Judges 4:6-7 Marching Orders!

 6She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. 7And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’ ”

Marching Orders

“Deborah never believed that God called her alone to deliver Israel. She realized that God would do much of the work through Barak.” (Guzik)

Go and march to Mount Tabor were Barak’s orders from the Most High and if Barak refused the Lord would have chosen someone else.

Has the Lord ever put something on your heart to do and you didn’t do it? 

Years ago we were at Five Guys eating lunch and we saw a homeless man pushing a cart. Our son asks, can we buy him lunch? I said sure! We drove off with a meal and located the man. As our son went to hand him the food, he yelled NO! I told my son to get back in the car and we would find someone else. Down the road we went and as I turned the corner my wife yelled, pull in the Walgreens! The scene was from The Good Samaritan! There was a woman sitting on the curb, beaten to a pulp and everyone was avoiding her. My wife said, let me handle this. She got out, knelt down, offered assistance, prayed for her and gave her the meal.

I believe that the Lord used that homeless man to lead us to that woman.

Oh Lord, how many times have we said no and didn’t do what You asked?

Blessings 

Judges 4:4-5 Spokesman, Spokeswoman for God

 4Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

“A prophetess is a female prophet. The word prophet comes from the Greek word prophetes, which means “spokesman.” A prophet in the Bible is a person who proclaims God’s Word and therefore speaks for God—a spokesman for God. A prophetess was, therefore, a spokeswoman for God. The faithful prophet or prophetess was one who, regardless of whether or not he or she was listened to, spoke everything God said to speak. There are several prophetesses mentioned in the Bible.” (gotquestions.org) 

“Some consider it unexpected for God to raise up a woman as prophetess. But the New Testament makes it clear that God grants the gift of prophecy unto women also, and they are to practice it appropriately (1 Corinthians 11:5).” (Guzik)

“Still more people consider it unexpected for God to raise up a woman to be a judge - a shaphat, a heroic leader for Israel. Deborah was a woman greatly used by God and she was also a woman who respected the people God put in authority over her - notably, Barak.” (Guzik)

“The issue, from a New Testament perspective, is not whether women can be used greatly by God. Of course they can. The issues are of headship, final accountability, and authority - and God has granted these responsibilities to men in both the home and the church. Women can be used greatly by God, but it is to be under the headship of male authority in the church.” (Guzik)

Years ago we were going through a rough spot in our marriage and I was pouring my heart out to God in prayer. I was at church and someone who I didn’t know came up to me and said he had a message for me from God. I was skeptical at first but said ok. He said that God wanted me to know my marriage was going to be ok.

How did this man know? He was a spokesman from God! A prophet! And he was correct!

Has a prophet or a prophetess ever spoken to you?

Blessings 

Judges 4:1-3 Drifting

 1After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. 2So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. 3Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

“Seeing the continual drift to disobedience makes one less and less confident of man but more and more impressed with the mercy and grace of God. Though Israel kept forsaking Him, He kept working with them.” (Guzik)

I would add, He does that with us too! Life is hard and with our sinful nature we drift away from the Lord. Paul said it best:

Romans 7: 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. 20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

“The sedentary life is most subject to diseases: standing waters soon putrify. It is hard and happy not to grow worse with liberty.” (Trapp)

God used a different oppressor, Jabin king of Canaan on the Israelites this time! But notice, it took them twenty years before they cried out to the Lord!

Just like the Israelites we are drifting away from the Lord, please pray for a revival in our country!

Blessings 

Judges 3:31 Simple Things!

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

a. Killed six hundred men of the Philistines: Shamgar was a man of great accomplishment, yet only one verse describes his work. It is possible that so little is said about Shamgar because his story was so well known.

i. “The significant omissions may indicate that there was something unusual about Shamgar; he may not have been a judge after the usual pattern but just a warrior who effected this one local stroke of valour against a nation who afterwards became Israel’s principle oppressor.” (Cundall)

b. With an ox goad: Shamgar is an excellent example of serving for God. He simply used what God put in his hand - in his case, an ox goad.

i. An ox goad was a stick about 8 feet long (about 2.5 meters), and about 6 inches around at the big end. One end of the ox goad was pointy (for poking the ox), and the other end was like a chisel (for scraping the plow clean of dirt).

ii. “In the hands of a strong, skilful man, such an instrument must be more dangerous and more fatal than any sword.” (Clarke)

c. He also delivered Israel: There was nothing spectacular about an ox goad. But God can use, and wants to use, whatever is in our hands. Shamgar was merely a laborer doing his job; but he took what was in his hand when prompted by God and he rescued the people of God from their enemies.

i. Shamgar was like Moses and his shepherd’s staff or David and his shepherd’s sling. God uses simple things to accomplish great things. (Guzik)

Shamgar had an ox goad, Samson had a jaw bone, David had his sling!

Judges 15: 15He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.

1 Samuel 17: 49Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

“God uses simple things to accomplish great things.” (Guzik)

That includes you and I!

Have you encouraged anyone about the free gift of salvation lately?

Blessings 

Judges 3:27-30 Follow me!

 27And 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 [j]he led them. 28Then 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. 29And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. 30So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

“As much cunning and courage as Ehud had, he could not do the work by himself. It was essential for brave and faithful men to rally around him. Ehud led, but he had to have followers.” (Guzik)

Follow me

“Ehud’s cunning and courage, coupled with Israel’s faithful following of a leader, brought Israel’s longest period of freedom under the 400-year period of the Judges. Ehud is a dramatic example of how in the LORD, one man can make a difference, and how God will call others to work with that one man.” (Guzik)

Churches, bible studies, recovery groups, mission trips, etc, have to have a leader that says “follow me” but most importantly they have to be of the Lord, that is, in and of His will. 

“So they went down after him” don’t let this verse escape you! The Israelites had the faith in the Lord and they were willing to “follow” Ehud, their leader. The same applies to us!

“God lifts up leaders in the church, but they can’t do the work by themselves. The whole body needs to work together.” (Guzik)

Is God calling you to make a difference, “to work with that one man” or woman at your church?

Blessings 

Judges 3:16-26 God’s Word pierces as a two-edged sword!

 16Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak 17and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man.

18After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. 19But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”

“Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

20Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.

21And Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly. 22Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied. 23Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.

24After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said. 25So they waited until they became worried and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upper room. Then they took the key and opened the doors—and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.

26Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

These verses explain a biblical event that are very detailed with commentary from historical commentators that is rich and I thought it was best to give you in its entirety. Blessings 

Guzik’s Commentary:

a. He brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: Israel had to pay this tribute money because they were under the domination of the king of Moab. Ehud came to Eglon as a messenger or courier.

i. “Since the payment was carried by a number of men, it may have been food or wool.” (Wolf)

ii. “Presents, tribute, etc., in the eastern countries were offered with very great ceremony; and to make the more parade several persons, ordinarily slaves, sumptuously dressed, and in considerable number, were employed to carry what would not be a burden even to one. This appears to have been the case in the present instance.” (Clarke)

b. I have a message from God for you: Ehud certainly told the truth when he said this. The message was, “Those who oppress the people of God touch the apple of His eye and will be judged for it.”

i. F.B. Meyer set forth some thoughts from Judges 3:20, and Ehud’s statement to Eglon, I have a message from God for you.

· God’s messages are often secret.

· God’s messages must be received with reverence.

· God’s messages leap out from unexpected quarters.

· God’s messages are sharp as a two-edged sword, and cause death.

ii. “God’s Word pierces as a two-edged sword to the dividing of soul and spirit in the recesses of the being, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When the Eglon of self has received its death-wound, the glad trumpet of freedom is blown on the hills.” (Meyer)

iii. God uses many messengers to speak to us, including death. “Ehud said, ‘I have a message from God for thee.’ It was a dagger which found its way to Eglon’s heart, and he fell dead. So shall death deliver his message to you. ‘I have a message from God unto thee,’ he will say, and ere you shall have time to answer, you shall find that this was the message, ‘Because I the Lord will do this, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel; thus saith the Lord, cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground! Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.’ Oh! may you hear the other messengers of God before he sends this last most potent one, from which ye cannot turn away.” (Spurgeon)

iv. The preacher should also present the word of God with the sense that he has a message from God. “I am afraid, there are some ministers who hardly think that the gospel is intended to come personally home to the people. They talk, as I read of one the other day, who said that when he preached to sinners he did not like to look the congregation in the face, for fear they should think he meant to be personal; so he looked up at the ventilator, because there was no fear then of any individual catching his eye. Oh! That fear of man has been the ruin of many ministers. They never dared to preach right at the people.” (Spurgeon)

c. Ehud reached with his left hand: Because most men fought with their right hand, it wasn’t expected for a man to use his left hand with a dagger or a sword. This shows how cunning Ehud was and how unexpected the strike was to Eglon.

i. The fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out: “This is variously understood: either the contents of the bowels issued through the wound, or he had an evacuation in the natural way through the fright and anguish.” (Clarke)

ii. The phrase and his entrails came out has caused some problems for translators. One of the words used occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. “The most plausible, if gruesome, suggestion is that it refers to the opening of the king’s body, the downward motion of the dagger being with such force that it passed completely through the abdomen and projected from the vent (cf. RV, it came out behind). Such sensational details have a habit of impressing themselves indelibly upon the human memory.” (Cundall)

iii. “The KJV and RSV translate ‘and the dirt came out,’ implying an intestinal discharge caused by the sword thrust. Koehler-Baumgartner relates the word to the Akkadian parasdinum (‘hole’), meaning that Ehud went out through an ‘escape hole.’ The construction is very similar to ‘Ehud went out to the porch’ in Judges 3:23.” (Wolf)

iv. Some are troubled by this act of assassination; we cannot say that this event is a general approval or commission of those who would assassinate rulers who oppress the people of God. It is significant that this was never suggested or even an issue in the early Christian persecutions. “God did not necessarily approve of the method used by Ehud. It may be significant that the Spirit of the Lord did not come on Ehud and that he was never described as ‘judging Israel.’” (Wolf)

v. Nevertheless, the Bible reliably records this incident without giving specific approval of this act of assassination. “Such incidental details as the length of the murder weapon and the fact of Eglon’s corpulence (mentioned only because the dagger was completely buried in his body) attest to the historicity of the event.” (Cundall)

d. He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber: Without being coarse, we can see how real and true-to-life the Bible is. It describes normal, everyday functions but in a dignified way.

i. Attending to his needs is literally “covering his feet,” a euphemism for elimination also used in 1 Samuel 24:3. Some commentators see this only reluctantly: “He has lain down on his sofa in order to sleep; when this was done they dropped their slippers, lifted up their feet, and covered them with their long loose garments. But the versions, in general seem to understand it as implying a certain natural act.” (Clarke)

ii. The stone images mentioned in Judges 3:19 and 3:26 were probably “the actual stones set up by Joshua to commemorate the miraculous crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 4:19-24) and thus were a well-known landmark.” (Cundall)

Judges 3:15 A left-handed man!

 15And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

“This shows the mercy of God. When Israel repeatedly drifted from God, He had every right to cast them off completely. Yet He still responded when they finally did call on Him for deliverance.

b. Ehud… a left-handed man: In the ancient world left-handed people were often forced to become right-handed. This made Ehud’s standing as a left-handed man more unusual.” (Guzik)

“He is described as a left-handed man, literally ‘restricted as to his right hand’. In the eyes of an Israelite, this was regarded as a physical defect and it appears often in connection with the Benjaminites, without affecting their prowess in battle (cf. 20:16).” (Cundall)

Years ago I was taking an instructor course for firearms instruction classes and the counselor had us perform a simple task to verify which eye 👁️ was dominant. We had to hold out our hands at arms length and form a 1.5” ⭕️ to look through at a person’s nose  standing about 10’ away. The person had to determine which eye 👁️ we were using to focus on their nose. That’s when I found out my left eye was dominant which meant I should have been shooting left handed! I immediately switched shooting with my left hand and had better scores than right handed.

So technically I should have been a left-handed man.

I suspect choosing Ehud, a left-handed man gave him a tactical advantage getting through king Eglon’s security.

Are you a right-handed or left-handed person?

Blessings