Nations Left to Test Israel
These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, Jdg 2:21-22Deu 7:22Pro 17:31Pe 4:12Deu 8:16Deu 8:2Jdg 2:10Jer 6:27 if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: 2Ti 2:31Co 9:26-271Ti 6:122Ch 12:82Ti 4:7Eph 6:11-18Gen 2:17Gen 3:5 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. Jos 13:3Jos 13:51Sa 13:19-231Sa 13:51Sa 29:21Sa 4:1-21Sa 6:18Deu 1:7
These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses. Jdg 2:22Jdg 3:11Co 11:19Deu 33:8Deu 8:2Exo 15:252Th 2:9-12 Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Psa 106:34-38Exo 3:17Exo 3:8Gen 10:15-18Deu 7:1Gen 15:19-21Jdg 1:29-32Jos 9:1 And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Exo 34:16Deu 7:3-41Ki 11:1-5Ezk 16:3Ezr 9:11-12Neh 13:23-27
Othniel
So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. Exo 34:132Ki 23:6Deu 4:91Ki 16:331Ki 18:192Ch 15:162Ch 24:182Ch 33:19 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, 1 and the Israelites served him eight years. Jdg 2:14Hab 3:7Jdg 4:9Psa 85:31Sa 12:9Deu 29:20Deu 32:30Exo 22:24
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. Jdg 3:15Jdg 1:13Psa 22:5Jdg 10:10Jdg 6:7Jdg 2:16Jdg 4:3Psa 107:13-19 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him. 1Sa 11:6Jdg 11:29Jdg 13:25Jdg 14:19Jdg 14:62Ch 15:1Jdg 6:34Num 24:2
So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. Jdg 3:30Jdg 5:31Jdg 8:28Jos 11:23Est 9:221Ch 4:13Jdg 3:9Jos 15:17
Ehud
Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 1Sa 12:9Jdg 2:19Jhn 19:112Ki 5:1Dan 4:22Dan 5:18Exo 9:16Ezk 38:16 After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. 2 Jdg 1:16Deu 34:3Jdg 5:14Psa 83:6-7
The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. Lev 26:23-25Deu 28:40Deu 28:47-48 And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Jdg 3:9Psa 78:34Isa 36:16Jdg 20:16Jer 33:31Ch 12:21Sa 10:27Jer 29:12-13
Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. 3 He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak Heb 4:12Psa 45:3Rev 2:12Jdg 3:21Psa 149:6Rev 1:16Sng 3:8 and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man. Ezk 34:20Job 15:27Jdg 3:29Jer 5:28Jer 50:11Psa 73:191Sa 2:29Psa 73:7
After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Jos 4:202Ki 9:5-6Act 23:18-19Jdg 3:20Gen 45:1
“Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.
Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat. Jer 10:7Amo 3:152Sa 12:1-152Sa 24:12Jdg 3:19Mic 6:9Psa 29:1
And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 1Sa 15:332Co 5:16Job 20:25Num 25:7-8Zec 13:3 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.
After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. 1Sa 24:3 So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.
Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.
On arriving in Seirah, he blew the ram’s horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites came down with him from the hills, and he became their leader. 1Sa 13:3Jdg 6:342Ki 9:132Sa 20:22Jdg 17:1Jdg 19:1Jdg 5:14Jdg 7:24 “Follow me,” he told them, “for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” Jdg 12:51Sa 17:47Jdg 7:15Jdg 7:9Jos 2:7Jdg 7:24Jdg 4:10Jdg 7:17
So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped. Deu 32:15Jdg 3:17Job 15:27Psa 17:10
So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel that day, and the land had rest for eighty years. Jdg 3:11Jdg 5:31
Shamgar
After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. Jdg 5:61Co 1:171Sa 17:471Sa 17:501Sa 13:19-22Jdg 15:15Jdg 2:16Jdg 5:8