment, and foreign powers) surface immediately as the first phase of the
judges is described. This whole repetitive saga begins with Israel’s
disobedience—“the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (3:7a).
This is the first of three reasons given for a foreign power gaining victory
over God’s people—sins of commission. Israel was doing things contrary to the
law of God as revealed through Moses. They were actively engaging in sinful
behavior and for this reason, they stood to receive severe discipline.
Their sinful behavior probably came a direct result of the
second reason given for their failure—“and forgot the Lord their God,…” (3:7b).
Often these two—sinful behavior and forgetting God—go hand-in-hand. Failure to
keep God’s revelation at the forefront of one’s mind often leaves one more susceptible
to committing acts against Him. This is why there are many encouragements given
for the people of God to remember the word of the Lord. For example, back in
Deuteronomy 11:18-19 the Lord says, “You shall therefore impress these words of
mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your
hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your
sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the
road and when you lie down and when you rise up.” It is obvious that by Judges
3, a generation or two had neglected this all-important practice of teaching
the next generation about who God is and what he has said. As a result, they
took God for granted, and worse, they forgot him all together!
Sinful behavior and forgetting God inevitably lead to the
third reason for Israel’s failure and Mesopotamia’s victory—idolatry—“and
served the Baals and the Asheroth” (3:7c). Rather than worship the one true
God, the Israelites were lured in by the Canaanite influences around them and began
worshipping all forms of the weather God and his mistress.
Though the original readers are not yet privy to the consequences
of Israel’s disobedience, today’s students already know that those who failed at
the beginning of this book were going to reap all kinds of heartache and
difficulty as a result. The Israelites in Judges would have never expected the
degree of pain and suffering they were in for given their failures listed here.
The sad thing is, many are surprised when they suffer for giving into the same
practices today. What is present in this passage is not unlike what is
witnessed all too often in our own context, even among those who claim to be
the people of God. Sinful behavior left unconfessed and undealt with can lead
many to eventually take God for granted in their lives or forget him and his
word altogether. This can eventually leave one susceptible to replacing God at
the forefront and center of his/her life with something/someone else. The only
thing that can ultimately result from taking a ride down this slippery slope is
disaster (whether then or now).
For Israel, this disaster happens in three phases. First, “the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,…” (3:8a). This is similar to what
was introduced in 2:14 immediately after idolatry had been practiced by the people
of God. As argued earlier in this study, the quickest way for God’s people to incur
the wrath of the Lord is to extend worship to something other than him. It is
no accident that immediately upon the description of Israel’s idolatry, the
anger of the Lord surfaces with white-hot intensity.
So how angry is the Lord? Angry enough “that He sold them
into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia,…” (3:8b). While little
is known about this pagan leader, one thing is for sure: the first oppressor God
sends Israel’s way is no small regional leader. In fact, this king of Mesopotamia,
unlike the others that will be used to discipline Israel, is the most powerful
of all the enemies named in this book. One commentator has said, “for him to
have extended his tentacles as far as Judah in southern Canaan mean he was a
world-class emperor” with an especially far reach (Block, Judges, Ruth, 153).
That said, it is important to recognize that powerful though this first oppressor
may be, there is one power who is stronger—God Himself. Nothing escapes the
sovereign control of God. It is God who sells Israel into the hands of this
emperor and only because God deems necessary/appropriate. While some, including
some of God’s people during this time, may have pointed blame at Mesopotamia for
their misfortune, ultimately, their beef was with the God they betrayed. It is he
who is pulling these disciplinary strings.
As a result of their being sold to Mesopotamia, “the sons of
Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years” (3:8c). Because of their great
disobedience, forgetfulness, and idolatry, Israel finds herself in the very
same position from which God had saved them years prior—enslaved by a pagan
ruler.
2. VICTORY #2: Othniel’s Victory Over Mesopotamia-3:9-11
It is in this context that God raises up the first of many judges
named Othniel to lead his people to victory amid oppression. However, this only
comes after “the sons of Israel cried to the Lord,…” (3:9a). Make no mistake,
this outcry is not motivated by sincere penitence or contrition. Instead, it is
a cry of pain and a plea for help. Remember when God answers this cry he is not
doing so because Israel has made any attempt at repentance or getting it right
(see notes on chapter 2:18). He is instead answering a complaint, demonstrating
how utterly gracious and compassionate he is in this particular saga.
God’s grace comes in the form of a deliverer named Othniel—“the
Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the
son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother,…” (3:9b). Though you may not remember,
you’ve heard this man’s name before, in 1:12-13.
Judges 1:12-13-“And Caleb said, ‘The one who attacks
Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife.’
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Calen’s younger brother capture it; so he gave him
his daughter Achsah for a wife.”
As a proven conqueror of the Canaanites and one who married
withing the covenant community, Othniel is a fitting choice to lead God’s people
during this time. Add to this his connection to Joshua and Caleb and Othniel
stood as a model of the ideal Israelite leader whose faith produced courage and
obedience (Chisholm, Judges and Ruth, 171).
This is proven in the brief description of Othniel’s success—success
that comes not because of his own strength, but God’s strength at work in him.
Verse 10 reads, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel” (3:10a).
This verse describes, at least in part, how the Holy Spirit operated in the Old
Testament world (see 6:34; 11:29; 14:19; 15:14; 1 Sam. 11:6; 16:13-14). That
said, in both testaments, the Spirit of God is the agent through which God’s
will is exercised (be it through a person or through creation, etc.). In the Book
of Judges, when the “spirit of the Lord comes upon individuals, it demonstrates
the “arresting presence and power of God, often of individuals who are
unqualified for or indisposed to service for him” (Block, Judges, Ruth, 155).
In this specific case, the Holy Spirit transforms a low-ranking Israelite
officer with a weak resume into the ruler of Israel and a conqueror of a formidable
enemy.
“When he went to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of
Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim” (3:10b).
Let’s put this into perspective. You have the emperor of Mesopotamia with a
sprawling kingdom that reaches across the known world going up against a brand
new, un-proven leader of Israel which is at this point occupies a relatively
small jurisdiction in the collection of dominated regions under
Cushan-rishathaim’s control. That said, what Othniel has going for him that
Cushan-rishathaim doesn’t is the Spirit of God and the Lord’s promise of
victory. What appeared to be an unfair fight in favor of Cushan-rishathaim
actually proved to be a lop-sided victory in the opposite direction. What made
the difference—the God of Israel!
What Othniel enjoyed under the Spirit’s control is similar
to what believers today can enjoy because of the indwelling Holy Spirit in
their own lives—confidence and victory in whatever God calls them to
accomplish. As 1 John 4:4 states “greater is he that is in me than he who is in
the world.” As it was in Othniel’s life, so does it prove to be in the lives of
God’s people today: it is the Holy Spirit that more than covers the difference
between our weakness and the strength of our foes, our inexperience and the
expertise of those rage against the Lord, our limitations and the power of God’s
enemies.
As a result of the Spirit’s work through Othniel, “then the
land had rest forty years.” (3:11). Some speculate that the duration of this
rest might involve a rounded-out figure as forty often symbolizes the lifespan
of a generation. It might also be significant that the “land” is said to enjoy the
rest, not the people. This reminds the reader that while geo-political peace
was enjoyed here, it is not as though the people were enjoying true spiritual
rest. God had brought them victory over a powerful enemy, but it is not clear
that the people turned back to him, even after this success was granted. Perhaps
out of deference to Othniel and his faithfulness to be used of God, the peace
in the land lasted until his death. However, it would not go far beyond that. This
is foreshadowed by the mention of Othniel’s passing at the end of verse 11—“And
Othniel the son of Kenaz died” (3:11).
3. VICTORY #3: Eglon’s Victory Over Israel-3:12-14
With Othniel now dead, following 40 years of relative
peace under his leadership and the Spirit’s blessing, the narrator continues
with “now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord,…” (3:12a).
At this point we shouldn’t be surprised as this was the response of Israel upon
Joshua’s death back in Judges 2:6-11. That said, this bad habit of doing evil
against the Lord will only prove to propel the people of God deeper and deeper
into trouble.
In response to the evil of his people, “The Lord
strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil
in the sight of the Lord,…” (3:12b). Interestingly, the Moabites were not
included among those left in the land to test Israel in 3:1-6. Instead, these
were cousins of the Israelites (descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot—see Gen.
19:36-37). That said, Eglon was a more menacing figure than Cushan-Rishathaim
as he lived next door just across the Jordan River and was not in some distant
land. Though a force to be reckoned with, Eglon is painted in unflattering and
near-cartoonish ways in the Book of Judges. His oft-repeated name comes from
two words meaning fat cow (or fat bull). This name will appear especially fitting
in verse 17 when the reader learns that he is extremely large (and the words
employed for this description are typically reserved for livestock). But for
now, Jabba the hut (I mean, Eglon) is nothing to laugh at. This caricature of a
guy will soon be shown to rule over and oppress the people of God.
Eglon proceeds to amass several allies and gain a major foothold
in the region belonging to Israel—“and he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon
and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the
palm trees” (3:13). This place, “the city of the palm trees,” is a reference to
the oasis site of Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea. This served as a natural
stronghold for any force attempting to control the Judean wilderness and the roads
leading into the central hill country (Walton, Matthews, & Chavalas, IVPBBC,
248). In other words, not only does the Lord permit the Moabites and their
friends to enter the domain of Israel, he allows them to obtain a strong foothold
in that domain.
It is from this foothold that Eglon begins his own period of
oppression against Israel—“The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab
eighteen years” (3:14).
So What?
So begins the roller-coaster ride that is the Book of
Judges. We enter as readers at a low point of sinfulness, forgetfulness, and
idolatry leading to subservience to Meopotamia. We are then taken up under
Othniel who is empowered by the Lord to lead for forty years of relative peace.
And then the people’s evil sends Israel over the hill, dropping ever-so quickly
to new lows under the regime of a fat second-cousin named Eglon. This initial
stage of the ride that we will continue to take in the Book of Judges reminds
readers just how seriously God takes sin and just how damaging its many effects
may be. Wicked behavior has a way of causing people to forget God which can
lead to open idolatry. This must needs be punished and disciplined. That said,
God does not leave his people, even while they are in a much-deserved time out,
without grace. What a gracious and loving Lord! Help is available to overwhelm formidable
foes, powerful influences, and enemy parties. This help comes by means of the Holy
Spirit. Reliance on him wins victories in accordance with God’s will. This was
true then and it is true now. However, one cannot endorse sinful behavior,
forget the Lord, and have something/someone else as ultimate and enjoy
the confidence that comes from the Holy Spirit. If this passage teaches us
anything it is that you can’t have it both ways—sinful behavior and God’s will,
idolatry and right relationship with the Lord, subservience to the world and
confidence in the Spirit. So where are you on the roller coaster of life. Is
your commitment to the Lord, obedience to His Word, and reliance on the Spirit
taking you to new heights in your relationship with him? Or, is disobedience,
forgetfulness, and idolatry sending you on a downward spiral?
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