Judges 3:12-31 - Cries for Deliverance

Judges 3:12-31

Ehud

12 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 13 Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms. 14 So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. 17 So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) 18 And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

He said, “Keep silence!” And all who attended him went out from him.

20 So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. 23 Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 When he had gone out, Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, “He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.” 25 So they waited till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor.

26 But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27 And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them. 28 Then he said to them, “Follow me, for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 29 And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.

Israel began a long downward spiral of sin after entering the promised land and losing the old guard who had guided them out of sin’s grasp and into their inheritance.  When,they cried out for deliverance from the LORD as they suffered the defeating consequences of doing evil against Him and His will by the word, God showed mercy and sent them a judge to deliver them from oppression.  He was doing this at a distance now, not directly smiting their enemies, but using a proxy as a judge to set things right and lead them back to doing right.  Unfortunately, the victory and rest in the land were short-lived.  We read the beginning here with Enid and Shamgar, the third and fourth judge after the first one called Othniel who was used to give forty years of rest to them.  Ehud the left-handed Benjamite man had killed the king of Moab and gained eighty years of peace with Shamgar following him as judge before things went back towards in this ongoing pattern that sought a more permanent savior to deliver them from their enemies due to their rebellious sins of idolatry and immorality.  By loving contrary to God and His word, Israel earned the wages of their sin but also experienced great mercy to deliver them, a pattern and pic of the need for God to eventually send His own Son in the right time (Romans 5:6, Galatians 4:4, Mark 1:15) to extend never-ending mercy and grace through His sacrifice for all His chosen people.  Israel would finally be given their true Judge and Deliverer to lead them and all others spiritually of Israel by the faith of Abraham (Galatians 3:6, 29, Hebrews 11:8, 16) into the eternal promised land after the final judgment and defeat of the ungodly who cannot enter (Revelation 22:15) in there.  Our cries, like those of Israel, have been answered decidedly once and for ever (1 Corinthians 15:25, Hebrews 7:27, 9:12) in the person of our true and everlasting Judge and Deliverer!  We need no other after He,who has heard our cries for deliverance and answered with certainty and permanence of eternal life.