Chapter Three

1–5. The nations that remained in the promised land after its division among the Israelites. 6. Family ties between them and the Israelites. 7. Idolatry of the Israelites. 8–11. The oppression by King Cushan-Rishathaim and deliverance from it. 12–30. The oppression by King Eglon and deliverance from it. Judge Ehud. 31. Judge Shamgar.

Judges 3:1. These are the nations which the Lord left, so that He might test the Israelites by them, all those who had not known all the wars of Canaan, Judges 3:2. so that the generations of the sons of Israel might know and learn war, those who had not known it before: Judges 3:3. five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites, dwelling on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon to the entering in of Hamath. The historian enumerates the nations that remained to dwell in the promised land together with the Israelites. Most of these nations were concentrated in the west and north of Palestine. They included: the five lords of the Philistines (cf. Josh 13:3), the Canaanites, Sidonians, and Hivites (perhaps the Hittites), who occupied the northernmost part of Palestine along the spurs of the Lebanon mountains, from Mount Baal-Hermon (Baal-Gad, cf. Josh 11:17) to the city of Hamath (later the city of Epiphaneia, now Homs, on the Orontes River, on the way to Antioch).

Judges 3:4. They were left, so that He might test the Israelites by them and learn whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers through Moses. Cf. Judg 2:20-23.

Judges 3:5. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; Cf. Exod 3:8.

Judges 3:6. and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Cf. Exod 23:32-33.

Judges 3:7. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Cf. above Judg 2:11-13.

Judges 3:8. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. For their apostasy from faith in the true God and turning to idolatry, the Lord handed the Israelites over to the power of the Mesopotamian king Cushan-Rishathaim, whom they served for eight years. The name of this king has not yet been found in Assyro-Babylonian inscriptions. Some, like Graetz (Geschichte der Juden, Vol. I, § 107 (pp. 413–414), Note 7), consider him a king of Edom and the Horites, or, like Kessler (Chronologia Iudicum, p. 15–16), a king of the Amorites. The name itself, read in Hebrew as “Kushan-Rishatayim,” in its second part shows a hebraization of the word “risha” (which means “evil”), which seems to indicate the particular wickedness of this king.

Judges 3:9. Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a savior for the children of Israel, who delivered them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. When the Israelites, oppressed by Cushan-Rishathaim, turned to the Lord, then the Lord raised up a deliverer for them in the person of Othniel, son of Kenaz. See about Othniel Josh 11:17; Judg 1:13.

Judges 3:10. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war against Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia and prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. As the Spirit of the Lord rested on Moses and Joshua (Num 11:17), so also on Othniel the Spirit of God descended. Having in himself the Spirit of God, he judged Israel and delivered it from the yoke of Cushan-Rishathaim.

Judges 3:11. And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. After the overthrow of the yoke of Cushan-Rishathaim, the land of Israel enjoyed peace for forty years, until the death of Othniel.

Judges 3:12. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Judges 3:13. And he gathered to himself all the Ammonites and Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of Palms. Judges 3:14. And the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. After the death of Othniel the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and He raised up against them Eglon king of Moab, who, gathering to himself besides the Moabites also Ammonites and Amalekites, went out against the Israelites and defeated them, and took possession of the city of Palms. The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. About the Moabites and Ammonites see Gen 19:37-38; about the Amalekites Exod 17:8-9; Num 24:20. By the city of Palms most understand Jericho, while Graetz understands the city of Zoar (Gesch. d. Jud., I, p. 107). According to the testimony of Josephus, Eglon even built a palace in Jericho (Ant. Jud., lib. V, ch. IV, § 1).

Judges 3:15. But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the children of Israel sent a present by him to Eglon king of Moab. Judges 3:16. But Ehud made himself a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his garment on his right thigh, Judges 3:17. And he brought the present to Eglon king of Moab; now Eglon was a very fat man. Judges 3:18. And when he had finished offering the present, he sent away the people that carried the present. Judges 3:19. But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for you, O king. Who said, Be quiet. And all that stood by him went out from him. Judges 3:20. And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting in a cool chamber, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you. And he arose from his seat. Judges 3:21. And Ehud stretched out his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly, Judges 3:22. so that the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly, and it went out behind. Judges 3:23. Then Ehud went out into the porch, and shut the doors of the chamber behind him, and locked them. Judges 3:24. Now when he had gone, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the chamber were locked, they said, Surely he is covering his feet in his cool chamber. Judges 3:25. And they waited a long time; and, behold, he did not open the doors of the chamber; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was lying on the ground dead. When the Israelites, oppressed by Eglon, turned to the Lord for mercy, then the Lord raised up a deliverer for them in the person of Ehud, son of Gera, a Benjamite, who by cunning put to death Eglon while he was with him in the chamber of his palace. In character, Ehud was the embodiment of fearlessness, valor, and resourcefulness. All peoples celebrated men like Ehud, although their deeds were not entirely moral. The Athenians sang praises to Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the Romans to Mucius Scaevola, who in their moral qualities stood no higher than Ehud, yet earned the memory of posterity only for their valor. In the East down to recent times men like Ehud were encountered. Layard, while serving as consul in Mesopotamia, knew a famous provincial governor Ibrahim Aga, who became renowned by once, at the suggestion of the Turkish viceroy Muhammad Pasha, going to the fortress of a rebellious Kurdish bey and, received by him according to Eastern rules of hospitality, during dinner cut off his head with a saber (Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, I, 97–98). About Gilgal (modern Tell Jiljul, or Jiljuliyye, between Jericho and the Jordan) see Josh 4:19-20 and others. The “quarries” (pesilim) at Gilgal are understood to mean, probably, stone pillars standing here in the form of bethels (Prof. A.A. Olesnitsky. Megalithic monuments of the Holy Land, p. 77) or stones that marked the ford of the Jordan (Budde).

Judges 3:26. But Ehud escaped while they were confused, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. Judges 3:27. And it came to pass, when he arrived, that he blew a trumpet on the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill, and he was before them. Judges 3:28. And he said to them, Follow me; for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow anyone to cross. Judges 3:29. And they struck down Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all strong and capable, and not a single one escaped. Judges 3:30. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years. After the death of Eglon, Ehud fled to Seirah, a small place on the hills of Ephraim, where he informed the Israelites of Eglon’s death. The assembled Israelites marched to the Jordan, cut off the fords across it, and when the Moabites fleeing from the vicinity of the city of Palms (that is, Jericho) attempted to cross there, they were slaughtered. After the overthrow of Moabite oppression, the land rested for eighty years.

Judges 3:31. And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad; and he also delivered Israel. Shamgar, probably at the head of villagers, each armed with an ox-goad, routed six hundred Philistines who had attacked them. Something similar is told by Homer about Lycurgus, who repelled Dionysus and his followers with an ox-goad (Iliad, 6, 135).