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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Judges, Chapter III].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J U D G E S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. III.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter,
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I. A general account of Israel's enemies is premised, and of the
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mischief they did them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:1-7">ver. 1-7</A>.
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II. A particular account of the brave exploits done by the first three
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of the judges.
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1. Othniel, whom God raised up to fight Israel's battles, and plead
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their cause against the king of Mesopotamia,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:8-11">ver. 8-11</A>.
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2. Ehud, who was employed in rescuing Israel out of the hands of the
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Moabites, and did it by stabbing the king of Moab,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:12-30">ver. 12-30</A>.
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3. Shamgar, who signalized himself in an encounter with the
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Philistines,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:31">ver. 31</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jud3_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Idolatry of the Israelites.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1406.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>
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1 Now these <I>are</I> the nations which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> left, to prove
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Israel by them, <I>even</I> as many <I>of Israel</I> as had not known all
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the wars of Canaan;
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2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might
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know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing
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thereof;
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3 <I>Namely,</I> five lords of the Philistines, and all the
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Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in
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mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of
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Hamath.
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4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they
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would hearken unto the commandments of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, which he
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commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
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5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,
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Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and
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Jebusites:
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6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave
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their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
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7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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and forgat the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We are here told what remained of the old inhabitants of Canaan.
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1. There were some of them that kept together in united bodies,
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unbroken
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The five lords of the Philistines,</I> namely, Ashdod, Gaza,
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Askelon, Gath, and Ekron,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+6:7">1 Sam. vi. 17</A>.
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Three of these cities had been in part reduced
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+1:18"><I>ch.</I> i. 18</A>),
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but it seems the Philistines (probably with the help of the other two,
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which strengthened their confederacy with each other thenceforward)
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recovered the possession of them. These gave the greatest disturbance
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to Israel of any of the natives, especially in the latter times of the
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judges, and they were never quite reduced until David's time. There was
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a particular nation called <I>Canaanites,</I> that kept their ground
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with the Sidonians, upon the coast of the great sea. And in the north
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the Hivites held much of Mount Lebanon, it being a remote corner, in
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which perhaps they were supported by some of the neighbouring states.
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But, besides these,
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2. There were every where in all parts of the country some scatterings
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of the nations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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Hittites, Amorites, &c., which, by Israel's foolish connivance and
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indulgence, were so many, so easy, and so insolent, that the
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<I>children of Israel</I> are said to <I>dwell among them,</I> as if
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the right had still remained in the Canaanites, and the Israelites had
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been taken in by their permission and only as tenants at will.</P>
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<P>
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Now concerning these remnants of the natives observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. How wisely God permitted them to remain. It is mentioned in the
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close of the foregoing chapter as an act of God's justice, that he let
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them remain for Israel's correction. But here another construction is
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put upon it, and it appears to have been an act of God's <I>wisdom,</I>
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that he let them remain for Israel's real advantage, that those who
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<I>had not known the wars of Canaan</I> might <I>learn war,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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It was the will of God that the people of Israel should be inured to
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war,
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1. Because their country was <I>exceedingly rich and fruitful,</I> and
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abounded with dainties of all sorts, which, if they were not sometimes
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made to know hardship, would be in danger of sinking them into the
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utmost degree of luxury and effeminacy. They must sometimes wade in
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blood, and not always in milk and honey, lest even their men of war, by
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the long disuse of arms, should become as soft and as nice as the
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<I>tender and delicate woman, that would not set so much as the sole of
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her foot to the ground for tenderness and delicacy,</I> a temper as
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destructive to every thing that is good as it is to every thing that is
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great, and therefore to be carefully watched against by all God's
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Israel.
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2. Because their country lay very much in the midst of enemies, by whom
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they must expect to be insulted; for God's heritage was a <I>speckled
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bird; the birds round about were against her,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+12:9">Jer. xii. 9</A>.
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It was therefore necessary they should be well disciplined, that they
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might defend their coasts when invaded, and might hereafter enlarge
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their coast as God had promised them. The art of war is best learnt by
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experience, which not only acquaints men with martial discipline, but
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(which is no less necessary) inspires them with a martial disposition.
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It was for the interest of Israel to breed soldiers, as it is the
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interest of an island to breed sea-men, and therefore God left
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Canaanites among them, that, by the less difficulties and hardships
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they met with in encountering them, they might be prepared for greater,
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and, by <I>running with the footmen,</I> might learn <I>to contend with
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horses,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+12:5">Jer. xii. 5</A>.
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Israel was a figure of the church militant, that must fight its way to
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a triumphant state. The soldiers of Christ must endure hardness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+2:3">2 Tim. ii. 3</A>.
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Corruption is therefore left remaining in the hearts even of good
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Christians, that they may learn war, may keep on the <I>whole armour of
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God,</I> and stand continually upon their guard. The learned bishop
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Patrick offers another sense of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>:
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<I>That they might know to teach them war,</I> that is, they shall know
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what it is to be left to themselves. Their fathers fought by a divine
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power. God taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight; but
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now that they have forfeited his favour let them learn what it is to
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fight like other men.</P>
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<P>
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II. How wickedly Israel mingled themselves with those that did remain.
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One thing God intended in leaving them among them was <I>to prove
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Israel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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that those who were faithful to the God of Israel might have the honour
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of resisting the Canaanites' allurements to idolatry, and that those
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who were false and insincere might be discovered, and might fall under
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the shame of yielding to those allurements. Thus in the Christian
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churches there must needs be heresies, <I>that those who are perfect
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may be made manifest,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+11:19">1 Cor. xi. 19</A>.
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Israel, upon trial, proved bad.
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1. They joined in marriage with the Canaanites
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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though they could not advance either their honour or their estate by
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marrying with them. They would mar their blood instead of mending it,
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and sink their estates instead of raising them, by such marriages.
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2. Thus they were brought to join in worship with them; they served
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their <I>gods</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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<I>Baalim and the groves</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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that is, the images that were worshipped in groves of thick trees,
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which were a sort of natural temples. In such unequal matches there is
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more reason to fear that the bad will corrupt the good than to hope
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that the good will reform the bad, as there is in laying two pears
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together, the one rotten and the other sound. When they inclined to
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worship other gods they <I>forgot the Lord their God.</I> In
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complaisance to their new relations, they talked of nothing by Baalim
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and the groves, so that by degrees they lost the remembrance of the
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true God, and forgot there was such a Being, and what obligations they
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lay under to him. In nothing is the corrupt memory of man more
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treacherous than in this, that it is apt to forget God; because out of
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sight, he is out of mind; and here begins all the wickedness that is in
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the world: they <I>have perverted their way,</I> for they have
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<I>forgotten the Lord their God.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Jud3_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jud3_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Government of Othniel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1336.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>8 Therefore the anger of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> was hot against Israel, and
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he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of
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Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim
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eight years.
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9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
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raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered
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them, <I>even</I> Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
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10 And the Spirit of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came upon him, and he judged
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Israel, and went out to war: and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> delivered
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Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand
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prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.
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11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of
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Kenaz died.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We now come to the records of the government of the particular judges,
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the first of which was Othniel, in whom the story of this book is knit
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to that of Joshua, for even in Joshua's time Othniel began to be
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famous, by which it appears that it was not long after Israel's
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settlement in Canaan before their purity began to be corrupted and
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their peace (by consequence) disturbed. And those who have taken pains
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to enquire into the sacred chronology are generally agreed that the
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Danites' idolatry, and the war with the Benjamites for abusing the
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Levite's concubine, though related in the latter end of this book,
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happened about this time, under or before the government of Othniel,
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who, though a judge, was not such a king in Israel as would keep men
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from doing what was <I>right in their own eyes.</I> In this short
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narrative of Othniel's government we have,</P>
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<P>
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I. The distress that Israel was brought into for their sin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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God being justly displeased with them for plucking up the hedge of
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their peculiarity, and laying themselves in common with the nations,
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plucked up the hedge of their protection and laid them open to the
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nations, set them to sale as goods he would part with, and the first
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that laid hands on them was Chushan-rishathaim, king of that Syria
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which lay between the two great rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, thence
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called <I>Mesopotamia,</I> which signifies <I>in the midst of
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rivers.</I> It is probable that this was a warlike prince, and, aiming
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to enlarge his dominions, he invaded the two tribes first on the other
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side Jordan that lay next him, and afterwards, perhaps by degrees,
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penetrated into the heart of the country, and as far as he went put
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them under contribution, exacting it with rigour, and perhaps
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quartering soldiers upon them. Laban, who oppressed Jacob with a hard
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service, was of this country; but it lay at such a distance that one
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could not have thought Israel's trouble would come from such a far
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country, which shows so much the more of the hand of God in it.</P>
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<P>
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II. Their return to God in this distress: <I>When he slew them, then
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they sought him</I> whom before they had slighted. The <I>children of
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Israel,</I> even the generality of them, <I>cried unto the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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At first they made light of their trouble, and thought they could
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easily shake off the yoke of a prince at such a distance; but, when it
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continued eight years, they began to feel the smart of it, and then
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those cried under it who before had laughed at it. Those who in the day
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of their mirth had cried to Baalim and Ashtaroth now that they are in
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trouble cry to the Lord from whom they had revolted, whose justice
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brought them into this trouble, and whose power and favour could alone
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help them out of it. Affliction makes those cry to God with importunity
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who before would scarcely speak to him.</P>
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<P>
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III. God's return in mercy to them for their deliverance. Though need
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drove them to him, he did not therefore reject their prayers, but
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graciously raised up a deliverer, or <I>saviour,</I> as the word is.
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Observe,
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1. Who the deliverer was. It was Othniel, who married Caleb's daughter,
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one of the old stock that had <I>seen the works of the Lord,</I> and
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had himself, no question, kept his integrity, and secretly lamented the
|
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apostasy of his people, but waited for a divine call to appear publicly
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for the redress of their grievances. He was now, we may suppose, far
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advanced in years, when God raised him up to this honour, but the
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decays of age were no hindrance to his usefulness when God had work for
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him to do.
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2. Whence he had his commission, not of man, nor by man; but <I>the
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Spirit of the Lord came upon him</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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the spirit of wisdom and courage to qualify him for the service, and a
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spirit of power to excite him to it, so as to give him and others full
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|
satisfaction that it was the will of God he should engage in it. The
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Chaldee says, <I>The spirit of prophecy remained on him.</I>
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3. What method he took. He first judged Israel, reproved them, called
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|
them to account for their sins, and reformed them, and then went out to
|
|
war. This was the right method. Let sin at home be conquered, that
|
|
worst of enemies, and then enemies abroad will be the more easily dealt
|
|
with. Thus let Christ be our Judge and Law-giver, and then <I>he will
|
|
save us,</I> and on no other terms,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:22">Isa. xxxiii. 22</A>.
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4. What good success he had. He prevailed to break the yoke of the
|
|
oppression, and, as it should seem, to break the neck of the oppressor;
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|
for it is said, <I>The Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim into his
|
|
hand.</I> Now was Judah, of which tribe Othniel was, <I>as a lion's
|
|
whelp gone up from the prey.</I>
|
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|
|
5. The happy consequence of Othniel's good services. The land, though
|
|
not getting ground, yet had rest, and some fruits of the reformation,
|
|
forty years; and the benefit would have been perpetual if they had kept
|
|
close to God and their duty.</P>
|
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|
|
<A NAME="Jud3_12"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Israel Oppressed by Eglon; Eglon Slain by Ehud.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1336.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> strengthened Eglon the king of Moab
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against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek,
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and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.
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14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab
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eighteen years.
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15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a
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Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel
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sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
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16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit
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length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right
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thigh.
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17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and
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Eglon <I>was</I> a very fat man.
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18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent
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away the people that bare the present.
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19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that <I>were</I> by
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Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who
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said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.
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20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer
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parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a
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message from God unto thee. And he arose out of <I>his</I> seat.
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21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from
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his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
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22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat
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closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out
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of his belly; and the dirt came out.
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23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors
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of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
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24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw
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that, behold, the doors of the parlour <I>were</I> locked, they said,
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Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.
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25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he
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opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key,
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and opened <I>them:</I> and, behold, their lord <I>was</I> fallen down dead
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on the earth.
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26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the
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quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
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27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a
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trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel
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went down with him from the mount, and he before them.
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28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath
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delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went
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down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and
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suffered not a man to pass over.
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29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men,
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all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.
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30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And
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the land had rest fourscore years.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Ehud is the next of the judges whose achievements are related in this
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history, and here is an account of his actions.</P>
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<P>
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I. When Israel sins again God raises up a new oppressor,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:12-14"><I>v.</I> 12-14</A>.
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It was an aggravation of their wickedness that they did evil again
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|
after they had smarted so long for their former iniquities, promised so
|
|
fair when Othniel judged them, and received so much mercy from God in
|
|
their deliverance. What, and after all this, again to break his
|
|
commandments! Was the disease obstinate to all the methods of cure,
|
|
both corrosives and lenitives? It seems it was. Perhaps they thought
|
|
they might make the more bold with their old sins because they saw
|
|
themselves in no danger from their old oppressor; the powers of that
|
|
kingdom were weakened and brought low. But God made them know that he
|
|
had variety of rods wherewith to chastise them: He <I>strengthened
|
|
Eglon king of Moab against them.</I> This oppressor lay nearer to them
|
|
than the former, and therefore would be the more mischievous to them;
|
|
God's judgments thus approached them gradually, to bring them to
|
|
repentance. When Israel dwelt in tents, but kept their integrity, Balak
|
|
king of Moab, who would have strengthened himself against them, was
|
|
baffled; but now that they had forsaken God, and worshipped the gods of
|
|
the nations round about them (and perhaps those of the Moabites among
|
|
the rest), here was another king of Moab, whom God strengthened against
|
|
them, put power into his hands, though a wicked man, that he might be a
|
|
scourge to Israel. The staff in his hand with which he beat Israel was
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|
God's indignation; <I>howbeit he meant not so, neither did his heart
|
|
think so,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:6,7">Isa. x. 6, 7</A>.
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|
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|
Israelites did ill, and, we may suppose, Moabites did worse; yet
|
|
because God commonly punishes the sins of his own people in this world,
|
|
that, the flesh being destroyed, the spirit may be saved, Israel is
|
|
weakened and Moab strengthened against them. God would not suffer the
|
|
Israelites, when they were the stronger, to distress the Moabites, nor
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|
give them any disturbance, though they were idolaters
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|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+2:9">Deut. ii. 9</A>);
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|
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|
yet now he suffered the Moabites to distress Israel, and strengthened
|
|
them on purpose that they might: <I>Thy judgments, O God! are a great
|
|
deep.</I> The king of Moab took to his assistance the Ammonites and
|
|
Amalekites
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
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|
and this strengthened him; and we are here told how they prevailed.
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|
1. They beat them in the field: They <I>went and smote Israel</I>
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
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|
not only those tribes that lay next them on the other side Jordan, who,
|
|
though first settled, being frontier-tribes, were most disturbed; but
|
|
those also within Jordan, for they made themselves masters of <I>the
|
|
city of palm-trees,</I> which, it is probable, was a strong-hold
|
|
erected near the place where Jericho had stood, for that was so called
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+34:3">Deut. xxxiv. 3</A>),
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|
|
|
into which the Moabites put a garrison, to be a bridle upon Israel, and
|
|
to secure the passes of Jordan, for the preservation of the
|
|
communication with their own country. It was well for the Kenites that
|
|
they had left this city
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+1:16"><I>ch.</I> i. 16</A>)
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|
|
|
before it fell into the hands of the enemy. See how quickly the
|
|
Israelites lost that by their own sin which they had gained by miracles
|
|
of divine mercy.
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|
|
|
2. They made them to serve
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|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
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|
|
|
that is, exacted tribute from them, either the fruits of the earth in
|
|
kind or money in lieu of them. They neglected the service of God, and
|
|
did not pay him his tribute; thus therefore did God recover from them
|
|
that <I>wine and oil,</I> that silver and gold, which they prepared for
|
|
Baal,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:8">Hos. ii. 8</A>.
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|
|
What should have been paid to the divine grace, and was not, was
|
|
distrained for, and paid to the divine justice. The former servitude
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>)
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|
|
lasted but eight years, this eighteen; for, if less troubles do not do
|
|
the work, God will send greater.</P>
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|
<P>
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|
|
|
II. When Israel prays again God raises up a new deliverer
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
named <I>Ehud.</I> We are here told,</P>
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|
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|
<P>
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|
1. That he was a Benjamite. The city of palm-trees lay within the lot
|
|
of this tribe, by which it is probable that they suffered most, and
|
|
therefore stirred first to shake off the yoke. It is supposed by the
|
|
chronologers that the Israelites' war with Benjamin for the wickedness
|
|
of Gibeah, by which that whole tribe was reduced to 600 men, happened
|
|
before this, so that we may well think that tribe to be now the weakest
|
|
of all the tribes, yet out of it God raised up this deliverer, in token
|
|
of his being perfectly reconciled to them, to manifest his own power in
|
|
ordaining strength out of weakness, and that he might bestow <I>more
|
|
abundant honour upon that part which lacked,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+12:24">1 Cor. xii. 24</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
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|
|
|
2. That he was left-handed, as it seems many of that tribe were,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+20:16"><I>ch.</I> xx. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Benjamin signifies <I>the son of the right hand,</I> and yet multitudes
|
|
of them were left-handed; for men's natures do not always answer their
|
|
names. The LXX. say he was an <I>ambi-dexter,</I> one that could use
|
|
both hands alike, supposing that this was an advantage to him in the
|
|
action he was called to; but the Hebrew phrase, that he was <I>shut of
|
|
his right hand,</I> intimates that, either through disease of disuse,
|
|
he made little or no use of that, but of his left hand only, and so was
|
|
the less fit for war, because he must needs handle his sword but
|
|
awkwardly; yet God chose this left-handed man to be the man of his
|
|
right hand, whom he would <I>make strong for himself,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:17">Ps. lxxx. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was <I>God's right hand</I> that gained Israel the victory
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:3">Ps. xliv. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
not the right hand of the instruments he employed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. We are here told what Ehud did for the deliverance of Israel out of
|
|
the hands of the Moabites. He saved the oppressed by destroying the
|
|
oppressors, when the measure of their iniquity was full and the set
|
|
time to favour Israel had come.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He put to death Eglon the king of Moab; I say, <I>put him to
|
|
death,</I> not murdered or assassinated him, but as a judge, or
|
|
minister of divine justice, executed the judgments of God upon him, as
|
|
an implacable enemy to God and Israel. This story is particularly
|
|
related.</P>
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|
|
|
<P>
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|
|
|
[1.] He had a fair occasion of access to him. Being an ingenious active
|
|
man, and fit to stand before kings, his people chose him to carry a
|
|
present in the name of all Israel, over and above their tribute, to
|
|
their great lord the king of Moab, that they might find favour in his
|
|
eyes,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
The present is called <I>mincha</I> in the original, which is the word
|
|
used in the law for the offerings that were presented to God to obtain
|
|
his favour; these the children of Israel had not offered in their
|
|
season to the God that loved them; and now, to punish them for their
|
|
neglect, they are laid under a necessity of bringing their offerings to
|
|
a heathen prince that hated them. Ehud went on his errand to Eglon,
|
|
offered his present with the usual ceremony and expressions of dutiful
|
|
respect, the better to colour what he intended and to prevent
|
|
suspicion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] It should seem, from the first, he designed to be the death of
|
|
him, God putting it into his heart, and letting him know also that the
|
|
motion was from himself, by the Spirit that came upon him, the impulses
|
|
of which carried with them their own evidence, and so gave him full
|
|
satisfaction both as to the lawfulness and the success of this daring
|
|
attempt, of both which he would have had reason enough to doubt. If he
|
|
be sure that God bids him do it, he is sure both that he may do it and
|
|
that he shall do it; for a command from God is sufficient to bear us
|
|
out, and bring us off, both against our consciences and against all the
|
|
world. That he compassed and imagined the death of this tyrant appears
|
|
by the preparation he made of a weapon for the purpose, a short dagger,
|
|
but half a yard long, like a bayonet, which might easily be concealed
|
|
under his clothes
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
perhaps because none were suffered to come near the king with their
|
|
swords by their sides. This he wore on his right thigh, that it might
|
|
be the more ready to his left hand, and might be the less
|
|
suspected.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] He contrived how to be alone with him, which he might the more
|
|
easily be now that he had not only made himself known to him, but
|
|
ingratiated himself by the present, and the compliments which perhaps,
|
|
on this occasion, he had passed upon him. Observe, how he laid his
|
|
plot. <I>First,</I> He concealed his design even from his own
|
|
attendants, brought them part of the way, and then ordered them to go
|
|
forward towards home, while he himself, as if he had forgotten
|
|
something behind him, went back to the king of Moab's court,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
There needed but one hand to do the execution; had more been engaged
|
|
they could not so safely have kept counsel, nor so easily have made an
|
|
escape. <I>Secondly,</I> He returned from the quarries by Gilgal
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
from the <I>graven images</I> (so it is in the margin) which were with
|
|
Gilgal, set up perhaps by the Moabites with the twelve stones which
|
|
Joshua had set up there. Some suggest that the sight of these idols
|
|
stirred up in him such an indignation against the king of Moab as put
|
|
him upon the execution of that design which otherwise he had thought to
|
|
let fall for the present. Or, perhaps, he came so far as to these
|
|
images, that, telling from what place he returned, the king of Moab
|
|
might be the more apt to believe he had a message from God.
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> He begged a private audience, and obtained it in a
|
|
withdrawing-room, here called a <I>summer parlour.</I> He told the king
|
|
he had a secret errand to him, who thereupon ordered all his attendants
|
|
to withdraw,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Whether he expected to receive some private instructions from an
|
|
oracle, or some private informations concerning the present state of
|
|
Israel, as if Ehud would betray his country, it was a very unwise thing
|
|
for him to be all alone with a stronger and one whom he had reason to
|
|
look upon as an enemy; but those that are marked for ruin are
|
|
infatuated, and their <I>hearts hid from understanding;</I> God
|
|
deprives them of discretion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[4.] When he had him alone he soon dispatched him. His summer parlour,
|
|
where he used to indulge himself in ease and luxury, was the place of
|
|
his execution. <I>First,</I> Ehud demands his attention to <I>a message
|
|
from God</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
and that message was a dagger. God sends to us by the judgments of his
|
|
hand, as well as by the judgments of his mouth. <I>Secondly,</I> Eglon
|
|
pays respect to a message from God. Though a king, though a heathen
|
|
king, though rich and powerful, though now tyrannizing over the people
|
|
of God, though a fat unwieldy man that could not easily rise nor stand
|
|
long, though in private and what he did was not under observation, yet,
|
|
when he expected to receive orders form heaven, he rose out of his
|
|
seat; whether it was low and easy, or whether it was high and stately,
|
|
he quitted it, and stood up when God was about to speak to him, thereby
|
|
owning God his superior. This shames the irreverence of many who are
|
|
called Christians, and yet, when a message from God is delivered to
|
|
them, study to show, by all the marks of carelessness, how little they
|
|
regard it. Ehud, in calling what he had to do <I>a message from
|
|
God,</I> plainly avouches a divine commission for it; and God's
|
|
inclining Eglon to stand up to it did both confirm the commission and
|
|
facilitate the execution. <I>Thirdly,</I> The message was delivered,
|
|
not to his ear, but immediately, and literally, to his heart, into
|
|
which the fatal knife was thrust, and was left there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
His extreme fatness made him unable to resist or to help himself;
|
|
probably it was the effect of his luxury and excess; and, when <I>the
|
|
fat closed up the blade,</I> God would by this circumstance show how
|
|
those that pamper the body do but prepare for their own misery.
|
|
However, it was an emblem of his carnal security and senselessness. His
|
|
heart was a fat as grease, and in that he thought himself enclosed. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:70,Ps+17:10">Ps. cxix. 70; xvii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Eglon signifies a <I>calf,</I> and he fell like a fatted calf, by the
|
|
knife, an acceptable sacrifice to divine justice. Notice is taken of
|
|
the coming out of the dirt or dung, that the death of this proud tyrant
|
|
may appear the more ignominious and shameful. He that had been so very
|
|
nice and curious about his own body, to keep it easy and clean, shall
|
|
now be found wallowing in his own blood and excrements. Thus does God
|
|
pour contempt upon princes. Now this act of Ehud's may justify itself
|
|
because he had special direction from God to do it, and it was
|
|
agreeable to the usual method which, under that dispensation, God took
|
|
to avenge his people of their enemies, and to manifest to the world his
|
|
own justice. But it will by no means justify any now in doing the like.
|
|
No such commissions are now given, and to pretend to them is to
|
|
blaspheme God, and made him patronize the worst of villanies. Christ
|
|
bade Peter sheathe the sword, and we find not that he bade him draw it
|
|
again.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
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|
[5.] Providence wonderfully favoured his escape, when he had done the
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execution. <I>First,</I> The tyrant fell silently, without any shriek
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or out-cry, which might have been overheard by his servants at a
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|
distance. How silently does he go down to the pit, choked up, it may
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be, with his own fat, which stifled his dying groans, though he had
|
|
made so great a noise in the world, and had been <I>the terror of the
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|
mighty in the land of the living! Secondly,</I> The heroic executioner
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|
of this vengeance, with such a presence of mind as discovered not only
|
|
no consciousness of guilt, but a strong confidence in the divine
|
|
protection, shut the doors after him, took the key with him, and passed
|
|
through the guards with such an air of innocence, and boldness, and
|
|
unconcernedness, as made them not at all to suspect his having done any
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|
thing amiss. <I>Thirdly,</I> The servants that attended in the
|
|
antechamber, coming to the door of the inner parlour, when Ehud had
|
|
gone, to know their master's pleasure, and finding it locked and all
|
|
quiet, concluded he had lain down to sleep, had covered his feet upon
|
|
his couch, and gone to consult his pillow about the message he had
|
|
received, and to dream upon it
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|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
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|
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and therefore would not offer to open the door. Thus by their care not
|
|
to disturb his sleep they lost the opportunity of revenging his death.
|
|
See what comes of men's taking state too much, and obliging those about
|
|
them to keep their distance; some time or other it may come against
|
|
them more than they think of. <I>Fourthly,</I> The servants at length
|
|
opened the door, and found their master had <I>slept indeed his long
|
|
sleep,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
The horror of this tragical spectacle, and the confusion it must needs
|
|
put them into, to reflect upon their own inconsideration in not opening
|
|
the door sooner, quite put by the thoughts of sending pursuers after
|
|
him that had done it, whom now they despaired of overtaking.
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> Ehud by this means made his escape to Sierath, <I>a
|
|
thick wood;</I> so some,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is not said anywhere in this story what was the place in which Eglon
|
|
lived now; but, there being no mention of Ehud passing and repassing
|
|
Jordan, I am inclined to think that Eglon had left his own country of
|
|
Moab, on the other side Jordan, and made his principal residence at
|
|
this time in the city of palm-trees, within the land of Canaan, a
|
|
richer country than his own, and that there he was slain, and then the
|
|
quarries by Gilgal were not far off him. There where he had settled
|
|
himself, and thought he had sufficiently fortified himself to lord it
|
|
over the people of God, there he was cut off, and proved to be fed for
|
|
the slaughter <I>like a lamb in a large place.</I></P>
|
|
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<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Ehud, having slain the king of Moab, gave a total rout to the
|
|
forces of the Moabites that were among them, and so effectually shook
|
|
off the yoke of their oppression.
|
|
|
|
[1.] He raised an army immediately in Mount Ephraim, at some distance
|
|
form the headquarters of the Moabites, and headed them himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The trumpet he blew was indeed a jubilee-trumpet, proclaiming liberty,
|
|
and a joyful sound it was to the oppressed Israelites, who for a long
|
|
time had heard no other trumpets than those of their enemies.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Like a pious man, and as one that did all this in faith, he took
|
|
encouragement himself, and gave encouragement to his soldiers, from the
|
|
power of God engaged for them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Follow me, for the Lord hath delivered your enemies into your
|
|
hands;</I> we are sure to have God with us, and therefore may go on
|
|
boldly, and shall go on triumphantly."
|
|
|
|
[3.] Like a politic general, he first secured the fords of Jordan, set
|
|
strong guards upon all those passes, to cut off the communications
|
|
between the Moabites that were in the land of Israel (for upon them
|
|
only his design was) and their own country on the other side Jordan,
|
|
that if, upon the alarm given them, they resolved to fly, they might
|
|
not escape thither, and, if they resolved to fight, they might not have
|
|
assistance thence. Thus he shut them up in that land as their prison in
|
|
which they were pleasing themselves as their palace and paradise.
|
|
|
|
[4.] He then fell upon them, and put them all to the sword, 10,000 of
|
|
them, which it seems was the number appointed to keep Israel in
|
|
subjection
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>There escaped not a man</I> of them. And they were the best and
|
|
choicest of all the king of Moab's forces, all lusty men, men of bulk
|
|
and stature, and not only able-bodied, but high spirited too, and men
|
|
of valour,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
But neither their strength nor their courage stood them in any stead
|
|
when the set time had come for God to deliver them into the hand of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
[5.] The consequence of this victory was that the power of the Moabites
|
|
was wholly broken in the land of Israel. The country was cleared of
|
|
these oppressors, and <I>the land had rest eighty years,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
We may hope that there was likewise a reformation among them, and a
|
|
check give to idolatry, by the influence of Ehud which continued a good
|
|
part of this time. It was a great while for the land to rest, fourscore
|
|
years; yet what is that to the saints' everlasting rest in the heavenly
|
|
Canaan?</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jud3_31"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Shamgar Slays Six Hundred Philistines.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1316.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
When it is said <I>the land had rest eighty years,</I> some think it
|
|
meant chiefly of that part of the land which lay eastward on the banks
|
|
of Jordan, which had been oppressed by the Moabites; but it seems, by
|
|
this passage here, that the other side of the country which lay
|
|
south-west was in that time infested by the Philistines, against whom
|
|
Shamgar made head.
|
|
|
|
1. It seems Israel needed deliverance, for <I>he delivered Israel;</I>
|
|
how great the distress was Deborah afterwards related in her song
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+5:6"><I>ch.</I> v. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
that <I>in the days of Shamgar the highways were unoccupied,</I> &c.;
|
|
that part of the country which lay next to the Philistines was so
|
|
infested with plunderers that people could not travel the roads in
|
|
safety, but were in danger of being set upon and robbed, nor durst they
|
|
dwell in the unguarded villages, but were forced to take shelter in the
|
|
fortified cities.
|
|
|
|
2. God raised him up to deliver them, as it should seem, while Ehud was
|
|
yet living, but superannuated. So inconsiderable were the enemies for
|
|
number that it seems the killing of 600 of them amounted to a
|
|
deliverance of Israel, and so many he slew with an ox-goad, or, as some
|
|
read it, <I>a plough-share.</I> It is probable that he was himself
|
|
following the plough when the Philistines made an inroad upon the
|
|
country to ravage it, and God put it into his heart to oppose them; the
|
|
impulse being sudden and strong, and having neither sword nor spear to
|
|
do execution with, he took the instrument that was next at hand, some
|
|
of the tools of his plough, and with that killed so many hundred men
|
|
and came off unhurt. See here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That God can make those eminently serviceable to his glory and his
|
|
church's good whose extraction, education, and employment, are very
|
|
mean and obscure. He that has the residue of the Spirit could, when he
|
|
pleased, make ploughmen judges and generals, and fishermen apostles.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is no matter how weak the weapon is if God direct and
|
|
strengthen the arm. An ox-goad, when God pleases, shall do more than
|
|
Goliath's sword. And sometimes he chooses to work by such unlikely
|
|
means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God.</P>
|
|
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|
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