Judges 3
3:1Now these are the nations that the LORD left to test all those in Israeli who
had no experience of any war in Canaan
2
(it was only that successive
generations of Israelites might know war, to teach those who had no experience
of it before):ii
3
the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the
Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
4
They were for the testing of Israel, to know
whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he
commanded their ancestors by Moses.
5
So the Israelites lived among the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites;
6
and they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and their
own daughters they gave to their sons; and they worshiped their gods iii
7
The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, forgetting the LORD
their God, and worshiping the Baals and the Asherahs.
8
Therefore the anger of
the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of King
Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim; and the Israelites served Cushanrishathaim eight years.
9
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the
LORD raised up a deliverer for the Israelites, who delivered them, Othniel son of
Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
10
The spirit of the LORD came upon him, and
he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the LORD gave King Cushan-
rishathaim of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushanrishathaim.
11 So
the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
12 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; iv and the
LORD strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel,v because they had done
what was evil in the sight of the LORD.vi 13 In alliance with the Ammonites and the
Amalekites, he went and defeated Israel; and they took possession of the city of
palms.
15
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for
them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The
Israelites sent tribute by him to King Eglon of Moab.
16
Ehud made for himself a
sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh
under his clothes.
17
Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now
Eglon was a very fat man.
18
When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he
sent the people who carried the tribute on their way.
19
But he himself turned
back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for
you, O king." So the king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants went out from his
presence.
20
Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof
chamber, and said, "I have a message from God for you." So he rose from his
seat.
21
Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right
thigh, and thrust it into Eglon's belly;
22
the hilt also went in after the blade, and
the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and
the dirt came out.
23 Then
Ehud went out into the vestibule, and closed the doors
of the roof chamber on him, and locked them.
24
After he had gone, the servants
came. When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they
thought, "He must be relieving himself in the cool chamber."
25
So they waited
until they were embarrassed. When he still did not open the doors of the roof
chamber, they took the key and opened them. There was their lord lying dead on
the floor.
26
Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the
sculptured stones, and escaped to Seirah.
27
When he arrived, he sounded the
trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites went down with him from
the hill country, having him at their head.
28 He
said to them, "Follow after me; for
the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand." So they went
down after him, and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and
allowed no one to cross over.
29
At that time they killed about ten thousand of the
Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; no one escaped.
30
So Moab was
subdued that day under the hand of Israel.vii And the land had rest for eighty
years.31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who killed six hundred of the
Philistines with an oxgoad. He too delivered Israel.viii
i
Dtr 2, expands upon the idea that the land was left partially unconquered to test Israel, as
seen in Judges 2, and as Exodus 34(J) predicts, the Israelites intermarry and worship the
foreign gods of the surrounding nations, which are listed here.
ii
B offers a markedly different answer to the incomplete conquest, arguing that if the
Israel had annihilated all the Canaanite nations they would lose the ability to wage war,
thus displaying a more forgiving attitude towards Israel's past.
iii
See comment i, Othniel the son of Kenaz is a manufactured judge – inserted by Dtr 2 so
that there would be 12 judges, one for each tribe, and that the first judge would be
Judean. Note the name Rishathayim – which literally means "doubly evil", a fitting name
for an invented character about to be killed. The description of Othniel's reign is very
threadbare and is composed solely of formulaic phrases taken from the sin-cycle of
chapter 2 and the subsequent Judges narratives, another reason to suppose it was added at
a later stage. Othniel's legend is expanded by B in Joshua 15 and Judges 1, which
describe his conquest of Debir and his marriage to Achsah the daughter of Caleb.
iv
The Dtr formula – and Israel did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord is tacked on to
the reigns of all the major judges, here it is doubly emphasized.
v
The Northern book of Judges – which more accurately is a book of heroes with quirky
stories, begins with Ehud the Lefty, the narrative is immediately interrupted by a further
assertion that the Israelites did what was evil in the eye of the Lord.
vi
See the previous comment.
vii
The narrative begins with one of N's stock phrases – the Israelites cried out to the lord
concludes with one of N's stock phrases – X was subdued.
viii
Dtr 1, tacks on a notice of how long quiet prevailed as he does at the end of most of
the judges reigns, implying that the Judges came one after the other, which is not
necessarily the case in N's base narrative.