Thursday, April 14 ~ Miriam

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Judges 1-3; Luke 12:32-59.

Good day!  Hoping Thursday finds your week going well.

Judges!  In many ways, a bizarre book.  At times it provides details we'd prefer not to know, and at other times it skips over whole things about which we'd like to know more.  At the beginning of the book of Judges, I have written in my Bible the following (obviously heard during a sermon somewhere at some time):

"...goes in a cycle...Israel would sin, usually by worshipping other gods.  God would punish them by allowing a different nation to capture them.  They'd repent and God would send a deliverer.  Sin.  Judgement.  Repentance.  Deliverance."

At the beginning of the book it lists off all the tribes of Israel who DISOBEYED God by allowing the Canaanites to remain in their lands, giving their daughters in marriage to Canaanite men and their sons taking Canaanite women as wives.  These are things they were specifically instructed not to do.  They were even told specifically why they were not to do them and what would happen to them if they did.  However, it says in chapter 2 that after Joshua died, and the generation that he led had all passed away, the next generation "knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel."  So the Israelites had disobeyed God in yet another way, by not teaching their children about God's laws, their deliverance from Egypt, the exodus in the desert, or the way they came to live in the promised land.  Disobedience to God has far-reaching effects, doesn't it?  They served other gods, "dead" gods, who did nothing for them when they were surrounded by raiders who plundered them.  God sold them to their enemies and ensured they were defeated whenever they went into battle, just as He had promised He would if they forsook Him.

The very first deliverer and judge was Othniel, none other than Caleb's nephew and son-in-law.  Forty years of peace followed Othniel's victory over the king of Aram.

The second judge was Ehud.  I have to say, I'm sure I'd never read or heard the story of Ehud and the king of Moab until last year's reading.  I can kind of understand why.  It's not really Sunday School material, is it?


Bob Deffinbaugh has the following to say in Ehud's "Gut Reaction":

Do we really need to know how fat Eglon was or how far into his belly the sword was thrust? Do we want to read that the fat closed over the sword? Let’s face it; this is the kind of text we would avoid if we could, except for one thing: it is included in the Bible, the inspired Word of God, and we dare not ignore or avoid it.


At first (and second) glance these stories in our text don’t appear to connect in a way that makes a particular point. The author’s methodology may not be readily apparent, and so his construction of the text may be perplexing to the reader. For example, two of the accounts of Othniel and Shamgar are short on details, while the account of Ehud and Eglon has far more details than we care to know.

I believe one reason the author offers the reader so little detail regarding Othniel’s spectacular successes is because he does not want to give him too much praise, or cause us to regard him too highly, because he was a great man.

The reason the author avoids giving us too many details is because we tend to idolize our heroes. Our author’s goal is not to glorify men (which could hardly happen often in this book!), but to glorify God. One of the themes of this book is that this was a time when there was “no king in Israel.” Even before we reach 1 Samuel, the Israelites will have concluded that what they need is a king who is a great military hero, a king like Othniel, or later, like David. 

Our author is not trying to cast the spotlight on heroes for us to glorify, but to focus our attention on God. When we have finished reading this account, we should be giving glory to God, not to men.


The story begins with the reader being informed that the Israelites “again” did evil in the sight of the Lord.  The author wants us to be very aware of the fact that every man was doing what was right in his own eyes. I am inclined to think that the Israelites initially went about the evil they were practicing without even realizing that it was evil. After all, it was what Canaanites did, and they had inter-mingled and inter-married with them. In response to Israel’s sin, God disciplined them by “strengthening Eglon against Israel.”


I am calling attention to the fact that God strengthened the Moabites because I believe it is an important clue to the interpretation of our text. To a wayward and disobedient nation (as Israel was at this moment in time), their defeat and oppression would have looked like an unfortunate turn of events (“bad luck”), rather than the discipline of God because of Israel’s sin. Sin dulls our hearts and minds so that we are oblivious to the presence of sin and even the working of God in our lives and circumstances. Indeed, not only did Israel’s defeat look “normal,” so too her subsequent victories under the leadership of Ehud could have been seen as good fortune and no more except for this account.  (emphasis mine)


All of this is to say that one cannot judge one’s circumstances on the basis of appearances, or, in the words of our author, on the basis of what seems right in our own eyes, rather than in God’s sight (as defined by God’s Word). Appearances would incline us to think that Israel’s misfortune was merely bad luck, while her deliverance was a stroke of good luck. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both Israel’s defeat and her deliverance were the work of the (largely) unseen hand of God. I believe that our text was written to reveal the hand of God in all that took place, both in Israel’s bondage, and in her deliverance. God’s gracious hand is to be seen in the details of our text.


Here is the Coles' Notes version of some of Mr. Deffinbaugh's sermon.  Details:


- Ehud was left-handed, allowing him to carry his concealed weapon on the right hip, where it was unlikely to be discovered.  
- Ehud was a Benjamite - Jericho & Gilgal were in Benjamite territory, so he was selected as the delivery boy to Eglon in Gilgal.
- Gilgal was the place the Israelites came to when they crossed the Jordan originally, and the 12 stones were erected as a monument to God's power and deliverance.   It was here that Ehud twice passed the carved idols that now symbolized Israel’s idolatry and Moab’s victory. Is seeing these images (and perhaps the 12 stones as well) what prompted Ehud to turn back and seek yet another face-to-face meeting with Eglon?
- The palace was equipped with a "cool room" high enough where the breezes could blow through and the king could see people entering and leaving, and where the king would hear Ehud calling up that he had a secret message for him.
- The king was obese, which probably necessitated the cool room in the first place, also meaning that the king wouldn't be much of a warrior or be able to defend himself.
- The dagger, because of it's design so that it could be easily concealed, was able to pass not only into, but through the king's body, which released the king's bowels and the breezes passing through the cool room led the servants to believe the king was ... "indisposed".

Why tell such a gruesome story? Why include the bathroom scene, with all the unpleasant details? The answer should now be apparent – the intestinal surgery performed by Ehud and his custom-made sword, with all the smells that accompanied it, were what kept the king’s servants from taking action sooner. And this lengthy delay (it was lengthy – see verse 25) is precisely what allowed Ehud to make his escape, summon his troops, and seize the fords of the Jordan, so that the Moabites could not escape, resulting in the slaughter of 10,000 Moabite soldiers.

Do you now see why the author included all these seemingly gratuitous details? It was to demonstrate that while the natural eye may see only coincidences and “good luck,” this was actually God’s doing. He orchestrated “all things for good” so that He might deliver His people. His control extended to which of Ehud’s hands was dominant, to the design of his dagger and exactly where it was concealed, to the king’s weight problem, and to the design of his palace and cool room. God’s providence directed Ehud’s sword so that it penetrated deeply (it didn’t strike a rib) so that it opened his intestines, producing a terrible (but familiar) smell.

I apologize... this is somewhat lengthy, but I was wondering why so much information was given regarding this rather gross story when I would much rather have read more about Othniel.  Mr. Deffinbaugh's sermon is very long and I did my best to cull the portions that clarified this for me.  God sees the big picture that we don't see, but He's not so far away when He's looking at the big picture that he doesn't see the details.  God's plan includes all the details of our lives, not just the big events.  I would really have preferred to read more about Caleb or Othniel.  Caleb, as someone who defeated three sons of Anak at the age of 80, would have had quite the story, I'm sure.  But Mr. Deffinbaugh is right when he says we tend to idolize human beings we admire rather than focusing on the glory of God.  

May we see God's hand at work in every area of our lives... as it is.

 Tomorrow's passage:  Judges 4-6; Luke 13:1-22.