“They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.”
~ Judges 3:4
Hi James and Ellen,
The Judges Book is about eleven different guys and one gal who stood up against guys and gals who were enemies of God’s specially chosen guys and gals. These eleven guys and one gal became known as judges. When Joshua died, there was no guy in place who Joshua had mentored to replace him as the leader of the Israelite people group guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals. During the forty years that Moses was ‘obligated’ by God to lead the Israelite people group guys and gals to a land area that He was giving them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . Moses mentored Joshua to be at the time of his death his replacement to lead the Israelite people group of guys and gals. Joshua apparently did not learn the value of mentoring a guy to be his replacement when he died. God’s specially chosen guys and gals were left in a leadership vacuum when Joshua died. For about 325 years after Joshua died, God’s specially chosen guys and gals had these eleven different guys and one gal step into this leadership vacuum – which garnered them the title of judges, to push back the ever present neighboring enemy people groups of guys and gals as they tried their best to choke out God’s specially chosen guys and gals from the rich, fertile land area that these enemy people groups of guys and gals wanted for themselves.
Judges 3 gives an overview of what three of these guys did to end up with the title ‘judge’. The first guy who the Judges Book historian – who may have been Samuel, wrote about is Othneil. Othneil was Caleb’s nephew. Caleb was a hero in his own right. Caleb was a spy contemporary of Joshua. Caleb was the only spy who took the side of Joshua when he and Joshua returned from spying out the land that God was giving to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . Joshua and Caleb were ready to take on the challenge of eradicating the people groups of guys and gals who were living in the land that God was leading His specially chosen guys and gals to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . but when the other ten spies reported that there were big, bad giants living in the land, God’s specially chosen guys and gals became cowards . . . Othneil’s uncle may have mentored Othneil on how to fight the neighboring people groups guys who wanted to destroy God’s specially chosen guy and gals who were living in the land that God had given His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . before Othneil did what he did, God – because His specially chosen guys and gals were acquiescing to their neighboring enemy people groups of guys and gals – such as the Canaanites, Perizzites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites, by letting their daughters marry their guys and by worshipping the same manmade inanimate gods that were handmade from wood, stones, clay and metal that these neighboring people groups of guys and gals worshipped, allowed His specially chosen guys and gals for eight years to be dominated by these enemy neighboring people groups of guys and gals. Once Othneil did his thing after God empowered him to overpower the doubly wicked king of Aram – whose name was Cushan-Rishathaim, God’s specially guys and gals were able to enjoy a forty year peace period. But when the Israelite people group guys and gals once again began to disobey God, God this time for eighteen years had the Ammonite and Amalekite people groups of guys and gals subjugate His specially chosen guys and gals to a lifestyle that had His specially chosen guys and gals finally realizing that they needed to repent of their evil ways in order to live hope filled lives again. Ehud – who was a lefty, personally decided to put an eighteen inch, double-edged sword through the stomach of the king of Moab – whose name was Eglon, to bring to a stop the suppression that God’s specially chosen guys and gals were experiencing from the enemy people groups of guys and gals who lived to their east. Shamgar is the last of the three guys named in this chapter who ended up being honored with the title ‘judge’. Shamgar may not have been an Israelite people group guy; he may have been a foreigner who just happened to have been living among God’s specially chosen guys and gals when he decided that he had had enough of the constant harassing Philistine people group guys. Shamgar used an ox goad – which was a long, wooden rod that sometimes had a metal tip on it and which was used for prodding oxen, to remove, beat up and kill around 600 Philistine people group guys.
If you are like your grandpaa, you may wonder why God – Who your grandpaa knows is in complete control of all things, did not have the Israelite people group guys kill every guy, gal and kid of every people group of guys and gals who were living in and in the vicinity of the land that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals to always have to live in as their very own land if . . . before His specially chosen guys and gals moved into the land. Verse 4 says, “They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.” So – if you have been wondering why God has terrifying hurricanes, massive tsunamis, violent earthquakes, etc. to take place on planet Earth, it does not surprise your grandpaa at all that God would use His unfathomable judgements to demonstrate His burning fury on the teeming cesspool of guys and gals who are in agreement with keeping His Living Word out of schools and that a gal has the right to kill the fetus who He has blessed her to birth plus His fuming ire towards the pooling quagmire of nations of guys and gals who have decided that the people group of guys and gals who He specially chose for Himself is to no longer exist.
Judges 3 (634)