Bible Chapter Summary
Judges 3 Summary
Three Judges Deliver Oppressed Israel
The chapter opens by identifying the nations God left in Canaan to test Israel's obedience and to teach warfare to generations who had not experienced it. Israel repeatedly intermarried with these peoples and worshiped their gods, provoking God's anger and resulting in foreign oppression—first under Cushan-rishathaim of Mesopotamia for eight years, then under Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years. Each time Israel cried out to God, He raised up a judge-deliverer: first Othniel, upon whom the Spirit of the LORD came, who subdued Mesopotamia and secured forty years of peace; then the left-handed Ehud, who secretly assassinated the very fat Eglon in his summer parlour and rallied Israel to slaughter ten thousand Moabites at the fords of Jordan, winning eighty years of rest. The chapter closes with a brief notice that Shamgar son of Anath slew six hundred Philistines with an ox goad and likewise delivered Israel.
Key themes
Key verses
Judges 3:4
“And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”
Judges 3:9
“And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.”
Judges 3:10
“And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.”
Judges 3:30
“So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.”
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