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1–5. The nations that remained in the Promised Land after it was divided among the Israelites. 6. Family ties between them and the Israelis. 7. Idolatry of the Israelites. 8–11. The yoke of King Husarsafem and liberation from it. 12–30. The yoke of King Eglon and liberation from it. Judge Ehod. 31. Judge Samegar. Judges 3:1. These are the nations that the Lord left to tempt the Israelites, all who did not know about all the wars of Canaan - Judges 3:2. only so that the subsequent generations of the sons of Israel, who did not know it before, would know and learn war: Judges 3:3. five rulers of the Philistines, all Canaanites, Sidonians and Hivites, living on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. The writer of everyday life makes a general list of the peoples who remained to live in the Promised Land along with the Israelites. Most of these peoples were concentrated in the west and north of Palestine. These included: the five possessions of the Philistines (cf. Joshua 13:3), the Canaanites, Sidonians and Hivites (maybe the Hittites), who occupied the northernmost part of Palestine along the spurs of the Lebanese mountains, from Mount Baal-Hermon (Baal-Gad, cf. Joshua 11:17, 12:7, 13:5) to the city Ematha (later the city of Epiphania, now Oms, on the Orontes River, on the road to Antioch). Judges 3:4. They were left to tempt the Israelites with them to see if they were obeying the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers through Moses. Judges 3:5. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites, Judges 3:6. and they took their daughters as wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Judges 3:7. And the children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs. Judges 3:8. And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Husarsafem king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Husarsafem eight years. For apostasy from faith in the True God and deviation into idolatry, the Lord handed over the Israelites to the rule of the Mesopotamian king Husarsafem, whom they served for eight years. The name of this king has not yet been found in Assyro-Babylonian inscriptions. Some, like Graetz (Gesrhichte der luden, B. I, § 107 (SS. 413-414), Note 7), consider him the king of Edom and the Horites, or, like Kessler (Clironolagia ludicum, p. 15-16), the king of the Amorites. His very name, read in Hebrew “Kushan-Rishatayim”, in the second part is read as a Hebraization of the word “Risha” (which means “anger”), which seems to indicate the special anger of this king. Judges 3:9. Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a savior for the children of Israel who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb. When the Israelites, oppressed by Husarsafem, turned to the Lord, then the Lord raised up a deliverer for them in the person of Othniel, the son of Kenaz. Wed. about Othniel Joshua 11:17; Judges 1:13. Judges 3:10. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he was a judge for Israel. He went out to war [against Husarsafem] and the Lord delivered Husarsafem, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands, and his hand overcame Husarsafem. As on Moses and Joshua (Num. 11:17, 27:18), so did the Spirit of the Lord rest on Othniel. Having the Spirit of God within him, he judged Israel and freed them from the yoke of Husarsafem. Judges 3:11. And the earth rested for forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. After the overthrow of the yoke of Husarsafem, the country of Israel enjoyed peace for forty years, until the death of Othniel. Judges 3:12. The children of Israel again began to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against the Israelites, because they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Judges 3:13. He gathered [all] the Ammonites and Amalekites to himself, and went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of Palms. Judges 3:14. And the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. After the death of Othniel, the Israelites again began to do evil before the Lord, and He raised up against them Eglon, king of Moab, who, having gathered to himself, in addition to the Moabites, also the Ammonites and Amalekites, came out against the Israelites and defeated them, and captured the city of Palms. The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. About the Moabites and Ammonites cf. Gen. 19:37–38; about the Amalekites Ex.17:8–9, 16; Numbers 24:20. By the city of Palms, most people mean Jericho, and Gretz means the city of Zohar (Gesch. d. lud., I, S. 107). According to the testimony of Josephus, Eglon even built a palace in Jericho (Aritiqu. lud., lib. V. c. lV, § 1). Judges 3:15. Then the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a savior, Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Jamini, who was left-handed. And the children of Israel sent gifts with him to Eglon king of Moab. Judges 3:16. Ehud made himself a sword with two edges, a cubit long, and girded it under his cloak to his right thigh, Judges 3:17. [and came] and presented gifts to Eglon king of Moab; Eglon was a very fat man. Judges 3:18. When Ehud had presented all the gifts and had seen off the people who had brought the gifts, Judges 3:19. then he himself returned from the idols that were in Gilgal, and said: I have a secret word for you, king. He said: be quiet! And all who stood with him left him. Judges 3:20. Ehud came in to him: he was sitting in a cool upper room, which he had separately. And Ehud said: I have before you, [king], the word of God. [Eglon] stood up from the chair [in front of him]. Judges 3:21. [When he stood up,] Ehud stretched out his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly, Judges 3:22. so the hilt also went in behind the edge, and the fat covered the edge, for Ehud did not take the sword out of his belly, and it passed into the rear parts. Judges 3:23. And Ehud went out into the vestibule, and shut the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them. Judges 3:24. When he went out, the servants of Eglon came and saw, behold, the doors of the upper room were closed, and they said: it is true that he needs a cool room. Judges 3:25. They waited for quite a long time, but seeing that no one was unlocking the doors of the upper room, they took the key and unlocked it, and behold, their master lay dead on the ground. When the Israelites, oppressed by Eglon, turned to the Lord asking for mercy, then the Lord raised up a deliverer for them in the person of Ehud, the son of Gera, a Benjamite, who, through cunning, killed Eglon while he was with him in the upper room of his palace. By his nature, Ehud was the personification of fearlessness, courage and resourcefulness. All nations celebrated individuals like Ehud, even if their actions were not entirely moral. The Athenians sang the praises of Harmodius and Aristogonus, the Romans - Mucius Scaevola, who in their moral qualities stood no higher than Aod, but deserved the memory of posterity only for their bravery. In the East, until recently, there are personalities like Ehud. Layard, being a consul in Mesopotamia, knew one famous regional governor, Ibrahim Agu, who became famous for the fact that one day, at the suggestion of the Turkish governor Mohammed Pasha, he went to the fortress of a retired Kurdish bey and, received by him according to the rules of eastern hospitality, cut off his head with a saber during dinner (Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, I, 97–98). About Gilgal (modern Tell Jeljul, or Jeljuliye, between Jericho and Jordan) see Joshua 4:19–20 and others. The “images” (pesilim) at Gilgal probably mean the stone pillars in the form of betils that stood here (Prof. A.A. Olesnitsky. Megalithic monuments of the Holy Land, p. 77) or stones that marked the ford of the Jordan (Buddha). Judges 3:26. While they were perplexed, Ehud meanwhile left [and no one thought about him], passed by the idols and escaped to Seiraph. Judges 3:27. When Ehud came [to the land of Israel], he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountain, and he went before them. Judges 3:28. And he said to them, Follow me, for the Lord [God] has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hands. And they followed him, and intercepted the crossing of the Jordan to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. Judges 3:29. And at that time they killed about ten thousand Moabites, all healthy and strong, and no one escaped. Judges 3:30. So the Moabites humbled themselves that day before Israel, and the land rested for eighty years. [And Ehud was their judge until death.] After the death of Eglon, Ehud fled to Sephirath, a place located on the mountains of Ephraim, where he informed the Israelites about the death of Elgon. The gathered Israelis headed to the Jordan, intercepted crossings across it, and when the Moabites who fled from the outskirts of the city of Palms (i.e. Jericho) intended to cross here, they were beaten here. After the overthrow of the Moabite yoke, the country was at peace for eighty years. Judges 3:31. After him was Samegar the son of Anath, who slew six hundred Philistines with an ox goad; and he also saved Israel. Samegar, probably at the head of the villagers, each armed with an ox goad, defeated six hundred Philistines who attacked them. Homer tells something similar about Lycurgus, who repelled Dionysius and his associates with an ox-horn (Iliad, 6, 135). You might be interested in: