“The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.” (Psalm 50:1-3 ESV)
Passage continued next week…
McConnellsville Community Church, McConnellsville NY
Judges 3
Know War
•It is here in chapter 3 that we meet the first few judges and we also have the Lord give us some insight into the master plan.
•We are told that these generations of Israelites were not familiar with war so the period of the judges serves the purpose of “teach(ing) war to those who had not known it before.” (v 2)
•Next we are given a list of the nations who will be thorns in the sides of the Isrealites:
•the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites.
•The Israelis intermarry with these groups and it is through the intermarrying that Yahweh- the true God- is forgotten and replaced by Baal and Ashteroth of the Canaanites.
•It is here in chapter 3 that we meet the first few judges and we also have the Lord give us some insight into the master plan.
•We are told that these generations of Israelites were not familiar with war so the period of the judges serves the purpose of “teach(ing) war to those who had not known it before.” (v 2)
•Next we are given a list of the nations who will be thorns in the sides of the Isrealites:
•the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites.
•The Israelis intermarry with these groups and it is through the intermarrying that Yahweh- the true God- is forgotten and replaced by Baal and Ashteroth of the Canaanites.
The First Few
•The person Othniel we have met before (although it was only briefly).
•Back in chapter 1 of Judges the tribe of Judah is getting ready to start conquering the rest of the land and Caleb asks who is going to take down a city named Debir.
•Othniel (who is the son of Caleb’s younger brother) steps up to the plate and takes down the town.
•Now it is sometime after and the Israelites are doing their evil things. The Lord gets angry and turns them over to a Mesopotamian king (which is where Abraham was from) who controls them for 8 years.
•The Israelites cry out and the Lord raises up Othniel to be the deliverer and Othniel defeats the king.
•Othniel ruled for 40 years and the Israelis had peace.
•The Israelites are very bad at learning lessons and after they have 40 years of peace Othniel dies and the people spiral back down. They are taken over by a Moabite king named Eglon for 18 years.
•When the people cry out for mercy the Lord raises up Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite (most Benjamites are known for being left handed).
•Ehud took a short dagger of about a foot long and concealed it on his right side (because he was a lefty). He got into the palace to see Eglon under the guise that he was bringing tribute to the king.
•Ehud gave Eglon a message from the Lord in the form of the dagger through the mid section. Eglon was so large that his fat closed around the dagger after it plunged in.
•The roof chamber was a room on the flat roof that had latticed windows that let in the breeze while being semi private.
•The guards thought the king was relieving himself and did not enter the chamber which gave Ehud time to get away and summon the rest of the people to take out the Moabites. Ehud gave the Israelites 80 years of peace.
•Finally there’s a short little passage on Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad- a long stick with a point on the end of it- for guiding oxen.
•The person Othniel we have met before (although it was only briefly).
•Back in chapter 1 of Judges the tribe of Judah is getting ready to start conquering the rest of the land and Caleb asks who is going to take down a city named Debir.
•Othniel (who is the son of Caleb’s younger brother) steps up to the plate and takes down the town.
•Now it is sometime after and the Israelites are doing their evil things. The Lord gets angry and turns them over to a Mesopotamian king (which is where Abraham was from) who controls them for 8 years.
•The Israelites cry out and the Lord raises up Othniel to be the deliverer and Othniel defeats the king.
•Othniel ruled for 40 years and the Israelis had peace.
•The Israelites are very bad at learning lessons and after they have 40 years of peace Othniel dies and the people spiral back down. They are taken over by a Moabite king named Eglon for 18 years.
•When the people cry out for mercy the Lord raises up Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite (most Benjamites are known for being left handed).
•Ehud took a short dagger of about a foot long and concealed it on his right side (because he was a lefty). He got into the palace to see Eglon under the guise that he was bringing tribute to the king.
•Ehud gave Eglon a message from the Lord in the form of the dagger through the mid section. Eglon was so large that his fat closed around the dagger after it plunged in.
•The roof chamber was a room on the flat roof that had latticed windows that let in the breeze while being semi private.
•The guards thought the king was relieving himself and did not enter the chamber which gave Ehud time to get away and summon the rest of the people to take out the Moabites. Ehud gave the Israelites 80 years of peace.
•Finally there’s a short little passage on Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad- a long stick with a point on the end of it- for guiding oxen.
Judges 4
The Judgess
•Next we come to the story of a judging pair- Deborah and Barak (not Barack, he’s a different guy).
•When you think of prophetess think of a woman who is a prophet of Yahweh- she would speak his message and have knowledge from him about future events (see what I did there?)
•Deborah called out Barak and said that he would lead 10,000 men against this new, evil foreign power that had 900 chariots at their disposal.
•Barak (who is not mentioned as a brave general or warrior) says he will go if Deborah goes with him and Deborah will be the one to draw out the Canaanite army.
•Barak and his 10,000 men take out the chariots of Sisera who thought themselves to be superior.•The unlikely Israeli general completely defeats Sisera and kills every single one of his men although Sisera gets away on foot. Later on we learn that it a rain storm that floods the streams and valley that renders the chariots worthless.
•As Sisera the defeated Canaanite general escapes on foot he comes to what he thinks is friendly territory and meets what he thinks is a friendly woman who takes him into her tent and makes him feel safe.
•Jael takes Sisera into her tent, covers him with a rug because he is tired and weary, feeds him yogurt that was inside a milk bottle, and allows him to drift off to sleep.
•Since it was the woman’s job to pitch the tent, Jael had the strength to hit the peg into the ground- much less a human head. For a poetic account of this whole story read chapt. 5
•Next we come to the story of a judging pair- Deborah and Barak (not Barack, he’s a different guy).
•When you think of prophetess think of a woman who is a prophet of Yahweh- she would speak his message and have knowledge from him about future events (see what I did there?)
•Deborah called out Barak and said that he would lead 10,000 men against this new, evil foreign power that had 900 chariots at their disposal.
•Barak (who is not mentioned as a brave general or warrior) says he will go if Deborah goes with him and Deborah will be the one to draw out the Canaanite army.
•Barak and his 10,000 men take out the chariots of Sisera who thought themselves to be superior.•The unlikely Israeli general completely defeats Sisera and kills every single one of his men although Sisera gets away on foot. Later on we learn that it a rain storm that floods the streams and valley that renders the chariots worthless.
•As Sisera the defeated Canaanite general escapes on foot he comes to what he thinks is friendly territory and meets what he thinks is a friendly woman who takes him into her tent and makes him feel safe.
•Jael takes Sisera into her tent, covers him with a rug because he is tired and weary, feeds him yogurt that was inside a milk bottle, and allows him to drift off to sleep.
•Since it was the woman’s job to pitch the tent, Jael had the strength to hit the peg into the ground- much less a human head. For a poetic account of this whole story read chapt. 5