God Sends Judges to Help the Children of Israel

Judges 2-3

Now we are going to read about a sad time in the history of the children of Israel.

The people of Israel who had seen the wonderful works of God had become older. The people, who had promised Joshua to remember the Lord and to serve Him forever, had done as they had promised. They remembered Joshua’s warning that God would certainly punish them if they turned to idols, as well as bless them if they walked in His paths.

Most likely the people of Israel had told the many stories of God’s help to their own children and warned them to keep away from false gods. But these children grew up, and it was not long before they forgot about the God of their fathers. Soon they became friends with the Canaanites who were still in the land; they married some of them; and soon they began to worship their idols, too.

We, too, have to be very careful in making friends. If our friends do not believe in God or respect Him, they will turn us away from the God of our fathers and lead us into wrong paths. It does not take place all at once, but with one step at a time.

That is what happened to the children of Israel. It is a sad story in their history. And it happened over and over again.

• First, they forgot God and were soon serving the heathen idols.

• Next, as a punishment, God sent enemies to attack them and make them slaves.

• This made the Israelites so distressed that they didn’t know what to do. Then they remembered the God of their fathers and prayed to Him for help.

• The Lord then heard His people and sent a judge to deliver them from their enemies.

• Then the children of Israel were again able to live safely.

Did they learn from this? No, the same thing happened again and again. They would forget God and return to serving idols. The enemy would come. The Israelites would cry to God. A judge would be sent to save them from the enemy. Then they would be safe. But then they would soon return to serving idols again.

Aren’t we the same way? When we are sick, or have trouble, or do wickedly, we pray to God. He hears and helps us, but then we soon forget Him and go our own way. But then, again, we run into trouble, and God is so good that He answers our prayer again.

We read in the book of Judges, in the second chapter, that “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim,” which means idols. “And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers,” says the Bible. “And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.”

We must never forget that God’s Word tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day. What an awful thing it is to have God angry with us! In Hebrews 10 we read, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” If God is for us, who can be against us? But if God is against us, there is no one greater than God to save us.

And now God was against Israel, and He sent their enemies to conquer them. These enemies probably made the Israelites slaves, set their own men up as rulers, and made the Israelites obey terrible laws. The Israelites finally gave up. They didn’t know what to do! So they did what they should have done sooner. They cried to the Lord God of their fathers, the God who had delivered them from their enemies in Egypt many years before.

And God, who is so kind and merciful, heard these prayers and cries of His dear people. He sent a man named Othniel, whom the Bible calls a “judge,” to rescue them.

God was with Othniel, and he was able to defeat the enemies and drive them out of Israel. So the land of Israel had rest.

But wait! We read in the Bible that “the land had rest forty years.” Only forty years! And then, the Bible tells us, “the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord.” Even after the Lord had helped them, they forgot Him again!

This time God sent another enemy, the king of the country of Moab. He asked his friends, the kings of Ammon and Amalek, to help him, and they all invaded the country of Israel. And he made himself their king for eighteen years!

Finally the children of Israel were tired of serving this wicked king, and they cried to God, who had helped them before. Maybe you wonder, Why didn’t they cry to God as soon as they came into trouble? Why did they wait eighteen years? But how often do we go to the only One who can help us? First we try to help ourselves, or we ask others for help, or try some other way.

This time God sent a man named Ehud to save the Israelites. And how did Ehud help his people? He did this in a different way, for he went to King Eglon with a present from the people.

A present? How was that going to help them? It made it look as if they wanted to be friends with the king! But wait to see what happened.

When Ehud came, King Eglon was sitting in his parlor. The Bible tells us that he was a very fat man. After giving him the present, Ehud said to him, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.”

This made King Eglon proud. How special! This man had a special message for him, for him, and him only! He certainly didn’t want his servants to hear his secret message! “Wait a minute with your message,” he told Ehud, and then he ordered his servants to leave the room.

But what did Ehud do? He moved his left hand (because he was left-handed) toward his right hip and quickly pulled out his hidden dagger, which is like a large knife. Before King Eglon could call his servants, Ehud had thrust the dagger into the king’s belly and killed him. And then Ehud escaped through a back door, locking the doors behind him.

The servants waited for King Eglon to finish his visit with Ehud, but, of course, the door didn’t open. Minutes went by. Hours went by. “The king must be resting,” they said, and they decided not to bother him.

But after a while the king still didn’t come out, and they began to get worried. Was something wrong?

Finally they found a key, unlocked the door, and there lay their king, dead on the floor.

Soon there was the sound of a trumpet, as the Israelites came out to fight their enemies! Since the king of the Moabites was dead, they had no one to tell them what to do, and the Israelites were able to conquer them! God had saved them again!

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