NOW THESE ARE THE NATIONS WHICH THE LORD LEFT TO TEST ISRAEL BY THEM:

Test (nacah - see all 4 uses in Judges); first used when God tested Abraham Genesis 22:1) here refers to testing which shows what someone is really like & generally involves difficulty or hardship. Are you being tested by the "nations" now? How are you faring? Are you losing heart & tempted to give up?

Sometimes we wonder why God didn’t remove all the enemies from the Promised Land before He let the children of Israel go in. But in these verses (Judges 3:1-4) we see that God had a definite reason. He uses the results of our lack of faith in Him to prove to us our sin and weakness. He does not forget His covenant, but He allows our very weakness, our guilty weakness, to drive us back to Him. God wanted the chosen people to realize that they were a holy people. They must not mix with the wicked nations about them. They must continually separate themselves. God knew that separation makes a people strong. Christians today must remember that they cannot mix with the world. They must keep close to God and war against sin and unrighteousness. God wants us to be good warriors. And so we see that an uncritical toleration toward a people so utterly corrupt resulted in the undoing of God’s chosen people.
 

Joshua had no successor. After his death, each tribe acted independently. There was no capital and no fixed government. There was no unity of action, except in the time of danger when the tribes combined for their own good. When the people sinned against God, their enemies defeated them and ruled them. When in their distress they sought the Lord, He sent judges who delivered them. God is always brooding over His disobedient children. He promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (see note Hebrews 13:5). We see defeat on our part but deliverance on God’s part. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (see note Romans 5:20).  We see His dealings with His own rebellious people whom He has crowned with His best blessings and upon whom He has lavished His tender love. We find the patience of God and His constant readiness to respond to the least sign of penitence in His people (Judges 3:9, 15; see notes Judges 4:3; 4:4; 4:5 ; 4:6; 4:7; Judges 6:6; 6:7; 6:8; 6:9; 6:10; 6:11; 6:12; Judges 10:15; 16). He repeated His mercy again and again although it was never appreciated. If you think on these things it will draw you nearer to this God of mercy and love and grace. Look up, repent and trust God.

We have found that God fulfilled His purpose for Israel by leaving around them in Canaan a circle of strong tribes unlike each other. It is said,

“These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan...They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses” (Judges 3:1, 4).

Look up each cross reference (at the end of this paragraph) to discern why God "tested Israel" and then NT parallels to allow one to apply God's testing of Israel to the believer's life today. This exercise might greatly encourage you if you are currently going through the REFINER'S FIRE & questioning whether God even loves you or cares. Ask God to open these verses to you that you might know what are His purposes when He sends TESTS into your life -- Ex 16:4, Dt 8:2-4, 5, 16, Ex 20:20, Ps 26:2, Mal 3:10 Pr 17:3. Parallel with Hebrews 11:17 [note] (Ge 22:1, 11), see notes Revelation 2:2, 2:10, 2 Timothy 2:15, 1Co 9:27).

The Septuagint often translates the Hebrew word for test, nacah with peirazo (See word study of peirazo), a morally neutral word simply  meaning “to test” Whether the testing is for good (Hebrews 11:17 [note], Ge 22:11) or evil (Mt 4:1) depends on the intent of the one giving the test. Obviously God does not tempt anyone to evil (James 1:13) so His purpose was to discern what was in their heart.

Is God bending, shaping, or polishing me right now?
What's my attitude: Am I thanking and praising God, or am I complaining about the process?

Trials are intended not to provoke us but to prove us.

THE STORY OF THE STEINWAY

The Steinway piano has been preferred by keyboard masters such as Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Cliburn, and Liszt--and for good reason. It is a skillfully crafted instrument that produces phenomenal sound.

Steinway pianos are built today the same way they were 140 years ago when Henry Steinway started his business. Two hundred craftsmen and 12,000 parts are required to produce one of these magnificent instruments. Most crucial is the rim-bending process, where 18 layers of maple are bent around an iron press to create the shape of a Steinway grand. Five coats of lacquer are applied and hand-rubbed to give the piano its outer glow. The instrument then goes to the Pounder Room, where each key is tested 10,000 times to ensure quality and durability.  Followers of Jesus Christ are also being "handcrafted." We are pressed and formed and shaped to make us more like Him. We are polished, sometimes in the rubbing of affliction, until we "glow." We are tested in the laboratory of everyday human experience. The process is not always pleasant, but we can persevere with hope, knowing that our lives will increasingly reflect the beauty of holiness to the eternal praise of God.

THAT IS, ALL WHO HAD NOT EXPERIENCED ANY OF THE WARS OF CANAAN:

ONLY IN ORDER THAT THE GENERATIONS OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL MIGHT BE TAUGHT WAR (cp Ex 13:17):

Temptations and trials detect the wickedness of the hearts of sinners; and strengthen the graces of believers today in their daily conflict with Satan, flesh [the main, root problem], and this evil world. They must live in this world, but they are not of it and are forbidden to conform to it

But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)

Do not love (present imperative with a negative = stop doing this) the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. (1Jn 2:15-17)

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Ja 4:4)

And do not be conformed (present imperative with a negative = stop doing this) to this world, but be transformed (present imperative = keep on continually allowing this transformation to take place by yielding to the Spirit and the Word) by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (see note Romans 12:2).

Friendship of the world is more fatal than its enmity; the latter can only kill the body, but the former murders many precious souls.

for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. (see note 2 Timothy 4:10)

Gary Inrig explains that...

The Lord uses those difficulties to teach us how to wage spiritual war. He wants to shake us out of our apathy and teach us to trust Him. Often it is only when the enemy has run all over us, and our resources are gone, that we develop a teachable spirit. There are times in our lives when the roof gets blown off, and everything seems to fall to pieces. Those times of failure and crisis become teaching times as the Lord shows us how to make war—how to trust Him.

The implication of this strategy of God in our lives is clear. We cannot stand still in our Christian experience. There are enemies to be faced. There is ground to be gained. If we try to stand still, we can be sure that the principalities and powers, against which we contend, do not. Either we advance, or we perish. There are areas of need in our lives. There is ground to be won in our families and churches. And as long as we live in a world of more than 4 billion people, more than half of whom have never heard of the Lord Jesus, we cannot stand still. We cannot stand by while men and women rush toward hell. (Inrig, G: Hearts of Stone, Feet of Clay. Moody)

THOSE WHO HAD NOT EXPERIENCED IT FORMERLY): With the basic conquest completed, Joshua was told (Jos 13:1-7) to begin the allotment of the land that remained to be possessed. This allocation is described in Jos 13-21 (the main section given in Jos 14-19). Although Joshua had done a great work, great work remained to be done. This is always the case-"God's workers die, but His work goes on." As predicted in Ex. 23:27-33, the complete conquest was to be a gradual process. The area yet to be subdued by the tribes is described in Jos 13:2-6, moving from S to N.

Austin-Sparks wrote that...

THESE NATIONS ARE: THE FIVE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES:

AND THEY WERE FOR TESTING ISRAEL TO FIND OUT IF THEY WOULD OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD:

A key parallel passage to help understand God's "TESTS" is in Hebrews 12 (see notes Hebrews 12:5; 12:6; 12:7; 12:8; 12:9; 10; 11; 12) where "discipline" = “child training” and refers to the process God uses to mature us and make us more like Jesus Christ. He tests us to bring out the best in us, but Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us. If we persist in disobeying God, He will discipline us to bring us to submission. This is an act of love, a Father maturing a child and not a Judge punishing a criminal (Pr 3:11,12).

The story is told of an old man who was traveling on an ocean liner, when a huge storm blew up without warning. One woman lost her balance and fell overboard. People stood frozen with horror. Suddenly, a man plunged into the waves, grabbed her, and held her until a rescue boat came. When they were pulled out, everyone was astonished and embarrassed to discover that the hero was the oldest man on the boat—a man in his eighties. That evening they held a party to honor him. When they called on him to make a speech, the old man rose slowly. He looked around at the people, then said, "I would like to know just one thing." There was an embarrassed silence. "Who pushed me?" Sometimes that is the only way we start moving. The Lord will keep pushing us out of our complacency, out of the second-generation syndrome, into a fresh, vital experience of walking with the Lord Jesus. Are you already moving, or do you need a push?

WHICH HE HAD COMMANDED THEIR FATHERS THROUGH MOSES:

What were some of those commands? See Dt 7:1-5 for example

7:1 "When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and shall clear away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,
2 and when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.
3 "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
4 "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
5 "But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.

AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL LIVED AMONG (LXX = in the middle of):

Judges 3:5-7 summarizes the total helplessness of Israel.  We find the Israelites settling among the Syrian nations. They seemed too ready to live at peace with these other nations and to yield not a little for the sake of peace. They intermarried to make their position safer. They traded with the Amorites, Hivites and Perizzites. They determined on boundary lines to make things run smoothly. Next they accepted their neighbors’ religion (Judges 3:7) and then their bad customs. She lives among the pagans, intermarries with the pagans, apes the pagan worship of the pagans and so a "generation's degeneration" is complete.

Living among the pagans was a direct violation of the commands of God...instead of destroying the enemies, they surrounded themselves with them! Rebellion is really stupid when seen in such a dramatic context (see consequences below v6-8). But let us not be too critical of Israel -- we need to continually remember that these things happened as an example that we should not follow (1Cor 10:6, 11, see note Romans 15:4).

God has not changed. He still judges rebellion. We have the advantage of "time compression" so to speak and can see what their rebellion cost them years later.

What sin are you committing today that will cost you or your loved ones years later?

Do not be deceived, we will reap what we sow.

We must all be brutally honest in our self examination. God desires to bless His people but if they refuse to obey, He must punish them because He is holy and because discipline begins in the household of the Lord. So again the question is:

Do you live among any "enemies"? Have you in fact surrounded yourself with them? Be honest.

God had put a wall between Israel and her neighbors, not because Israel was better than any other nation, but because she was different or at least supposed to be different. Instead of worshiping idols, the Jews worshiped the one true God who made the heavens and the earth. Humans did not devise the laws and covenants of Israel; God did. Israel alone had the true sanctuary, where God dwelt in His glory; it was the true priesthood, ordained by God; and it had the true altar and sacrifices that God would respect (see notes Romans 9:4; 9:5). Only through Israel would all the nations of the earth be blessed (Ge 12:1-3). When Israel obeyed the Lord, He blessed them richly; and both their conduct and God’s blessing were a testimony to their unbelieving neighbors. (Ge 23:6; 26:26-33; 30:27; 39:5.) The pagan people would say, “These Jews are different! The God they worship and serve is a great God!” And the Jewish people would then have had opportunities to tell their neighbors how to trust Jehovah and receive His forgiveness and blessing. (Dt 4:1-13.)

Alas, instead of trusting God to change their neighbors, the gods of their neighbors changed the Jews; and everything Moses warned them not to do, they did. The Jews broke down the wall of separation between themselves and their godless neighbors, and the results were tragic. Contrary to God’s law, Jewish men married pagan wives, and Jewish women married pagan husbands (Ge 24:3; 26:34,35; 27:46; Ex 34:15–16; Dt 7:3,4; Jos 23:12). The idolaters gradually stole the hearts of their mates from worshiping Jehovah to worshiping false gods. King Solomon made this same mistake. After all, when you marry outside the will of God, you have to do something to keep peace in the family! (1Ki 11:1-13; 2Co 6:14-7:1.)

THE CANAANITES:

Remember that at this time all of these people were semi-nomadic and that, even though cities had been established in the land, no single group seems to have had clear possession of them. The term “Canaanites” is used as a general designation of all of the inhabitants of the land at the time of the Israelite conquest.

THE HITTITES:

AND THEY TOOK THEIR DAUGHTERS FOR THEMSELVES AS WIVES:

The Israelites failed God’s test, being enticed into (1) marriages with Canaanites and {2) worship of their gods. Disobedience was repeated frequently through the centuries, and led God to use the Assyrians (2Ki 17) and Babylonians (2Ki 24, 25) to expel them from the land.

To "pass the TEST" believer's today must separate from intimate, "yoke type" association with unbelievers, must not love and must not be conformed to the world...

Do not be bound (present imperative with a negative = stop doing this) together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2Cor 6:14) (See verses at Judges 3:2  = 1Jn 2:15, Ja 4:4, Romans 12:2)

AND GAVE THEIR OWN DAUGHTERS TO THEIR SONS:

The Israelites ignored the warning of Moses (Dt 7:3ff) and intermarried with the pagan, gentile, natives, the consequence being the adoption of their seductive cults.

AND SERVED THEIR GODS (Cp Ps 106:28 - Spurgeon's note):

The Israelites descended three steps in their cultural accommodation to paganism:

(1) they lived among the Canaanites,

(2) they intermarried with them, and

(3) they served their gods, each step naturally leading to the next level of degradation.

Israel's apathy led inexorably to apostasy.

And so too today those who exhibit APATHY to the Word of God (God of the Word) are at risk of sliding into APOSTASY.

AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL DID WHAT WAS EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD: By the time one is finished reading Judges he has had his fill of the cycle of sin. This phrase (evil in the sight of the LORD - click for all OT occurrences in NAS) occurs 55x with increasing frequency in Kings & Chronicles...interestingly it is found only 2x in 1 or 2 Samuel! (1Sa 15:19, 2Sa 11:27).

"Secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven!"

How humiliating that the pagan nations Israel imitated were used as the instruments of God’s discipline! The conquerors were now the conquered. They regretted their sufferings, but they did not repent of their sins. They experienced a painful cycle of disobedience, discipline, despair, and deliverance, only to go back into disobedience again.

AND FORGOT (Qal Impf - ignored, became oblivious, ceased to care for - Dt 32:18, cf 1Sa 12:9) THE LORD (see Judges 2:1 note) THEIR GOD: Septuagint (LXX) translates with a verb which means to COMPLETELY FORGET! Note that the forgetting of God precedes the commission of evil.

An illustration - After stopping in Montgomery, Alabama, for gas, Sam drove more than 5 hours before noticing he had left someone behind--his wife. So at the next town he asked police to help him get in touch with her. He admitted with great embarrassment that he just hadn't noticed her absence. It's hard to understand how Sam could forget his wife, but we're not much different in our relationship with God. We actually fail to remember the One Who created us and redeemed us. We're no different from Israel in the OT. If God seems far away, guess who moved?

To forget the Lord involves neglect of his covenant demands, ingratitude for his blessings, and a self-sufficient attitude, which in turn opens the door to idolatry. Moses had given clear warning...

"Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied, then watch yourself, lest you forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Deut 6:10-12, cf Deut. 8:10-20; 32:15-18)

Note the progression:

lived in the middle of & surrounded by their enemies >>> intermarried >>> ensnared with their idols >>>did evil in sight of God >>>forgot God (they weren't even "syncretistic"!) (2:12 "forsook" God) >>> served abominable sex gods Baal, Asheroth (2:12 "followed" "bowed") >>>anger of Lord kindled >>> God sold to enemies

Cp Judges 2:13 (note) which is appears to be a SUMMARY STATEMENT: "FORSOOK the LORD and SERVED Baal"

How quickly they went downhill when they failed to obey the first command to be a SEPARATED, HOLY people (cp similar commands to believers 2Cor 6:14, 17, 7:1, 1Cor 5:9,11, see notes Romans 16:17; 16:18, Mt 9:9-12) and have no other gods before Him (Ex 20:3-5, 1Co 10:14, 1Jn 5:21, Isa 43:10, 42:8). This is a sad but very instructive admonition to modern day believers.

AND SERVED (became enslaved to) THE BAALS (means masters, lords, possessors, husbands): everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

Not one God (monotheism - cf Dt 6:4) but many "gods" (polytheism). Not one Husband (Isa 54:5, Jer 31:32) but many (cf NT Ja 4:4)

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. (2 Co 11:2)

AND THE ASHEROTH:

THEN THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED AGAINST ISRAEL:

Compare Ps 106:40-45

40 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against His people, And He abhorred His inheritance. (Spurgeon's comment 40 )
41 Then He gave them into the hand of the nations; And those who hated them ruled over them. (Spurgeon's comment 41)
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power. (Spurgeon's comment 42)
43 Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, And so sank down in their iniquity. (Spurgeon's comment 43)
44 Nevertheless He looked upon their distress, When He heard their cry; (Spurgeon's comment 44)
45 And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. (Spurgeon's comment 45)

Anger...kindled is literally "His nose became hot" so the KJV is closer to the literal Hebrew, a most expressive metaphor for the anger and one of the most obvious examples of the anthropomorphisms for God in the OT. This is true righteous anger, fully justified by the actions of Israel in the face of both the truth about Jehovah and the warnings & commands regarding their enemies in the land. Flesh does not like to be told what to do...in the Old Testament or the New Testament (cp note Romans 5:12, Jn 8:34). That's why a believer needs to know & appropriate the truth of co-crucifixion with Christ & the rendering inoperative of our former master Sin (see notes Romans 6:1-10 = what you need to know; Romans 6:11 = what you need to reckon or consider as the truth; Romans 6:12; 13; 14 = who you are now to surrender to because you have the power to do so, Cp notes Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:17; Galatians 5:18).

Is it any wonder that God became angry? Is it any wonder He humiliated Israel by using pagan nations to discipline His own people? Since Israel was acting like the pagans, God had to treat them like pagans!

“With the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind; With the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless; With the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure; And with the crooked Thou dost show Thyself astute.” (Ps 18:25,26). (See Spurgeon's notes Verse 25; Verse 26)

SO THAT HE SOLD THEM: (See the 3 uses of sold them into the hands...) (See notes Judges 2:14;Judges 10:7)

Sold (makar) means sold or surrender but the Septuagint (LXX) translates with a verb that adds the nuance of paying back what is owed (Israel and sown to the flesh and from the flesh was being paid back with corruption cp Galatians 6:8) and given the meaning of the name (below) of the evil one to whom they were "sold" to, we get a sense of the meaning of (Hosea 8:7 "For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind"), where sowing of the wind reaps multiplied grief pictured by the whirlwind.

Sidlow Baxter comments that...

Israel's servitudes were not just accidents. They were punishments. This is a point for serious consideration. God may confer special privileges on certain persons and nations, but He is no respecter of persons in any sense of indulgence to favourites. Those who sin against extra privilege bear heavier responsibility and incur heavier penalty. God may give many privileges, but He never gives the privilege to sin. Let us beware lest a sense of privilege should beguile our own hearts into the sin of presumption.

As we read this book of Judges we may well feel amazed that such low living could go with such high calling. Yes - high calling and low living! A convention chairman once said: "It is possible to be moral without being spiritual: and it is even possible to be spiritual without being moral!" Paradoxical? Impossible? Yet have we not come across persons knowing the deeper and higher truths of the Christian life, able to converse freely in a most spiritual vein, and who, nevertheless, could stoop to behaviour that the average non-Christian would shrink from in disgust? It is only too easy for familiarity to engender callousness, and then for callousness to be hypocritically covered with an outer garment of seeming spirituality. We must watch and pray, lest we ourselves enter into this temptation....

This recurrent emphasis is meant to do its own work in the reader's mind. Let us read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. There are things in the moral realm which are indissolubly wedded. Sin and suffering always go together. They cannot be divorced. Oh that human hearts might be persuaded of this! It is also true that supplication and salvation are similarly joined. God will be entreated by a true supplication in which there is a putting away of the evil thing; and then He will show His salvation.  (J. Sidlow Baxter. Explore the Book)

Davis has some thought provoking comments on this cycle of sin and slavery noting that...

This sequence is not a natural episode of cause and effect but flows from the searing heat of Yahweh’s wrath. We are so accustomed to our secularized, non-revelatory view of history that depicts events as resulting from various observable causes, conditions, and factors, and, paradoxically, we are so familiar with biblical historiography that we fail to recognize how strange biblical (prophetic) history is. Not a tame natural process but blazing supernatural wrath explains Israel’s servitude. Yahweh is the God who makes and orders history. And

“who considers the power of thy anger, / and thy wrath according to the fear of thee?” (Ps. 90:11 RSV - Spurgeon's note).

Yet even here, in Yahweh’s anger, is hope for Israel, for his anger shows that he will not allow Israel to serve Baal unmolested. Yahweh’s wrath is the heat of his jealous love by which he refuses to let go of his people; he refuses to allow his people to remain comfortable in sin. Serving Cushan–rishathaim may not sound like salvation to us — and it isn’t, but, if it forces us to lose our grip on Baal, it may be the beginning of salvation. We must confess that Yahweh’s anger is not good news nor is it bad news but good bad news. It shows that the covenant God who has bound himself to his people will not allow them to become cozy in their infidelity. “Steadfast love” pursues them in their iniquity and is not above inflicting misery in order to awaken them. The burning anger of Yahweh is certainly no picnic, but it may be the only sign of hope for God’s people, even though they may be yet unaware of that fact. (Ralph Davis Judges: Such a Great Salvation - Focus on the Bible) (Bolding added)

INTO THE HANDS OF CUSHAN-RISHATHAIM KING OF MESOPOTAMIA:

The exact meaning of "Cushan-Rishathaim" is not certain but the most frequent translations are "dark one of double evil"; "doubly-wicked Cushan"; "Cushan of Double Wickedness" or "Cushite of the double outrage". The "two fold" increase aspect of the name seems to be universally accepted.

To the Greeks and Romans the term "Mesopotamia" was used to denote the area between the Tigris and Euphrates, and the lands around the headwaters and southernmost courses of those rivers. In the Bible it is restricted to Aram Naharaim, a rather vaguely defined region centering about the city of Haran in the NW sector of the broader region (cf. Ge 24:10).

AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL SERVED CUSHAN-RISHATHAIM EIGHT YEARS:

o in essence since they chose not to serve Jehovah but gods who are really no gods, Jehovah gave them into the hands of this "doubly wicked" pagan king to serve him. God sometimes gives us what we want if we persist in rebelling against His loving leadership.

They learned by experience that there is a way which seems right to a man but its end is death. [Pr 14:12,16:25] How foolish they had been to think they must adopt Baal worship in order to prosper in the new land (Baal worship was associated with fertility of the land in the pagan's deceived mind). Had not Jehovah promised fertility, prosperity, and security to His people when they obeyed His commands? (Dt 28:1-12). By turning from God they had brought upon themselves CURSES instead of BLESSINGS (Dt 28:15-19). Distress drove Israel to prayer. It usually does. And the Lord heard although He could have ignored them.

Charles Spurgeon said that God never allows His people to sin successfully. Their sin will either destroy them or it will invite the chastening hand of God. If the history of Israel teaches the contemporary church anything it’s the obvious lesson that

AND WHEN THE SONS OF ISRAEL CRIED  TO THE LORD:

Cried (za'aq) (1st use za'aq = Exodus 2:23) (LXX translates with the verb krazo which can be used of urgent prayer or supplication) refers to a cry of distress in response to suffering or impending doom. It is basically a cry of pain, often accompanied by a lament over one's condition and/or by a request for divine help. When the context does not specifically indicate that the cry was accompanied by a confession of sin, it is best not to assume that repentance took place. Therefore we need not assume that Israel's cry for help in the present context constituted repentance. All we can safely say is that oppressed Israel cried out to the Lord to intervene.

There are several passages (Psalm 107:13, 19) where za’aq may seem to approach a hint of repentance; yet in each case the emphasis remains on the condition of distress rather than on any expression of repentance.

Affliction makes those cry to God who before would scarcely speak to Him before. When you are at the end of yourself cry out for the Deliverer: Even better is to pray incessantly. He will hear. Say ''I can't Lord but You can!''

As alluded to above, although Israel cries out in their distress, there is no clear mention of their repentance (in fact see notes Judges 2:17; 2:19).

Davis comments that the conclusion that there is no evidence that Israel repented is important...

"for it shows that when “Yahweh raised up a savior” for Israel he was not reacting to any repentance on Israel’s part.4  If anything, he was responding to their misery rather than to their sorrow, to their pain rather than to their penitence. Who then can ever plumb the abyss of Yahweh’s pity for his people, even his sinful people, who are moved more by their distress than by their depravity? Yahweh is indeed the one “who could bear Israel’s suffering no longer” (see note Judges 10:16 NJB). What sheer grace then when Yahweh delivers! Our primary problem is that verse 9 moves us only to yawn. After all, we already know the theological truth of verse 9 — we’ve read that sort of thing often before. So we respond with a, pleasant, nodding ho–hum. Isn’t God nice? What’s for supper? If we fail to see, to feel, to delight in the miracle of God’s own nature, are we not strangers to rather than partakers of such unbelievable grace?" (Ralph Davis Judges: Such a Great Salvation - Focus on the Bible)

Despite lack of evidence that the people genuinely repented of their sins when they cried out to God for help, the Lord responded to their plight and gave them a deliverer. It was the Exodus experience all over again:

“So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice (yada) ” (Ex 2:24-25)

The word “took notice" (Yada) means much more than intellectual understanding, for God knows everything. It means that God identified with their trials and felt a concern for their welfare,

"for since (Jesus) Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." (see note Hebrews 2:17).

Are you suffering affliction beloved? Then cry out for your Deliver, Yeshua.

THE LORD RAISED UP A DELIVERER (LXX = savior, one who gives victory) FOR THE SONS OF ISRAEL TO DELIVER (LXX = sozo= rescue, preserve from harm) THEM:

Deliverer/deliver (both are the Hebrew verb yasa) means to save, to help, to deliver, to defend. The underlying idea of this verb is bringing to a place of safety or broad pasture as opposed to a narrow strait, symbolic of distress and danger. Here the deliverer refers to a God-given military leader who rescues Israel from oppression

With God there are no extraordinary people—only ordinary ones through whom He chooses to do extraordinary things.

Alfred Edersheim said...

The Judges were Israel’s representative men—representative of its faith and hope, but also of its sin and decay.

OTHNIEL (God is might & he lived up to his name) THE SON OF KENAZ, CALEB'S YOUNGER BROTHER:

already a proven conqueror. God used a man but don't ever think it was the man who delivered them...it was God our Savior (see notes Titus 1:3, 2:10). We think God if you will just save ole ''so and so'', he would be so useful to you. God doesn't think the way men think see as Isaiah says in chapter 55...

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:8-11)
 

CHARACTERISTICS OF OTHNIEL

Outstanding solid family background which gave him the privilege of seeing the principles of trust & obedience demonstrated in the life of Caleb. He was a man of proven ability (see note Judges 1:13), of courage (and trust in God's promises) (Kiriath-sepher was a stronghold of giants), of faith (Judges 3:10 ). Jewish rabbis were so impressed with Othniel that they ranked him "first" among the judges. But the key to God's using Othniel is found in (Judges 3:10 ) - the Lord was his strength in the Person of the Holy Spirit Who every believer today possesses (1Cor 12:12, Acts 1:8). Thus Israel was kept from apostasy by this one godly leader.

God + one man = a majority.

AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM:

The Spirit of the Lord appears seven times in Judges (