Holy Bible

The nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them. Judges 3:1-5 The trial and chastisement of an unfaithful people J. P. Millar. I. IT WAS GOD'S OWN THOUGHT TO PUT THEM TO THE PROOF. 1. Far otherwise were the thoughts of the nations. (1) When Israel was strong their thoughts were of alliances. (2) When Israel became weak their thoughts were of conquest and revenge. 2. The nations could do nothing without God's permission. 3. This proving of character was done out of respect to His covenant. (1) God acted by principle and not by temporary impulse. (2) He acted according to His established manner of dealing with His people's sins. (3) Provision made for this through the intervention of the coming Messiah, the real Mediator of the covenant. 4. God puts His people under discipline to serve wise and holy ends. (1) Nor real injury is ever intended. (2) Never is the rod without some gracious instruction: "Hear ye the rod, and Him who appointeth it." 5. God Himself determines the time, manner, and severity of the trial. II. IT WAS NECESSARY TO PUT ISRAEL TO THE PROOF. 1. Their allegiance to their God must be ascertained. (1) God's jealousy required it. (2) Without allegiance the people were not in a fit state to receive Divine blessings. (3) Ways and means were easy where there was allegiance. 2. Human protestations of obedience are little to be trusted. III. THIS TESTING OF CHARACTER WAS MADE IN LOVE, NOT IN ANGER. 1. All God's dealings with His covenant people are necessarily in love. This is the very spirit of His covenant: "Your God" — "God is for you" — always on your side. 2. It was love to prevent a breach of the covenant. 3. It was love to teach the heart the bitterness of sin. 4. It is love to teach self-knowledge and humility. 5. It is love where a false character exists to have the discovery of it made known in good time. IV. OBEDIENCE IS WITH GOD THE ALL-IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT. 1. Obedience is the index which shows that the heart is right with God. 2. Obedience springs naturally from the fear and the love of God. 3. In the gospel obedience must spring from love. 4. Obedience in the gospel is the obedience of children. 5. Obedience must be shown in the face of opposition. ( J. P. Millar. ) Tests and chastisement J. P. Millar. I. THE WORK TO BE DONE. 1. Chastisement as well as trial. 2. A special mark is put on the reason for this course of dealing (chap. Judges 2:20-23). II. GOD'S CHOICE OF INSTRUMENTS. 1. God designates His own agency to do His work. 2. God selects His instruments from the camp of His enemies equally with His friends. 3. A sinning people often supply the means of their own correction. 4. God can turn the most unlikely persons into fit instruments for doing His work. III. THE TENDENCY OF THE COVENANT PEOPLE TO APOSTATISE FROM THEIR GOD. 1. It is what might have been least expected. 2. The root-cause lies in the depravity of the human heart. 3. Remissness of parental training one of the immediate causes. IV. EACH NEW GENERATION REQUIRES IN SOME DEGREE TO BE TAUGHT BY AN EXPERIENCE OF ITS OWN. 1. The strange incapacity of the human heart for receiving Divine lessons. 2. Personal experience is the most effective method of teaching. (1) A more vivid impression is made. (2) Personal interests are more deeply touched. 3. Each generation must have a character of its own, and answer for itself. ( J. P. Millar. ) To teach them war It was God's will, then L. H. Wiseman, M.A. it was a necessity for the Israelites that they should "learn war." In their case "learning war" meant learning that God alone could fight for them. Do not the Canaanites of unbelief, heresy, and worldliness still remain? And is not the evil of their remaining presence overruled for a twofold good — that of teaching His Church how to make war, and of proving their faithfulness toward Himself? ( L. H. Wiseman, M.A. ) Served their Gods... forgat the Lord, and served Baalim and the groves. Judges 3:6, 7 The downward course of sin J. P. Millar. I. THE FORM OF THEIR SIN. One of omission ( Judges 2:2 ). 1. No sin of omission is ever small. (1) It slights God's authority. (2) It implies alienation of heart from God. (3) There is no fear of God before the eyes. 2. Sins of omission may become indefinitely great. II. THE TENDENCY OF SIN TO MULTIPLY ITSELF. 1. No sin stands alone. 2. The root-sin here was failure to exterminate the Canaanites. 3. It led to their dwelling among the idolators. 4. Their intermarrying with the ungodly. 5. Their worship of false gods. 6. The facility with which they made the change. III. THE DEPLORABLE END TO WHICH THEIR EVIL COURSE LED. 1. There was entire abandonment of God as their God. Sin is a great — (1) Spoiler; (2) madness. 2. There was sinking down to the level of heathen worship and heathen practices. ( J. P. Millar. ) Sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. Judges 3:8 Israel in servitude C. Ness. 1. This was the first servitude of the Israelites ever since they came out of their house of bondage in Egypt; for now such detestable apostasy was found in Israel as heaven and earth had caused to be ashamed of ( Jeremiah 2:12, 13 ); therefore is he made a slave and servant (ver. 14). They that would not serve the Lord in the abundance of all things with gladness shall serve their enemies in the want of all things with sadness ( Deuteronomy 28:47, 48 ); therefore God forsook them, that they might know the worth of His service by the want of it under woful miseries ( 2 Chronicles 12:8 ). 2. As this was the first oppression that Israel met with after their coming out of Egypt, so this king of Syria was their oppressor. This king had God's commission to oppress Israel, for God sold them into this king's hands, and yet was he but a lessee; his possession was by virtue of a lease, and that only a lease limited to eight years. It surely seemed very long for those "children of light" to walk in such a place of darkness for eight years together; if so, the time of their suffering bears a due proportion to the time of their sinning. 3. The marvellous proportion God observed in proportioning Israel's suffering to the proportion of their sinning. As Israel's sinning increased in magnitude so their suffering increased in multitude, every term of their slavery rising higher and higher. They served this Chushan eight years, and, because not bettered thereby, they served Eglon eighteen years (ver. 14) and afterwards Jabin twenty years ( Judges 4:3 , etc.). With the froward God will deal frowardly ( Psalm 18:26 ). When lesser corrections could not restrain them from sin, God laid heavier punishments upon them, and punishes them seven times more; yea, and seven times more, and yet seven times more to that, as He had threatened ( Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28 ). God will not give over punishing until men give over sinning. 4. The redeemer that the Lord raised up to redeem Israel out of their first slavery was Othniel (ver. 9), which God would not yet do for them until they humbled themselves, when God, they saw, would get the better of them. And this deliverer, whom God sent to redeem Israel, when sold into the hands of this terrible tyrant, was a type of our Redeemer the Lord Jesus, who was sent of God to redeem us, and thus all the other judges be types of Christ, though some more eminently than others. Here the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, gave him prudence, prowess, and magnanimity to make war against this tyrannical oppressor, and having vanquished him in battle, he restored rest to God's Israel, governing his people in peace and in the profession and practice of God's true religion according to His law. ( C. Ness. ) Othniel the son of Kenaz... and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Judges 3:9-11 The controlling man John Robertson. It is the personal soul that is the basis of all action. Your machinery is soulless, and the true driver, after all, is the man with his hand on the throttle. You invent, and you multiply motions, and actions, and skilled operations; but you never can dispense with the brain and mind and heart of the controlling man. In the same way, all movements on this earth need to head up into personal souls. God sets a man in charge of the machinery, and as the stars and suns revolve in their cycles, as the events of the human race happen and are run off the reel, they get their explanation only from the personal souls that have been in the movements. When the time of the Reformation was at hand, Luther shakes himself in yonder cell and comes forth. When the thick mists of Popish darkness were to be rolled away from Scotland, John Knox appeared. It is the same all down the ages: men, personal souls, are called forth to lead events to their God-destination and God-purpose. Events need men. So with God! When the time came, God found the Person who would undertake this great purpose of redeeming love, who would atone for man, and suffer on the Cross. ( John Robertson. ) Othniel R. A. Watson, M. A. Othniel, the first of the judges, seems one of the best. He is not a man of mere rude strength and dashing enterprise; nor is he one who runs the risk of sudden elevation of power, which few can stand. A person of acknowledged honour and sagacity, he sees the problem of the time and does his best to solve it. He is almost unique in this, that he appears without offence, without shame. And his judgeship is honourable to Israel. It points to a higher level of thought and greater seriousness among the tribes than in the century when Jephthah and Samson were the acknowledged heroes. The nation had not lost its reverence for the great names and hopes of the Exodus when it obeyed Othniel and followed him to battle. ( R. A. Watson, M. A. ) Political leadership R. A. Watson, M. A. In modern times there would seem to be scarcely any understanding of the fact that no man can do real service as a political leader unless he is a fearer of God, one who loves righteousness more than country, and serves the Eternal before any constituency. Sometimes a nation low enough in morality has been so far awake to its need and danger as to give the helm, at least for a time, to a servant of truth and righteousness and to follow where he leads. But more commonly is it the case that political leaders are chosen anywhere rather than from the ranks of the spiritually earnest. It is oratorical dash now, and now the cleverness of the intriguer, or the power of rank and wealth, that catches popular favour and exalts a man in the State. Members of parliament, cabinet ministers, high officials need have no devoutness, no spiritual seriousness or insight. A nation generally seeks no such character in its legislators, and is often content with less than decent morality. Is it then any wonder that politics are arid and governments a series of errors? We need men who have the true idea of liberty and will set nations nominally Christian on the way of fulfilling their mission to the world. When the people want a spiritual leader he will appear; when they are ready to follow one of high and pure temper he will arise and show the way. But the plain truth is that our chiefs in the State, in society and business must be the men who represent the general opinion, the general aim. While we are in the main a worldly people, the best guides, those of spiritual mind, will never be allowed to carry their plans. And so we come back to the main lesson of the whole history, that only as each citizen is thoughtful of God and of duty, redeemed from selfishness and the world, can there be a true commonwealth, honourable government, beneficent civilisation. ( R. A. Watson, M. A. ) Prayer helpful to leadership John McNeill. You may be as unlike a warrior, as unlike one of the Lord Jesus Christ's Ironsides as unlike can be, yet you have a great deal to do with the making and shaping and sending of them. Can you feel the woes of Israel? Can you shed tears over her? Have you a large, sympathetic heart? And, summing it all up in one word, can you cry? can you pray? "When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord," the Lord sent this mighty Othniel, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord came Ah! I think we are weak there. We would have more great preachers, we would have more revival movements, in the large meaning of the word revival — not only the ingathering of sinners, but the up-building and brightening of saints — if we had more people who sigh and cry for the sad condition. of God's inheritance. "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence." Tossing often on a bed of sickness, or weakness, or pain, do you sigh and cry? Then will God be getting ready His Othniels, and Ehuds, and Shamgars. ( John McNeill. ) The gift of "the Spirit of the Lord" R. Rogers. This clearly teaches us that all gifts of the Spirit, and all excellent effects thereof, they are none of ours — they are the Lord's; He giveth and distributeth them at His pleasure, as we see here that it was the Spirit of the Lord that came upon Othniel, whereby he brought to pass the great things that he did. And whatsoever is of any note in man for price and excellency it is all of God, and cometh from His mere bounty. Alas! there is no bird stripped of her feathers more bare and naked than man in himself is void of goodness; for what hath he that he hath not received? Insomuch as all that he hath to glory of is his sin — a most holy and approved truth, which giveth God His due, and layeth out man in his colours, that he is nothing else, if he rob not God of His honour, and prank not up himself in his gifts, he is nothing else but naked, poor, and a mirror of misery: ( R. Rogers. ) Judgment, then deliverance R. A. Watson, M. A. Judgment and then deliverance; judgment of the mistakes and sins men have committed, thereby bringing themselves into trouble; conviction of sin and righteousness; thereafter guidance and help that their feet may be set on a rock and their goings established — this is the right sequence. That God should help the proud, the self-sufficient out of their troubles in order that they may go on in pride and vain glory, or that He should save the vicious from the consequences of their vice and leave them to persist in their iniquity, would be no Divine work. The new mind and the right spirit must be put in men, they must bear their condemnation, lay it to heart and repent, there must be a revival of holy purpose and aspiration first. Then the oppressors will be driven from the land, the weight of trouble lifted from the soul. ( R. A. Watson, M. A. ) The making of a hero J. M. Gibbon. This is a book of heroes, of strong men, and strong women too, who, in a time of storm and stress, saved their own souls and the souls of those around them also. It will brace you up, invigorate, and inspire you. It is said of Pitt that he breathed his own lofty spirit into his country. "No man," said a soldier of the time, "ever entered Mr. Pitt's room who did not feel himself a braver man when he came out than when he went in." And no man can read this book sympathetically without being moved to emulation of the mighty souls that move across its pages. It tells us very briefly, but suggestively, the story of twelve people who helped to make Israel, and of these the first, and in some respects the best also, is Othniel, the son of Kenaz. Many of these "saviours," as they are called, were far from being perfect characters. But in Othniel's life, as we have it, there is no hint of anything that offends either the taste or the conscience. His name means God's Lion; and throughout he seems to have been a brave, pure, noble man. And yet the age in which he lived was a very corrupt one. His surroundings were very unfavourable to the growth of character. There was no king or leader in Israel — every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Idolatry and licentiousness abounded. And the task set before you, young men and women, is not so very unlike that which faced Othniel. You must first save yourselves — you must, by God's help, save your own souls. You must also help God to save the world. This is your task and your privilege — both to be saved and to be saviours. But how did Othniel become a hero and a saviour of his people? I. "Caleb said 'He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.' And Othniel the son of Kenaz took it." That is the first fact given us from Othniel's life, and that is all that is said about it — Othniel took it — took the stronghold of the mighty sons of Anak — the oracle city of idolatry before which even Caleb quailed. Othniel took it. But many things go to the making of such a deed as that. 1. First, of course, comes courage. It was an undertaking full of desperate difficulties. What was needed was not so much physical as moral courage. The courage to follow is common enough; it is the courage to lead that is rare. Othniel had this soul-quality. He led the way and took the city. Well, if you young people are bent upon saving yourselves from the evil that is in the world, you too must have and must exercise this soul-courage. It often needs more courage to handle the yard-wand than the sword — to be a business-man than to be a soldier. Daily life, all hum-drum as it looks, has its Marathons, its Waterloos, and its Minas; its Six Hundreds that ride into the jaws of death. 2. But courage, what is it? How does any one get courage? Well, if we take another look at Othniel we shall see that the lion in him was not born on the day Debir was taken. It was already strong, matured, full grown. Born long before this in the desert, it had been nourished by daily deeds of unrewarded valour. Acts such as this take years to grow. All his life he had been unconsciously preparing for this. Yes, that is the story of all courage. God gives it to us as He gives all things in seed form. Every heart is full of germs — courage-germs among them. If we cultivate any germ it grows and bears fruit; if we neglect it it dies. If you want courage you must grow it from a seed — that is you must practise the little you have. 3. Once more: This deed of Othniel's lays bare to us the central secret of all true power — faith. You are familiar with great facts of which Othniel never even dreamt. But your salvation does not depend on how many beliefs you carry about with you, but on how much do you believe any of them. Any truth becomes a saving truth to the soul that trusts it and through it trusts God. Thus this little sentence, unpromising as it looks, gives us three things that go to the making of a hero: courage, habit, faith, and the greatest of these is faith. II. "And he (Caleb) gave him Achsah his daughter to wife: and it came to pass when she came unto him that she moved him to ask of her father a field." This, the second of the three facts of Othniel's history, introduces us into a very different set of circumstances, a different climate of life in fact. 1. Debir is taken; Caleb has kept his word; the bride is coming to her new home. Applause is not much for a young pair to live on; so, amid the excitement and the joy, this fair daughter of the wilderness kept her eyes open and her wits about her. She noted the situation in which her new home lay. It was south land. It had no water. She moved her husband to ask for the field that had the springs of water. But Othniel is better at fighting than asking. Her humour, her sense, and her exquisite tact carried all before them. Caleb gave her "the upper springs and the nether springs." 2. But what has this to do with the making of a hero? Much in every way. Othniel was brave enough but he had a great deal to learn. He had taken Debir with his sword, but here at his own door he is confronted with a situation in which his sword is useless. Evidently he must learn the use of other weapons. He must master the art of gracious speech. He must acquire tact. There are knots which it avails not to cut, they must be patiently untied by skilful fingers. He is to help in making a people who shall never become formidable as a military power — never produce an Alexander or a Caesar — who shall ultimately lose all their swords, lose every inch of their territory and every stone of their citadels, and yet shall overcome their enemies through sheer force of character. That he may do this God sent him to the home-school and the farm-school to learn those homely virtues of common sense, patience, and tact, without which strength and courage were of little avail. 3. Well, you too, young people, must not despise these. III. "The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord... the children of Israel served Cashan-rishathaim eight years... the children of Israel cried unto the Lord." Many years — forty, perhaps, or even more — have passed since Othniel and Achsah took possession of their new home, and we are confronted with a new and painful situation. The Lord's people "forgat the Lord and served the Baalim" — that was their sin! "They served Cushan, King of Mesopotamia" — that was their punishment Egypt and Pharaoh were not so far away as they thought. Egypt, the land of bondage, is wherever sin is, and Pharaoh follows iniquity as the night the day. "And the Lord raised up a saviour... even Othniel, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." He raised him to this glorious height of manhood by breathing into him His own breath of love and life. There were many reasons why Othniel should do nothing. The chief, perhaps, was that apparently he could do nothing. Perhaps Achsah was another — and the farm a third. Yes, depend upon it there were many voices both within and without that bade Othniel beware of meddling with things beyond his power. But the still small voice called. He put himself, all that he was, all that he had, upon the altar, "and he judged Israel." He called the erring people back to truth and duty. Led by God's spirit he began there, with the people's own sin first. Then he "went out to war... and his hand prevailed against Cushan, and the land had rest forty years." Thus Othniel, even Othniel, became a saviour of his people, and the lion-like man of war, under the influence of God's spirit, was changed into a living prophecy of the Lamb of God, the Saviour of the world. "And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died," having in a rude, hard age, nobly sustained the character of the Happy Warrior. The phase "Othniel — a saviour," is at once his epitaph and his eulogy. Well, even so are noble lives still made. Faith, patience, wisdom, and the breath of God are the great life-building powers. Saviourhood is the end of all the ways of God in a soul. He makes some men strong in order that they may help the weak. He gives wisdom to some that they may thereby guide the foolish. He makes men holy in order that they may turn the unholy from the error of their way. Now, young people, will you be made strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might? Around you, in numbers that Othniel never dreamed of, are men that "serve the Baalim and serve Cushan," that sin, and suffer for their sin in mind, body, and estate. Will you help to save these? ( J. M. Gibbon. ) The Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel. Judges 3:12-30 Sin -- suffering; penitence and deliverance repeated J. P. Millar. I. NEW SIN ADDED: "Again" 1. A painful surprise. 2. Deeper guilt. It showed more deliberation in the act of rebellion, more stubborness of will, and greater defiance of the Divine authority. It also implied the heavy guilt of despising all the argument involved in the close and faithful dealing God had with them, in the terrible chastisements He had already brought down on their heads. 3. A perplexing problem to solve. Why should the children of such holy men as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob become such incorrigible rebels? This is the puzzle that meets us everywhere in the history of God's Israel. (1) The people had lost their leader. (2) Apostasy was due in part to the universal bad example. (3) Idolatry was their easily besetting sin. (4) A new generation had sprung up. (5) The inveterate depravity of the human heart. II. NEW CHASTISEMENT INFLICTED. 1. The Lord chastises in faithfulness. 2. He makes use of a new rod. 3. He sends a more severe token of His displeasure.We do not know, indeed, that the oppression of the Moabites was heavier than that of the Mesepotamian hordes. Probably there was not much to choose between them. But it was certainly much longer continued. Now it is eighteen years of servitude, whereas formerly it was but eight years. In this respect, the scourge was much more severe, not only because the lash was longer applied, but also because God showed that His ear was more heavy to hear their prayer. It was also a deeper humiliation to be trodden upon by a people whom till now they had despised, from their birth onwards, and who had been accustomed for more than three generations to tremble at the name, and the mention of the God of Israel. 4. He helps His enemies against His own people. III. NEW EXPRESSIONS OF PENITENCE. 1. In distress they flee to the universal refuge. 2. They had a special plea with God as children of the covenant. 3. Their temporary apostasy did not shut them out from the privilege of prayer.(1) They had a mediator to plead for them in their priesthood, and the continual sacrifices were laid on the altar, as the means of propitiating.(2) Their apostasy was not allowed by their covenant God to become permanent. IV. NEW DELIVERANCES EXPERIENCED. 1. This deliverance came in answer to prayer. 2. It was brought about by a suitable instrument. ( J. P. Millar. ) Ehud the son of Gera The summer parlour W.F. Bishop. I. A MAN UNDER GREAT PHYSICAL DISADVANTAGES MAY ACCOMPLISH WONDERS. Ehud was left-handed; and the original implies some serious defect in the right hand. So it has often been. Among poets, the three greatest of all times were totally blind, viz.: Homer, Ossian, and Milton. Among sculptors: Gambassio could not see the marble or the chisel. Among authors: Pope, the poet, was a wretched invalid. Among preachers: Robert Hall, Richard Baxter, Edward Payson, Samuel Rutherford, and Dr. McAll were all invalids. These men in the battle of life fought with the right hand tied behind them; but they had something better, viz., the spirit of consecration to a righteous and noble life. II. EHUD TEACHES US TO MAKE THOROUGH WORK OF WHAT BELONGS TO OUR DELIVERANCE FROM SIN. Some are content to cut down sins which may be ranked as kings, princes, and captains: but Ehud slew the common soldiers as well. It is to work as thorough that each of us is called. This is no easy work. But heaven is not to be reached by easy-going people. III. GOD MAKES READY IN SOME SENSE EVERY INSTRUMENT OF DEATH, AND IS THE SOVEREIGN DISPOSER OF ALL EVENTS. There are three kingdoms — of Nature, of Providence, and of Grace. Of each and all Jehovah is King. In the kingdom of Providence, some of the instruments of death are common sickness, epidemics, accidents in erecting houses, accidents at sea, accidents on the rail-train. These are no accidents! God has perfect right to slay a man either by malaria or by the instrumentality of man. He alone has the keys of the grave. IV. NOBODY STEPS OUT OF LIFE AS HE EXPECTS. It was so with the king of Moab. Death to him was a great surprise. There was but a step between him and death; but he knew it not. "The unexpected is the probable!" The manner in which we step out of life is pre-eminently unlooked for. If so, we press an inference: Prepare! Be ready! The accepted time is now! ( W.F. Bishop. ) I have a message from God unto thee A message from God W. Rudder, D. D. I. Before proceeding to the delivery of this message, I would insist upon THE FACT HERE STATED — namely, that I come to you, as a messenger "from God." One chief reason why mankind hear with so much indifference and with so little effect upon themselves, is simply that they fail to recognise that he who thus speaks to them does come from God. Suppose, however, that yonder heaven should open, and that down through the "everlasting gates" and along the fields of air should come an angel burning with celestial glory and should stand suddenly in your midst. Would not your minds be instantly raised to a fixed and reverent attention? Would you not almost seem to hear in the tones and words of the heavenly messenger the very voice of the Mighty One by whom he was sent? But I claim that I as truly come "from God." II. We pass on then, to THE DELIVERY OF THIS MESSAGE. It is a message from God; there is no place for argument. It is a message to a soul in imminent danger of destruction; there is no room for the play of imagination. 1. Man of the world, absorbed in the occupations of this present life, whatever those occupations may be, "I have a message from God unto thee." "Riches and honours," He declares, "come of Me alone." "Riches," He affirms, "certainly take to themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." "Riches," He warns you, "profit not in the day of wrath." God declares to you, that if you allow mammon to have a higher place in your hearts than Himself and His service, you must expect nothing else but that He will strip you of all your gains when perhaps you least expect it, and render all your labour of none effect. He reminds you that you "can take nothing out" of this world. And He bids me remind you that after death there is a judgment. 2. Young man and young woman just entering life, "I have a message from God unto thee." God bids me tell you that you have in your possession a priceless treasure which He has committed to you to be used for His glory, and for which He will hold you hereafter to a strict account. You are in the possession of sensibilities not yet dead to the influence of His grace. He has afforded you a perfect knowledge of His will, and He has, moreover, brought to bear upon your hearts the power of His Spirit. He tells you that you may squander and lose all the advantages which you now possess, but He warns you of the result. 3. Lukewarm Christian, "I have a message from God unto thee." God bids me tell you, in few words, just what your religion means, and what it is worth. You profess with your lips to serve God, while you plot in your heart how you may serve God and the world. But God tells you that while you imagine you are deceiving Him, He sees through the duplicity, the meanness of your conduct. 4. Daring and impenitent man, you who can violate God's law without a feeling of alarm or remorse, "I have a message from God unto thee." You have travelled far. If ever you repent now, to the saving of your soul, it must be by a severe and terrible struggle. You have trifled with God's mercy, but His justice has abated not one tittle of severity. God, however, sends me once more, to tell you that if you will even now put forth all your strength to break the cords wherewith sin has bound you, He will still vouchsafe to assist and bless you in your endeavours. But if you are deaf to this message, if you will still go on in impenitence and sin if you refuse to be reconciled to Him, He informs you that He "reserveth wrath to His enemies." ( W. Rudder, D. D. ) The gospel message D. Johnston, D. D. I. THE TIDINGS I bring to-day are very different from those which Ehud carried to the King of Moab, and my design in delivering them is very opposite to his. He came, evidently, with an hostile intention, and concealed, under his garment, a deadly weapon. The message he brought was a message of vengeance, and though artfully disguised, was to prove fatal to the King of Moab. But the message I bring is a message of peace and goodwill to men, and my intention in delivering it is the most kind and friendly. 1. In the first place, let me beseech you to awake from that slumber and insensibility in which, perhaps, you have too long remained. If you were hanging upon the brink of a precipice, would you not haste away to some place of safety? 2. A second message which I have from God to you is, to intreat you to be reconciled to Him. Will you persist in your enmity to God when He is willing to become your friend? 3. A third message I have got from God to you is to beseech you to kiss the Son; that is, honour, love, and obey the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way. It was the great object of our blessed Lord's ministry to recommend Himself to the affections of men, and to persuade them to come to Him. 4. A fourth message I have from God to you is, that you be prepared to meet Him. 5. A fifth message which I have got from God to you is, that you set your hearts and your house in order

Benson Commentary Judges 3:1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Jdg 3:1 . Now these are the nations, &c. — The sacred historian having declared, in general, that God did not judge it proper to drive out all the Canaanites, because he intended to try the fidelity and zeal of his people in his service, proceeds now to enumerate the particular nations which remained unsubdued. As many as had not known all the wars of Canaan — That is, such as were born since the conclusion of the wars, or were but infants during their continuance, and therefore had no experience of them, nor of God’s extraordinary power and providence manifested therein. Judges 3:2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; Jdg 3:2 . Only that the generations, &c. — Le Clerc and some other versions, instead of only put and, this seeming to be a new and additional reason alleged why God left some of the Canaanitish nations in the land, namely, that the Israelites might be inured to war and hardship, and thereby be preserved from sinking into sloth and luxury; and that by the neighbourhood of such warlike enemies, and a knowledge of the danger they were in from them, they might never be carnally secure, but stand continually on their guard, and keep close to that God of whose protection and aid they had such great and constant need. Judges 3:3 Namely , five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath. Jdg 3:3 . Five lords of the Philistines — See Joshua 13:2-3 , and Jdg 1:18 , where it appears that three of them had been, in some measure, subdued, but had now recovered their country again, in consequence of the slothful conduct of the Israelites. All the Canaanites — Properly so called, who were very numerous, and dispersed through several parts of the land, whence they gave denomination to all the rest of the people. Sidonians — The people living near Zidon, and subject to its jurisdiction. Baal-hermon — Which was the eastern part about Lebanon. Judges 3:4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Jdg 3:4 . To prove Israel — That their piety and faithfulness to the one living and true God might appear, if they did not imitate these nations, and relapse into idolatry, and their baseness and degeneracy if they did. To know whether they would hearken — That is, that they themselves and others might know by experience. Judges 3:5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: Judges 3:6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Jdg 3:6-7 . They took their daughters, and served their gods — Were drawn to idolatry by the persuasions and examples of their yoke-fellows. And served Baalim and the groves — Or, Baalim in groves; that is, false gods, or rather their images, set up under shady trees, contrary to the command given Exodus 34:13 . Some expositors, however, think the meaning is, Baalim and Ashtaroth; for by the addition of a single letter, the Hebrew word rendered groves, will be Ashtaroth, and the greater part of the versions so render it, understanding thereby goddesses, as distinguished from Baalim or lords. It must be acknowledged, however, that the trees themselves, which composed those shady retreats in which they placed their idols, and which were consecrated to their honour, were accounted sacred by the ancient pagans, and held in great veneration. They decorated them with ribands and lights, made vows to them, and hung the spoils of their enemies upon them: insomuch that it was customary for travellers to stop, when they were to pass by them, and approach them with veneration and religious awe, as if they had been the habitation of some god. Judges 3:7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Judges 3:8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years. Jdg 3:8 . He sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim — So that the first enemies that oppressed the Israelites were the Syrians; who, either out of hatred, or a desire to enlarge their dominions, came over the Euphrates, and invaded them, and kept them in subjection eight years. King of Mesopotamia — Which was that part of Syria which lay between the two great rivers Tigris and Euphrates. This lay at such a distance, that one would not have thought Israel’s trouble should have come from such a far country; but this shows so much the more that the hand of God was in it. Judges 3:9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Jdg 3:9-10 . When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord — When they returned to him in repentance, acknowledged him to be their only Protector and Saviour, and prayed fervently for pardon and deliverance; the Lord raised up a deliverer — Qualified a person for, and called him to, the great work of delivering them. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him — With extraordinary influence, endowing him with singular wisdom and courage, and stirring him up to this great undertaking. Judged Israel — That is, pleaded and avenged the cause of Israel against their oppressors. And went out to war — The sacred historian gives us no further account of this war than that Othniel obtained a victory over the king of Mesopotamia, and a peace which lasted forty years. This victory and deliverance of Israel, it seems, happened about thirty-eight years after the death of Joshua. Judges 3:10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. Judges 3:11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Judges 3:12 And the children of Israel did evil again 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. Jdg 3:12 . And the children of Israel did evil again — This was the case of the Israelites during all the time of their judges: the same person who freed them from servitude, purified them also from idolatry; but he was no sooner dead than their religion was at an end, though their peace and happiness were sure to expire with it. Thus every epocha of their history, during the administration of the judges, is only an alternate succession of sinning and contrition, of servitude and deliverance. This may evince what a mighty influence even one good man in authority may have over a whole people. The Lord strengthened Eglon — By giving him courage, and power, and success against them. As God raised up deliverers to Israel, when they became penitent, so he spirited up enemies against them, and gave them power to oppress them, whenever they revolted from his service. Judges 3:13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. Jdg 3:13-14 . City of palm-trees — That is, Jericho. Not the city which was demolished, but the territory belonging to it. Here he fixed his camp, for the fertility of that soil, and because of its nearness to the passage over Jordan, which was most commodious both for the conjunction of his own forces, which lay on both sides of Jordan, to prevent the conjunction of the Israelites in Canaan with their brethren beyond Jordan, and to secure his retreat into his own country. Eighteen years — The former servitude lasted but eight years; this eighteen; for if smaller troubles do not the work, God will send greater. Judges 3:14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Judges 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. Jdg 3:15 . A Benjamite — This tribe was next to Eglon, and doubtless most afflicted by him; and hence God raised a deliverer. Left-handed — Which is here noted as a considerable circumstance in the following story. The Seventy render the word ?????????????? , who could use both his hands alike, which is probably the true meaning, as the same quality is ascribed to seven hundred chosen men of the tribe of Benjamin, chap. Jdg 20:16 , all of whom one can hardly believe to have had no use of their right hands. The children of Israel sent a present — Some interpreters understand by this the tribute which had been imposed upon them; but it rather signifies a voluntary present above their usual payments, whereby they hoped to mollify his mind and render him favourable to them. For the Hebrew word mincha is used for such offerings as were presented to God in order to obtain his gracious regards. Judges 3:16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. Jdg 3:16 . Ehud, made him a dagger — It is probable that none of the Israelites were suffered to wear arms, and therefore this particular is mentioned of Ehud; and that he wore it under his upper garment to conceal it: for it does not appear that he made it purposely for the occasion, in which we are told in the following verses, he employed it. A cubit length — Long enough for his design, and not too long for concealment. His right thigh — Which was most convenient both for the use of his left hand, and for avoiding suspicion. Judges 3:17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. Judges 3:18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. Jdg 3:18-19 . He sent away the people — He accompanied them part of the way, and then dismissed them, and returned to Eglon alone, that so he might have more easy access to him. He himself turned again from the quarries, as if he had forgotten some important business. Houbigant takes the word ??????? , pesilim, here rendered quarries, for the name of a place. But the Septuagint and Vulgate take it for graven images, as indeed it commonly signifies in the Scriptures, and as it is rendered in the margin of our Bibles. Some suppose that these images had been placed there by the Moabites, in contempt of the God of Israel, who had so long honoured Gilgal with his presence; and that they might ascribe the subjection of the land to their idols, as the Israelites gave the glory of their conquest to the true God. And they further suppose that when Ehud beheld these idolatrous images, he was inflamed with zeal and indignation, so that instead of proceeding any further in his return home, he went back with a full resolution to revenge the indignity offered to the Divine Majesty, as well as the oppression of his people. Who said, Keep silence — That is, forbear to speak till my servants are withdrawn. For he would not have them to be made acquainted with a business which he supposed to be of great importance. Judges 3:19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. Judges 3:20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. Jdg 3:20 . He was sitting in a summer parlour — Into which, it is probable, he used to retire from company; which is mentioned as the reason why his servants waited so long ere they went in to him, Jdg 3:25 . I have a message from God unto thee — To be delivered, not in words, but by actions. This was true if Ehud was stirred up to this, as it appears he was, by a divine influence. Ehud, however, expressed himself in this manner to remove from the king any apprehensions of danger; and likewise to oblige him to rise from his seat, which Ehud knew he would do, since such was the common practice of the heathen, when receiving, or expecting to receive, messages from the gods they worshipped. He designedly made use of the word Elohim, which was common both to the true God and the pagan deities; and not the Word Jehovah, which was peculiar to the true God; because thus Eglon, not knowing whether the message came not from his own false god, would have the greater inclination to rise, whereby Ehud would have an opportunity of directing his blow in the most advantageous manner: whereas he would possibly have shown his contempt of the God of Israel, by sitting still to hear his message. And he arose out of his seat — In token of reverence to God. This is a remarkable instance of the ancient veneration men paid to whatsoever carried the name and authority of God in it, and it reproaches those who can now presume to behave themselves irreverently, even in the time and place of divine worship. Judges 3:21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: Jdg 3:21 . Ehud put forth his hand and took the dagger — It is justly observed by Dr. Dodd, that this action of Ehud “is certainly among the number of those which are not to be imitated without that which gave it all its sanction; namely, a divine commission. The text expressly says, The Lord raised up Ehud; and it is well known that all the deliverances which the Jews had under the judges, were directed and conducted by the immediate hand of God, according as the people, by their repentance, became fit to receive them. A divine warrant, in such a case, is a clear ground to go upon, but it can be no precedent for others to go upon, who have no divine warrant at all, but quite the contrary. What are reason and understanding given us for, but to distinguish upon cases and circumstances?” As reasons why God excited Ehud to this action, it may be observed, that Eglon had been the aggressor, and that he was the oppressor of God’s people, and held them under a cruel subjection and bondage; that he was undoubtedly guilty of great injustice and violence toward them, and, in all probability, continued to make many thousands of them miserable daily, by means of their servitude, which he had no right to do. Therefore God, who had called Ehud to the office of delivering and governing Israel, stirred him up on this occasion, to take this method of cutting off their enemy and oppressor. Judges 3:22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. Jdg 3:22 . And the dirt came out — The Hebrew word ??????? , parschedona, here translated dirt, is found only in this place. It is from the Chaldee that it is thus rendered, and all agree that it signifies the excrements. Judges 3:23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. Jdg 3:23 . Ehud went forth — With a composed countenance and motion, being well assured that God, who by his extraordinary call had excited him to this enterprise, would, by his special providence, carry him through it. And shut the doors upon him — Upon, or after, himself; and locked them — Either pulling them closely after him, as we do, when doors have spring- locks; or taking the key with him. Judges 3:24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. Jdg 3:24 . He covereth his feet — This phrase is used only here, and 1 Samuel 24:3 . A late judicious interpreter expounds it, of composing himself to take a little sleep, as it was very usual to do in the day-time in those hot countries. And when they did so in cool places, such as this summer parlour unquestionably was, they used to cover their feet. And this may seem to be the more probable, both because the summer parlour was proper for this use, and because this was a more likely reason for their long waiting at his door, lest they should disturb his repose. And this sense best agrees with Saul’s case in the cave, when, being asleep, David could more securely cut off the lap of his garment. Judges 3:25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them : and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. Jdg 3:25 . They tarried till they were ashamed — Till they were in great confusion, not conceiving what could cause him to sleep so much longer than usual; and not knowing what to say or think, afraid that they should either disturb him, or be guilty of neglect toward him. They took a key and opened them — Another key, it being usual in the courts of kings for more persons than one to be intrusted with keys to the same room. Judges 3:26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. Judges 3:27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. Jdg 3:27-28 . He blew a trumpet — In order to summon those who were disposed to recover their liberty to take arms and follow him. And the children of Israel went down with him — Whom doubtless he had prepared by his emissaries, and gathered together in considerable numbers. With these he attacked the Moabites who were in garrisons on the west of Jordan, and slew ten thousand of their best men; which utterly broke the power of Moab, and freed the Israelites from the yoke of that nation. They took the fords of Jordan — Where that river was usually passed, that neither the Moabites that were in Canaan might escape, nor any more Moabites come over Jordan to their succour. Judges 3:28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. Judges 3:29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. Judges 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. Jdg 3:30 . The land had rest fourscore years — Not the whole land of Israel, but the eastern part of it, which had thus shaken off the yoke of Moab. For in the mean time the Philistines invaded the western parts, as it here follows, and were repulsed by Shamgar; and Jabin afflicted the northern, as it follows in the next chapter. Judges 3:31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. Jdg 3:31 . After him was Shamgar — He was the third judge of the Israelites, and delivered them from some small oppressions which they suffered from the Philistines. The sacred text gives us no further particulars concerning him than that he slew six hundred of them with an ox-goad; or, as the Latin and Greek versions render it, with a plough-share. Indeed the Hebrew ???? ???? , malmad habakar, signifies any instrument by which oxen are broken to labour. The Philistines, it seems, were more careful than any other nation to strip the Israelites of all their military weapons whenever they had them in subjection; and if this was the case at present, it is likely that the expression means only such rustic instruments as he could lay his hand on. It is probable he was following the plough when the Philistines made an inroad into the country, and having neither sword nor spear, when God put it into his heart to oppose them, he took up the instrument which was next at hand. “It is no matter,” says Henry, “how weak the weapon is, if God direct and strengthen the arm. An ox- goad, when God pleaseth, shall do more than Goliah’s sword. And sometimes he chooseth to work by such unlikely means, that the excellence of the power may appear to be of God,” and that he may have all the glory. If we may believe Mr. Maundrell, however, he saw goads used in Palestine which were of an extraordinary size, several of them being about eight feet long, and at the thicker end six inches in circumference. They were armed, he tells us, at the smaller end, with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen, and at the other end with a small spade or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the plough from the clay that is wont to encumber it in working. And he conjectures it was with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made this prodigious slaughter, and judges that such an instrument “was not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such an execution.” See Journey from Aleppo, p. 110. It is evident, however, that the sacred writer here does not attribute the slaughter made, and victory obtained by Shamgar, to the excellence of the weapon which he used, but to the power of God. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Judges 3:1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; THE ARM OF ARAM AND OF OTHNIEL Jdg 3:1-11 WE come now to a statement of no small importance, which may be the cause of some perplexity. It is emphatically affirmed that God fulfilled His design for Israel by leaving around it in Canaan a circle of vigorous tribes very unlike each other, but alike in this, that each presented to the Hebrews a civilisation from which something might be learned but much had to be dreaded, a seductive form of paganism which ought to have been entirely resisted, an aggressive energy fitted to rouse their national feeling. We learn that Israel was led along a course of development resembling that by which other nations have advanced to unity and strength. As the Divine plan is unfolded, it is seen that not by undivided possession of the Promised Land, not by swift and fierce clearing away of opponents, was Israel to reach its glory and become Jehovah’s witness, but in the way of patient fidelity amidst temptations, by long struggle and arduous discipline. And why should this cause perplexity? If moral education did not move on the same line for all peoples in every age, then indeed mankind would be put to intellectual confusion. There was never any other way for Israel than for the rest of the world. "These are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord." The first named are the Philistines, whose settlements on the coast plain toward Egypt were growing in power. They were a maritime race, apparently much like the Danish invaders of Saxon England, sea rovers or pirates, ready for any fray that promised spoil. In the great coalition of peoples that fell on Egypt during the reign of Ramses III, about the year 1260 B.C., Philistines were conspicuous, and after the crushing defeat of the expedition they appear in larger numbers on the coast of Canaan. Their cities were military republics skilfully organised, each with a seren or war chief, the chiefs of the hundred cities forming a council of federation. Their origin is not known; but we may suppose them to have been a branch of the Amorite family, who after a time of adventure were returning to their early haunts. It may be reckoned certain that in wealth and civilisation they presented a marked contrast to the Israelites, and their equipments of all kinds gave them great advantage in the arts of war and peace. Even in the period of the Judges there were imposing temples in the Philistine cities and the worship must have been carefully ordered. How they compared with the Hebrews in domestic life we have no means of judging, but there was certainly some barrier of race, language, or custom between the peoples which made intermarriage very rare. We can suppose that they looked upon the Hebrews from their higher worldly level as rude and slavish. Military adventurers not unwilling to sell their services for gold would be apt to despise a race half-nomad, half-rural. It was in war, not in peace, that Philistine and Hebrew met, contempt on either side gradually changing into keenest hatred as century after century the issue of battle was tried with varying success. And it must be said that it was well for the tribes of Jehovah rather to be in occasional subjection to the Philistines, and so learn to dread them, than to mix freely with those by whom the great ideas of Hebrew life were despised. On the northward seaboard a quite different race, the Zidonians, or Phoenicians, were in one sense better neighbours to the Israelites, in another sense no better friends. While the Philistines were haughty, aristocratic, military, the Phoenicians were the great bourgeoisie of the period, clever, enterprising, eminently successful in trade. Like the other Canaanites and the ancestors of the Jews, they were probably immigrants from the lower Euphrates valley; unlike the others, they brought with them habits of commerce and skill in manufacture, for which they became famous along the Mediterranean shores and beyond the pillars of Hercules. Between Philistine and Phoenician the Hebrew was mercifully protected from the absorbing interests of commercial life and the disgrace of prosperous piracy. The conscious superiority of the coast peoples in wealth and influence and the material elements of civilisation was itself a guard to the Jews, who had their own sense of dignity, their own claim to assert. The configuration of the country helped the separateness of Israel, especially so far as Phoenicia was concerned, which lay mainly beyond the rampart of Lebanon and the gorge of the Litany; while with the fortress of Tyre on the hither side of the natural frontier there appears to have been for a long time no intercourse, probably on account of its peculiar position. But the spirit of Phoenicia was the great barrier. Along the crowded wharves of Tyre and Zidon, in warehouses and markets, factories and workshops, a hundred industries were in full play, and in their luxurious dwellings the busy prosperous traders, with their silk-clad wives, enjoyed the pleasures of the age. From all this the Hebrew, rough and unkempt, felt himself shut out, perhaps with a touch of regret, perhaps with scorn equal to that on the other side. He had to live his life apart from that busy race, apart from its vivacity and enterprise, apart from its lubricity and worldliness. The contempt of the world is ill to bear, and the Jew no doubt found it so. But it was good for him. The tribes had time to consolidate, the religion of Jehovah became established before Phoenicia thought it worthwhile to court her neighbour. Early indeed the idolatry of the one people infected the other and there were the beginnings of trade, yet on the whole for many centuries they kept apart. Not till a king throned in Jerusalem could enter into alliance with a king of Tyre, crown with crown, did there come to be that intimacy which had so much risk for the Hebrew. The humbleness and poverty of Israel during the early centuries of its history in Canaan was a providential safeguard. God would not lose His people, nor suffer it to forget its mission. Among the inland races with whom the Israelites are said to have dwelt, the Amorites, though mentioned along with Perizzites and Hivites, had very distinct characteristics. They were a mountain people like the Scottish Highlanders, even in physiognomy much resembling them, a tall, white-skinned, blue-eyed race. Warlike we know they were, and the Egyptian representation of the siege of Dapur by Ramses II shows what is supposed to be the standard of the Amorites on the highest tower, a shield pierced by three arrows surmounted by another arrow fastened across the top of the staff. On the east of Jordan they were defeated by the Israelites and their land between Arnon and Jabbok was allotted to Reuben and Gad. In the west they seem to have held their ground in isolated fortresses or small clans, so energetic and troublesome that it is specially noted in Samuel’s time that a great defeat of the Philistines brought peace between Israel and the Amorites. A significant reference in the description of Ahab’s idolatry -"he did very abominably in following idols according to all things as did the Amorites"-shows the religion of these people to have been Baal worship of the grossest kind; and we may well suppose that by intermixture with them especially the faith of Israel was debased. Even now, it may be said, the Amorite is still in the land; a blue-eyed, fair-complexioned type survives, representing that ancient stock. Passing some tribes whose names imply rather geographical than ethnical distinctions, we come to the Hittites, the powerful people of whom in recent years we have learned something. At one time these Hittites were practically masters of the wide region from Ephesus in the west of Asia Minor to Carchemish on the Euphrates, and from the shores of the Black Sea to the south of Palestine. They appear to us in the archives of Thebes and the poem of the Laureate, Pentaur, as the great adversaries of Egypt in the days of Ramses I and his successors; and one of the most interesting records is of the battle fought about 1383 B.C. at Kadesh on the Orontes, between the immense armies of the two nations, the Egyptians being led by Ramses II. Amazing feats were attributed to Ramses, but he was compelled to treat on equal terms with the "great king of Kheta," and the war was followed by a marriage between the Pharaoh and the daughter of the Hittite prince. Syria too was given up to the latter as his legitimate possession. The treaty of peace drawn up on the occasion, in the name of the chief gods of Egypt and of the Hittites, included a compact of offensive and defensive alliance and careful provisions for extradition of fugitives and criminals. Throughout it there is evident a great dependence upon the company of gods of either land, who are largely invoked to punish those who break and reward those who keep its terms. "He who shall observe these commandments which the silver tablet contains, whether he be of the people of Kheta or of the people of Egypt, because he has not neglected them, the company of the gods of the land of Kheta and the company of the gods of the land of Egypt shall secure his reward and preserve life for him and his servants." From this time the Amorites of southern Palestine and the minor Canaanite peoples submitted to the Hittite dominion, and it was while this subjection lasted that the Israelites under Joshua appeared on the scene. There can be no doubt that the tremendous conflict with Egypt had exhausted the population of Canaan and wasted the country, and so prepared the way for the success of Israel. The Hittites indeed were strong enough, had they seen fit to oppose with great armies the new comers into Syria. But the centre of their power lay far to the north, perhaps in Cappadocia; and on the frontier towards Nineveh they were engaged with more formidable opponents. We may also surmise that the Hittites, whose alliance with Egypt was by Joshua’s time somewhat decayed, would look upon the Hebrews, to begin with, as fugitives from the misrule of the Pharaoh who might be counted upon to take arms against their former oppressors. This would account, in part at least, for the indifference with which the Israelite settlement in Canaan was regarded; it explains why no vigorous attempt was made to drive back the tribes. For the characteristics of the Hittites, whose appearance and dress constantly suggest a Mongolian origin, we can now consult their monuments. A vigorous people they must have been, capable of government, of extensive organisation, concerned to perfect their arts as well as to increase their power. Original contributors to civilisation they probably were not, but they had skill to use what they found and spread it widely. Their worship of Sutekh or Soutkhu, and. especially of Astarte under the name of Ma, who reappears in the Great Diana of Ephesus, must have been very elaborate. A single Cappadocian city is reported to have had at one time six thousand armed priestesses and eunuchs of that goddess. In Palestine there were not many of this distinct and energetic people when the Hebrews crossed the Jordan. A settlement seems to have remained about Hebron, but the armies had withdrawn; Kadesh on the Orontes was the nearest garrison. One peculiar institution of Hittite religion was the holy city, which afforded sanctuary to fugitives; and it is notable that some of these cities in Canaan, such as Kadesh-Naphtali and Hebron, are found among the Hebrew cities of refuge. It was as a people at once enticed and threatened, invited to peace and constantly provoked to war, that Israel settled in the circle of Syrian nations. After the first conflicts, ending in the defeat of Adoni-bezek and the capture of Hebron and Kiriath-sepher, the Hebrews had an acknowledged place, partly won by their prowess, partly by the terror of Jehovah which accompanied their arms. To Philistines, Phoenicians and Hittites, as we have seen, their coming mattered little, and the other races had to make the best of affairs, sometimes able to hold their ground, sometimes forced to give way. The Hebrew tribes, for their part, were, on the whole, too ready to live at peace and to yield not a little for the sake of peace. Intermarriages made their position safer, and they intermarried with Amorites, Hivites, Perizzites. Interchange of goods was profitable, and they engaged in barter. The observance of frontiers and covenants helped to make things smooth, and they agreed on boundary lines of territory and terms of fraternal intercourse. The acknowledgment of their neighbours’ religion was the next thing, and from that they did not shrink. The new neighbours were practically superior to themselves in many ways, well informed as to the soil, the climate, the methods of tillage necessary in the land, well able to teach useful arts and simple manufactures. Little by little the debasing notions and bad customs that infest pagan society entered Hebrew homes. Comfort and prosperity came; but comfort was dearly bought with loss of pureness, and prosperity with loss of faith. The watchwords of unity were forgotten by many. But for the sore oppressions of which the Mesopotamian was the first, the tribes would have gradually lost all coherence and vigour and become like those poor tatters of races that dragged out an inglorious existence between Jordan and the Mediterranean plain. Yet it is with nations as with men; those that have a reason of existence and the desire to realise it, even at intervals, may fall away into pitiful languor if corrupted by prosperity, but when the need comes their spirit will be renewed. While Hivites, Perizzites, and even Amorites had practically nothing to live for, but only cared to live, the Hebrews felt oppression and restraint in their inmost marrow. What the faithful servants of God among them urged in vain the iron heel of Cushan-rishathaim made them remember and realise-that they had a God from Whom they were basely departing, a birthright they were selling for pottage. In Doubting Castle, under the chains of Despair, they bethought them of the Almighty and His ancient promises, they cried unto the Lord. And it was not the cry of an afflicted church; Israel was far from deserving that name. Rather was it the cry of a prodigal people scarcely daring to hope that the Father would forgive and save. Nothing yet found in the records of Babylon or Assyria throws any light on the invasion of Cushan-rishathaim, whose name, which seems to mean Cushan of the Two Evil Deeds, may be taken to represent his character as the Hebrews viewed it. He was a king one of whose predecessors a few centuries before had given a daughter in marriage to the third Amenophis of Egypt, and with her the Aramaean religion to the Nile valley. At that time Mesopotamia, or Aram-Naharaim, was one of the greatest monarchies of western Asia. Stretching along the Euphrates from the Khabour river towards Carchemish and away to the highlands of Armenia, it embraced the district in which Terah and Abram first settled when the family migrated from Ur of the Chaldees. In the days of the judges of Israel, however, the glory of Aram had faded. The Assyrians threatened its eastern frontier, and about 1325 B.C., the date at which we have now arrived, they laid waste the valley of the Khabour. We can suppose that the pressure of this rising empire was one cause of the expedition of Cushan towards the western sea. It remains a question, however, why the Mesopotamian king should have been allowed to traverse the land of the Hittites, either by way of Damascus or the desert route that led past Tadmor, in order to fall on the Israelites; and there is this other question, What led him to think of attacking Israel especially among the dwellers in Canaan? In pursuing these inquiries we have at least presumption to guide us. Carchemish on the Euphrates was a great Hittite fortress commanding the fords of that deep and treacherous river. Not far from it, within the Mesopotamian country, was Pethor, which was at once a Hittite and an Aramaean town-Pethor the city of Balaam with whom the Hebrews had had to reckon shortly before they entered Canaan. Now Cushan-rishathaim, reigning in this region, occupied the middle ground between the Hittites and Assyria on the east, also between them and Babylon on the southeast; and it is probable that he was in close alliance with the Hittites. Suppose then that the Hittite king, who at first regarded the Hebrews with indifference, was now beginning to view them with distrust or to fear them as a people bent on their own ends, not to be reckoned on for help against Egypt, and we can easily see that he might be more than ready to assist the Mesopotamians in their attack on the tribes. To this we may add a hint which is derived from Balaam’s connection with Pethor, and the kind of advice he was in the way of giving to those who consulted him. Does it not seem probable enough that some counsel of his survived his death and now guided the action of the king of Aram? Balaam, by profession a soothsayer, was evidently a great political personage of his time, foreseeing, crafty, and vindictive. Methods of his for suppressing Israel, the force of whose genius he fully recognised, were perhaps sold to more than one kingly employer. "The land of the children of his people" would almost certainly keep his counsel in mind and seek to avenge his death. Thus against Israel particularly among the dwellers in Canaan the arms of Cushan-rishathaim would be directed, and the Hittites, who scarcely found it needful to attack Israel for their own safety, would facilitate his march. Here then we may trace the revival of a feud which seemed to have died away fifty years before. Neither nations nor men can easily escape from the enmity they have incurred and the entanglements of their history. When years have elapsed and strifes appear to have been buried in oblivion, suddenly, as if out of the grave, the past is apt to arise and confront us, sternly demanding the payment of its reckoning. We once did another grievous wrong, and now our fondly cherished belief that the man we injured had forgotten our injustice is completely dispelled. The old anxiety, the old terror breaks in afresh upon our lives. Or it was in doing our duty that we braved the enmity of evil-minded men and punished their crimes. But though they have passed away their bitter hatred, bequeathed to others, still survives. Now the battle of justice and fidelity has to be fought over again, and well is it for us if we are found ready in the strength of God. And, in another aspect, how futile is the dream some indulge of getting rid of their history, passing beyond the memory or resurrection of what has been. Shall Divine forgiveness obliterate those deeds of which we have repented? Then the deeds being forgotten the forgiveness too would pass into oblivion, and all the gain of faith and gratitude it brought would be lost. Do we expect never to retrace in memory the way we have travelled? As well might we hope, retaining our personality, to become other men than we are. The past, good and evil, remains and will remain, that we may be kept humble and moved to ever-increasing thankfulness and fervour of soul. We rise "on stepping stones of our dead selves to higher things," and every forgotten incident by which moral education has been provided for must return to light. The heaven we hope for is not to be one of forgetfulness, but a state bright and free through remembrance of the grace that saved us at every stage and the circumstances of our salvation. As yet we do not half know what God has done for us, what His providence has been. There must be a resurrection of old conflicts, strifes, defeats, and victories in order that we may understand the grace which is to keep us safe forever. Attacked by Cushan of the Two Crimes the Israelites were in evil case. They had not the consciousness of Divine support which sustained them once. They had forsaken Him whose presence in the camp made their arms victorious. Now they must face the consequences of their fathers’ deeds without their fathers’ heavenly courage. Had they still been a united nation full of faith and hope, the armies of Aram would have assailed them in vain. But they were without the spirit which the crisis required. For eight years the northern tribes had to bear a sore oppression, soldiers quartered in their cities, tribute exacted at the point of the sword, their harvests enjoyed by others. The stern lesson was taught them that Canaan was to be no peaceful habitation for a people that renounced the purpose of its existence. The struggle became more hopeless year by year, the state of affairs more wretched. So at last the tribes were driven by stress of persecution and calamity to call again on the name of God, and some faint hope of succour broke like a misty morning over the land. It was from the far south that help came in response to the piteous cry of the oppressed in the north; the deliverer was Othniel, who has already appeared in the history. After his marriage with Achsah, daughter of Caleb, we must suppose him living as quietly as possible in his south-lying farm, there increasing in importance year by year till now he is a respected chief of the tribe of Judah. In frequent skirmishes with Arab marauders from the wilderness he has distinguished himself, maintaining the fame of his early exploit. Better still, he is one of those who have kept the great traditions of the nation, a man mindful of the law of God, deriving strength of character from fellowship with the Almighty. "The Spirit of Jehovah came upon him and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Jehovah delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand." "He judged Israel and went out to war." Significant is the order of these statements. The judging of Israel by this man, on whom the Spirit of Jehovah was, meant no doubt inquisition into the religious and moral state, condemnation of the idolatry of the tribes, and a restoration to some extent of the worship of God. In no other way could the strength of Israel be revived. The people had to be healed before they could fight, and the needed cure was spiritual. Hopeless invariably have been the efforts of oppressed peoples to deliver themselves unless some trust in a Divine power has given them heart for the struggle. When we see an army bow in prayer as one man before joining battle, as the Swiss did at Morat and the Scots at Bannockburn, we have faith in their spirit and courage, for they are feeling their dependence in the Supernatural. Othniel’s first care was to suppress idolatry, to teach Israelites anew the forgotten name and law of God and their destiny as a nation. Well did he know that this alone would prepare the way for success. Then, having gathered an army fit for his purpose, he was not long in sweeping the garrisons of Cushan out of the land. Judgment and then deliverance; judgment of the mistakes and sins men have committed, thereby bringing themselves into trouble; conviction of sin and righteousness; thereafter guidance and help that their feet may be set on a rock and their goings established-this is the right sequence. That God should help the proud, the self-sufficient out of their troubles in order that they may go on in pride and vainglory, or that He should save the vicious from the consequences of their vice and leave them to persist in their iniquity, would be no Divine work. The new mind and the right spirit must be put in men, they must hear their condemnation, lay it to heart and repent, there must be a revival of holy purpose and aspiration first. Then the oppressors will be driven from the land, the weight of trouble lifted from the soul. Othniel, the first of the judges, seems one of the best. He is not a man of mere rude strength and dashing enterprise. Nor is he one who runs the risk of sudden elevation to power, which few can stand. A person of acknowledged honour and sagacity, he sees the problem of the time and does his best to solve it. He is almost unique in this, that he appears without offence, without shame. And his judgeship is honourable to Israel. It points to a higher level of thought and greater seriousness among the tribes than in the century when Jephthah and Samson were the acknowledged heroes. The nation had not lost its reverence for the great names and hopes of the exodus when it obeyed Othniel and followed him to battle. In modern times there would seem to be scarcely any understanding of the fact that no man can do real service as a political leader unless he is a fearer of God, one who loves righteousness more than country, and serves the Eternal before any constituency. Sometimes a nation low enough in morality has been so far awake to its need and danger as to give the helm, at least for a time, to a servant of truth and righteousness and to follow where he leads. But more commonly is it the case that political leaders are chosen anywhere rather than from the ranks of the spiritually earnest. It is oratorical dash now, and now the cleverness of the intriguer, or the power of rank and wealth, that catches popular favour and exalts a man in the state. Members of parliament, cabinet ministers, high officials need have no devoutness, no spiritual seriousness or insight. A nation generally seeks no such character in its legislators and is often content with less than decent morality. Is it then any wonder that politics are arid and government a series of errors? We need men who have the true idea of liberty and will set nations nominally Christian on the way of fulfilling their mission to the world. When the people want a spiritual leader he will appear; when they are ready to follow one of high and pure temper he will arise and show the way. But the plain truth is that our chiefs in the state, in society and business must be the men who represent the general opinion, the general aim. While we are in the main a worldly people, the best guides, those of spiritual mind, will never be allowed to carry their plans. And so we come back to the main lesson of the whole history, that only as each citizen is thoughtful of God and of duty, redeemed from selfishness and the world, can there be a true commonwealth, honourable government, beneficent civilisation. Judges 3:12 And the children of Israel did evil again 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. THE DAGGER AND THE OX-GOAD Jdg 3:12-31 THE world is served by men of very diverse kinds, and we pass now to one who is in strong contrast to Israel’s first deliverer. Othniel the judge without reproach is followed by Ehud the regicide. The long peace which the country enjoyed after the Mesopotamian army was driven out allowed a return of prosperity and with it a relaxing of spiritual tone. Again there was disorganisation; again the Hebrew strength decayed and watchful enemies found an opportunity. The Moabites led the attack, and their king was at the head of a federation including the Ammonites and the Amalekites. It was this coalition the power of which Ehud had to break. We can only surmise the causes of the assault made on the Hebrews west of Jordan by those peoples on the east. When the Israelites first appeared on the plains of the Jordan under the shadow of the mountains of Moab, before crossing into Palestine proper, Balak king of Moab viewed with alarm this new nation which was advancing to seek a settlement so near his territory. It was then he sent to Pethor for Balaam, in the hope that by a powerful incantation or curse the great diviner would blight the Hebrew armies and make them an easy prey. Notwithstanding this scheme, which even to the Israelites did not appear contemptible, Moses so far respected the relationship between Moab and Israel that he did not attack Balak’s kingdom, although at the time it had been weakened by an unsuccessful contest with the Amorites from Gilead. Moab to the south and Ammon to the north were both left unharmed. But to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh was allotted the land from which the Amorites had been completely driven, a region extending from the frontier of Moab on the south away towards Hermon and the Argob; and these tribes entering vigorously on their possession could not long remain at peace with the bordering races. We can easily see how their encroachments, their growing strength would vex Moab and Ammon and drive them to plans of retaliation. Balaam had not cursed Israel; he had blessed it, and the blessing was being fulfilled. It seemed to be decreed that all other peoples east of Jordan were to be overborne by the descendants of Abraham; yet one fear wrought against another, and the hour of Israel’s security was seized as a fit occasion for a vigorous sally across the river. A desperate effort was made to strike at the heart of the Hebrew power and assert the claims of Chemosh to be a greater god than He Who was reverenced at the sanctuary of the ark. Or Amalek may have instigated the attack. Away in the Sinaitic wilderness there stood an altar which Moses had named Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah is my banner, and that altar commemorated a great victory gained by Israel over the Amalekites. The greater part of a century had gone by since the battle, but the memory of defeat lingers long with the Arab-and these Amalekites were pure Arabs, savage, vindictive, cherishing their cause of war, waiting their revenge. We know the command in Deuteronomy, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt. How he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee. Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it." We may be sure that Reuben and Gad did not forget the dastardly attack; we may be sure that Amalek did not forget the day of Rephidim. If Moab was not of itself disposed to cross the Jordan and fall on Benjamin and Ephraim, there was the urgency of Amalek, the proffered help of that fiery people to ripen decision. The ferment of war rose. Moab, having walled cities to form a basis of operations, took the lead. The confederates marched northward along the Dead Sea, seized the ford near Gilgal and mastering the plain of Jericho pushed their conquest beyond the hills. Nor was it a temporary advance. They established themselves. Eighteen years afterwards we find Eglon, in his palace or castle near the City of Palm Trees, claiming authority over all Israel. So the Hebrew tribes, partly by reason of an old strife not forgotten, partly because they have gone on vigorously adding to their territory, again suffer assault and are brought under oppression, and the coalition against them reminds us of confederacies that are in full force today. Ammon and Moab are united against the church of Christ, and Amalek joins in the attack. The parable is one, we shall say, of the opposition the church is constantly provoking, constantly experiencing, not entirely to its own credit. Allowing that, in the main, Christianity is truly and honestly aggressive, that on its march to the heights it does straight battle with the enemies of mankind and thus awakens the hatred of bandit Amaleks, yet this is not a complete account of the assaults which are renewed century after century. Must it not be owned that those who pass for Christians often go beyond the lines and methods of their proper warfare and are found on fields where the weapons are carnal and the fight is not "the good fight of faith"? There is a strain of modern talk which defends the worldly ambition of Christian men, sounding very hollow and insincere to all excepting those whose interest and illusion it is to think it heavenly. We hear from a thousand tongues the gospel of Christianised commerce, of sanctified success, of making business a religion. In the press and hurry of competition there is a less and a greater conscientiousness. Let men have it in the greater degree, let them be less anxious for speedy success than some they know, not quite so eager to add factory to factory and field to field, more careful to interpret bargains fairly and do good work; let them figure often as benefactors a