Judges 4:1-24.  Yesterday I did not mention verse 31 in chapter 3.  It is a very short description of the second deliverer.  There are different theories on why it is so short and why the author of Judges included it.  If you read “Intro to Judges” you might remember that Judges was considered by the Jewish people to be prophecy.  Not like foretelling the future but like bringing a specific message from God.  The information in Judges was chosen by the author to make his point to his original readers.  That does not mean that the information is not true or historic, it is.  Judges is not some fable or fairy tale, we know that from other references to the different judges in other places in the Bible.  The Jewish people were into numbers to some extent.  Different numbers were associated with different things.  The number seven in the Bible often indicates that something is complete.  In the book of Judges there are seven stories of deliverers.  The author may have done this to make the readers see some sort of fullness in the stories.  But why so short?    It is hard to say since Shamgar is only mentioned here and in Judges 5.  There is some evidence that Shamgar was actually a foreigner.  Experts in ancient languages believe that he was actually a Hurrian, a group of people that lived north-east of Israel.  The people that he fought, the Philistines, were people who lived from the sea and first came to land in the northern portion of Israel.  Around 1200 BC one of the pharaohs or kings of Egypt fought with these people and he used soldiers that he had hired, some of which were Hebrews.  Anath was a Canaanaite goddess of war that had been adopted by the Egyptians also.  There is an ancient  inscription which identifies a hired group of soldiers as being “of Anath” and an arrowhead with the words “son of Anath” on it.  Both suggesting that the term “son of” could relate a warrior to a god.  An example of this kind of idea can be found in Matthew 23:15 when he describes the Pharisees and their followers as “son(s) of hell” (See also John 8:38-47).  So Shamgar may have been a Hurrian mercenary (hired soldier) working for Pharaoh.  That did not stop God from using him, though, to deliver His people.  Shamgar was never a judge or ruler of the people.  What he did was fight off one group of invaders.  His actions probably overlap one of the other deliverers who ruled Israel for a time.

God is a master chess player.  He can use the actions of others, motivated by their own desires, to accomplish His goals.  In spite of God’s usage of them they are still lost, however, and there are consequences for them if they do not repent and turn to God.  An example of this is God using Pharaoh’s stubbornness to move His people out of Egypt in just the right way so they would know His power and get a hint of His ultimate plan (For more in this read Exodus 7-12, and also “The Old Testament Connection”).

Another way God is not limited is by our gender.  God uses both men and women.  A very good example of this is the next deliver.  This third story brings us back to the cycle of sin, servitude, and supplication (See yesterday’s post for an explanation).  In this case we see the judge already in place, Deborah.  And she is identified as a prophetess, a person who speaks for God.  She actually gives the job of deliverer to a guy named Barak and tells him to take ten thousand troops and beat the Canaanaite king.  She informs him that God will win the battle for him.  He says he will not go unless she goes too.  This lack of faith leads to another prophecy about the battle, he will not get the credit for the win.  Barak goes out, fights, and wins.  The leader of the Cannanite army, Sisera, escapes and runs to an ally of his king, a guy  named Heber.  He asks Heber’s wife, Jael, to hide him in her tent.  After a warm cup of milk Sisera falls asleep under a rug, exhaused from all the running he has been doing.  Jael then takes a tent peg and hammer and drives the peg through his skull into the ground, killing him.  Eventually the Israelite are able to kill the king of the Cannanites.  Two women made this victory possible.  To this day Deborah is remembered and Barak is hardly mentioned.  What is important to learn here is that we need to listen to and believe God.  According to Judges 4:14 God is in front of us in the battle.

Lord help me listen.  Help me believe.  Help me do what ever you ask of me.  It’s not about me it’s about you, you are the power behind your plan.  Thank you for letting me be a part of it.

Judges 3:12-31.  This is one of my favorite Old Testament stories.  It’s pretty gross.  It seems interesting to me that Ehud was left handed.  In medieval times left handed people were considered evil but in this case it was Ehud’s left-handedness that was  key in the victory. There is some evidence that he was trained to be left handed and could actually use both hands.  The left hand was still considered evil by some in the past so it doesn’t change the idea.  God made both hands and is not restricted by superstitions.  In verses 19 we see Ehud heading back toward the Israelite territory when he comes to the town of Gilgal.  In Joshua 4 you can read the story of Joshua leading the people of Israel across the Jordan river into the land promised to them by God.  Although it was a time when the river was extremely high God stopped the water and the people crossed on dry land.  It was very similar to the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses 40 years earlier.  This was a sign to the people that God was now leading them through Joshua.  The people camped that night between the river and the city of Jericho in an area called Gilgal.  They also built a monument of twelve large stones in Gilgal as a memorial for the generations to come of God’s presence in their lives.  Now Ehud gets to Gilgal and what does he see, idols.  What a contrast.  According to the author of Joshua the stones were still there in his day.  Joshua was written no earlier than the time of Othniel, the first Judge we read about (compare Joshua 15:17 with Judges 1:11-13, 3:9) who ruled for 40 years.  So the stones were probably still there in Ehud’s day.  For a man serving God seeing idols in Gilgal would have been quite offensive.  Gilgal was supposed to be a monument to God’s presence with Israel.  Now it was filled with idols that would have represented the gods of the Moabites and others around and within Israel’s land.

The idols, it seems, provoke Ehud to return and finish the task God has given him.  It is also interesting that after he kills Eglon that he walks right past these idols; they have no power to stop him.  He then leads the people in a battle which makes the Moabites subjects of the Israelites and there is peace for 80 years.  Unfortunately this is not the end of the cycles of rebellion.  LIving for God is about  more than one leader and more than one battle.  It is a day by day thing and each generation needs to make the choice to follow God.  God destroyed Jericho in the first battle under Joshua.  Now maybe 60 years later the place where it all started is filled with idols.  We need to be careful too.  We need to work on our relationship day by day and be careful that we do not accumulate idols that block our view of God’s work in our lives.  Hopefully this blog is helpful in keeping God in the front of your lives.

Lord help me not allow idols to block my view of your work in my live.  Let me set up memorial stones to what you have done in my life and keep a clear view of them.  Let me have no other God besides you.