⚔️ Summary of Judges 3: The Descendants of Israel Become Even More Corrupt Than Their Ancestors... (100th Competition)
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📖 In Judges 2:
The Lord said that He had left some of the nations in the land instead of giving them into the hands of Joshua in order to test the future generations of Israel, to see whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord as their ancestors had done. (2:21-22)
However, they broke the covenant and did not obey the Lord, provoking His anger. (2:20)
⚔️ Summary of Judges 3
As I read Judges 3, one thing particularly stood out to me:
Judges 1 and 2 seem to present, in a sense, the conclusion of the entire Book of Judges.
From chapter 3 onward, the events seem to explain, one by one, the reasons described in chapters 1 and 2. 💎
I came to this conclusion especially because of what is recorded in Judges 2:19 and the overall context of the chapter:
“After the judge died, they turned back and became more corrupt than their ancestors...”
➡️ Who were the people being tested by the Lord?
Judges 3:1-2 speaks about those whom God put to the test:
The Israelites who had not experienced all the wars of Canaan (v.1)
The generations of the Israelites who did not yet know the wars of Canaan (v.2)
✔️ The wording of verses 1 and 2 can also be understood as indicating that God would test Israel through several generations.
➡️ The nations left to test Israel
The text specifically lists several of the nations that remained in the land:
The five rulers of the Philistines
All the Canaanites
The Sidonians
The Hivites living in Mount Lebanon
✔️ Among the seven nations of Canaan that were to be destroyed, the Girgashites are not mentioned here, leaving the other six nations.
Israel lived among these nations, intermarried with them, and began serving their gods, Baal and Asherah. (vv. 5-7)
⚔️ The Period of the Judges
1. The First Judge: Othniel (vv. 7-11)
Background: Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and came under the rule of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, for 8 years.
Deliverance: When the Israelites cried out to the Lord, God raised up Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb. He defeated the enemy, and the land had 40 years of peace.
🔎 After Othniel, from the tribe of Judah, died, Judges 3:13 records that the City of Palms was one of the first places to be captured.
This was also a place associated with the descendants of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. 💎
💡 There seems to be a reason why Judges 1 records both Othniel, Caleb's younger brother, and the descendants of Jethro.
Perhaps these records are connected to the events that would be described later. 💎
2. The Second Judge: Ehud (vv. 12-30)
Background: Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord and came under the rule of Eglon, king of Moab, for 18 years.
Deliverance: Ehud, a left-handed judge, went to deliver the tribute to King Eglon. He secretly entered carrying a sword and killed the king, who was very fat.
Afterward, he gathered the Israelites in the hill country of Ephraim. They attacked the Moabites and killed about 10,000 men.
Then the land had 80 years of peace.
3. The Third Judge: Shamgar (v. 31)
Deliverance: After Ehud came Shamgar, who killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad and also delivered Israel.
🔎 Final Reflection — 1
This pattern had been repeated many times since the period after the Exodus. But in Judges 3, I see something particularly strange.
Israel intermarried with people from other nations, abandoned the Lord, and served their gods.
So one question comes to mind: Why did they cry out to the Lord again?
Perhaps they also cried out to their foreign gods, but eventually realized that those gods could not help them.
Could it be that when they realized there was no solution, they finally turned back to the Lord?
Immediately after Othniel's death, the text again says:
“The Israelites again did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
This is directly connected to what had already been explained in Judges 2:19:
“After the judge died, they turned back and became more corrupt than their ancestors...”
✔️ Judges 3 continues to show this repeated cycle:
sin → oppression → crying out → deliverance → peace → death of the judge → new sin.
And each time, the text shows a people moving farther away from God and becoming even more corrupt than their ancestors.
🔎 Final Reflection — 2
Among the judges presented in chapter 3, the account of Shamgar, which appears in only one verse, is especially interesting.
We do not know how long Israel remained at peace after his victory.
But the text says that he killed 600 Philistines using only an oxgoad.
So it certainly could not have been just an ordinary “stick.” 😀
It must have been a strong enough instrument to bring down 600 men!
And when the text says that he “delivered Israel,” considering that his opponents were Philistines, they were probably men prepared for battle.
This makes me imagine the enormous strength and ability that Shamgar must have possessed. 😀
It is remarkable that the Bible records such a great victory in just one sentence.
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