Judges 3 introduces us to the beginning of a repeating cycle that defined much of Israel’s early history in the Promised Land. It shows how easily people can forget the Lord’s commands when they get comfortable, how rebellion opens the door to suffering, and how God, in His mercy, raises up deliverers when we cry out. For us, it’s a reminder that the Lord is faithful, even when we are not. But it also urges us to learn from the past, not to repeat it.
The chapter begins by telling us that the Lord left certain nations in the land to test Israel, to see whether they would obey His commands. These nations weren’t left there because God couldn’t remove them. They remained for a purpose. God was using them to train the Israelites, especially those who hadn’t known war firsthand. In a way, it was a spiritual boot camp. It was also a test of faith and obedience. Would the Israelites walk in the ways God laid out for them, or would they go their own way?
Unfortunately, the people failed the test. They lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They intermarried with them, and even worse, they served their gods. It didn’t take long for the people to compromise their identity and their calling. They forgot the Lord, and as a result, they fell into bondage. For us, this is a sobering picture of what happens when we allow the influences of the world around us to shape our hearts more than God’s Word does. When we mix what is holy with what is not, when we tolerate sin and blend in with the culture around us, we slowly drift away from the Lord.
So the Lord gave them into the hands of Cushan Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The Israelites served him for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, He didn’t turn away. He raised up a deliverer—Othniel, the son of Kenaz, who had already shown courage earlier in the book. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went to war, and God delivered the king of Mesopotamia into his hand. The land had rest for forty years. This was the first judge, the first cycle. We see the pattern: rebellion, oppression, repentance, deliverance, and peace.
But then it happened again. After Othniel died, the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. This time, He strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against them. Eglon joined with the Ammonites and Amalekites and attacked Israel. They captured the city of palm trees—Jericho—and the Israelites served Eglon for eighteen years. Once again, they cried out to the Lord, and once again, He heard them.
This time the deliverer was Ehud, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. He was left-handed, which may have seemed like an odd detail, but it played a critical role in what happened next. Ehud made a double-edged sword, about eighteen inches long, and strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes. He went to deliver tribute to King Eglon, who is described as a very fat man. After delivering the tribute, Ehud sent the others away and told the king he had a secret message for him. Eglon, intrigued, sent away his servants, and Ehud approached him in private.
What happened next was bold and unexpected. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and drew the sword with his left hand, plunging it into the king’s belly. The blade sank in, and the fat closed over it, and Ehud didn’t even pull the sword out. He locked the doors and escaped while the servants assumed the king was relieving himself. By the time they realized something was wrong and opened the doors, Ehud was long gone.
Ehud returned to the Israelites and led them in battle. He blew the trumpet in the hill country and rallied the people, saying, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies into your hands.” They seized the fords of the Jordan to prevent the Moabites from escaping and struck down about ten thousand of their warriors. Not a man escaped. After that, Moab was subdued, and the land had peace for eighty years.
The chapter ends with a brief mention of another judge, Shamgar son of Anath. He struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, a farming tool, and saved Israel. Though we’re given only one verse about him, it shows us that God can use even the simplest tools and the most unexpected people to bring about deliverance.
Through this chapter, we see how easily we can fall when we forget God. The Israelites were surrounded by nations that did not know the Lord, and instead of standing apart as God intended, they blended in. They compromised, and that compromise led to bondage. But in every case, when they turned back to the Lord, He raised up a rescuer. He didn’t abandon them, even when they had abandoned Him. That is the kind of mercy and faithfulness we rely on too. The Lord doesn’t grow tired of hearing our cries, even if we’ve messed up again. He is always ready to restore when we truly repent.
But there’s also a warning here for us. We don’t want to live in the cycle of sin, suffering, and rescue. We’re called to grow in faith and walk in obedience. The book of Judges shows us that God is patient, but also that compromise always brings consequences. Let’s not forget the Lord in times of ease. Let’s not wait until we’re trapped to remember that He is our deliverer. Instead, let’s walk closely with Him daily, so we don’t need a rescuer to pull us out of a pit we wandered into.