If you have lost your reading schedule like me, Click here to print a new one. (but it is always in the handout section)
Chapter 3 begins with: “These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan”. Faith is tested. The younger generation had not fought in the major battles, so they would need Faith to overcome their enemies. However, by verse 5 we read: “The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.”
This book is subdivided into 6 eras of Apostasy. Apostasy means a falling away, a withdrawal, a defection. They believed in God, but they abandoned Him. Click here if you would like a detailed list of the judges.
Here is a cheat sheet:
Judge #1
Othniel: (Hebrew means “Lion of God” or “Strength of God”)
Was “raised up” (think of the Cross), as the first judge of the Israelites. He was Caleb’s younger brother. (yesterday I said to put his name in your pocket)
- 8 years of oppression
- 40 years of rest
Judge #2 Ehud (means union or united)
King Egon from the Ammonites, teamed up with the Ammonites and the Amalekites. (they should sound familiar). God raised up Ehud from the tribe of the Benjaminites. He was left-handed meaning Ehud could not use his right hand at all for some reason. God used this in a mighty way. Ehud was able to sneak his sword in on his right side because the guards would only have checked his left side for a weapon. He conquered this King by plunging the sword into him causing his bowels to discharge. The smell must have been horrible! This puts the whole scene together as to why the servants assumed he was “relieving himself” and Ehud had time to escape.
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Judge #3 Shamgar- Shamgar is one small verse but one powerful Judge. Here is what we know:
- Shamgar’s leadership followed Ehud’s
- He was the son of Anath,
- He killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad
- He saved Israel.
Because the name Anath referred to a Canaanite goddess, some have suggested Shamgar was a son of a mixed Israelite-Canaanite marriage or had some other connection with the Canaanites.
An oxgoad wasn’t even a weapon, it was a herding tool for animals that Ehud used as a weapon. God is amazing.
NOTICE: These are not just “battles”, this is God showing himself to the next generation. 600 Philistines…the weapon wasn’t the Oxgoad. The weapon was God!
Are you paying attention to the cycles!
#4 Deborah- (hold on a second, I need to go find my Whitney Houston cassette and blast “I’m Every Woman” while I read this.🎶🎶
Deborah, upon receiving instructions from God, called Barak, an Israelite warrior, to bring 10,000 troops up Mount Tabor to attack Sisera, Jabin’s commander of troops.
Barak responded by saying “If you will go with me, I will go; if not I will not go” (Give me a break. Take his man card from him!)
In the next verse, Deborah agrees to go to battle with Barak and the troops but says: “However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for then the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman” You bug wimp. (I added the last part)
Ok, a little background. Moses’ father-in-law was a Kenite. They lived among the people Israelites under the tribe of Judah (1:16). God used this alliance to his advantage. Even though the Kenites had moved North and were friendly with Jabin’s army (well, who wouldn’t be…his army was HUGE and sophisticated with 900 chariots made of iron). Jael gives him milk and a blanket to help him sleep and then…drives a tent peg through his temple! Lord have mercy! I named my daughters Elliot and Charlie, I might change them to Deborah and Jael!
Chapter 5: The Song of Deborah (it’s really not a song of Deborah, It is a song of the Lord). This song was to teach the next generations (and the enemies to come) that it was not the Judges who saved Israel but the Lord that raised up the Judges. It is a song of Praise. Verse 2 and 9…” Praise the Lord”.
Notice in the song who did NOT fight. 😢
Over 200 years were read today.
The Judges and their Tribes:
1. Othniel – Judah
2. Ehud – Benjamin
3. Shamgar
4. Deborah – Ephraim
5. Gideon – Manasseh
6. Tola – Issachar
7. Jair – Manasseh
8. Jephthah – Manasseh
9. Ibzan – Judah
10. Elon – Zebulun
11. Abdon – Ephraim
12. Samson – Dan
Reading the Bible - 2021 