33 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Judges 3 This chapter gives an account of the nations left in Canaan to prove Israel, and who became a snare unto them, Judges 3:1; and of the servitude of Israel under the king of Mesopotamia for their sins, from which they were delivered by Othniel, Judges 3:8; and of their subjection to the Moabites, from which they were freed...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now these [are] the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them,.... Which are later mentioned, Judges 3:3; [even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter, I. A general account of Israel's enemies is premised, and of the mischief they did them, ver. 1-7. II. A particular account of the brave exploits done by the first three of the judges. 1. Othniel, whom God raised up to fight Israel's battles, and plead their cause against the king of Mesopotamia, ver. 8-11. 2. Ehud, who was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know and teach them war,.... That is, the following nations were left in the land, that the young generations of Israel might by their wars and conflicts with them learn the art of war, and be inured to martial discipline; which, if none had been left to engage with, they had been ignorant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Namely], five lords of the Philistines,.... The places they were lords of were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; see Joshua 13:3; three of these, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, had been taken from them by Judah, since the death of Joshua, Jude 1:18; but they soon recovered them again, perhaps by the help of the other two. The Philistines were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they were to prove Israel by them,.... They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God: to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses; even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites,.... As if they had been only sojourners with them, and not conquerors of them; and dwelt by sufferance, and not as proprietors and owners; such were their sloth and indolence, and such the advantage the inhabitants of the land got over them through it, and through their compliances with them;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons,.... The Israelites intermarried with the inhabitants of the land, contrary to the express command of God, Deuteronomy 7:3; whereby they confounded their families, debased their blood, and were ensnared into idolatry, as follows: perhaps to these unlawful...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Both by marrying with Heathens, and worshipping their gods: and forgot the Lord their God; as if they had never heard of him, or known him, their Maker and Preserver, who had done so many great and good things for them: and served Baalim, and the groves; of Baalim, see Judges 2:11;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... Because of their idolatry; see Judges 2:14; and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; or Aramnaharaim; that is, Syria, between the two rivers, which were Tigris and Euphrates; hence the Greek name of this place is as here called Mesopotamia. Josephus (l)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... Towards the close of the eight years' bondage, as it may be supposed, groaning under the oppressive taxes laid upon them, and the bondage they were brought into: and the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel; he heard their cry, and sent them a saviour, whose spirit he stirred...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,.... Moved him to engage in this work of delivering Israel, inspired him with courage, and filled him with every needful gift, qualifying him for it; the Targum interprets it the spirit of prophecy; it seems father to be the spirit of counsel and courage, of strength and fortitude of body and mind: and he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the land had rest forty years,.... As it should seem from the time of this deliverance; though, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, the eight years' servitude are to be included in them; and Bishop Usher (r) reckons these forty years from the rest first settled in the land by Joshua; but the former sense seems best: and Othniel the son of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord,.... Fell into idolatry again, which was a great evil in the sight of God, and what they were prone to fall into: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel; put it into his heart to invade them, and encouraged him to it, and gave him success; what kings...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek,.... Either the Lord gathered them to Eglon, inclined them to enter into a confederacy with him, to assist in the war against Israel; or the king of Moab got them to join with him in it, they being his neighbours, and enemies to Israel, and especially Amalek: and went and smote Israel;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. Ten years longer than they served the king of Mesopotamia, Judges 3:8, as a severer correction of them for their relapse into idolatry.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... After being long oppressed, and groaning under their burdens, and brought to a sense of their sins, and humiliation for them, they asked forgiveness of God, and deliverance from their bondage; for it is very probable they were until towards the close of those years stupid and hardened, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Ehud made him a dagger, which had two edges, of a cubit length,.... A little sword, as Josephus calls it (y), with two edges, that it might cut both ways, and do the execution he designed by it, and was about half a yard long; which he could the more easily conceal, and use for his purpose: and he did gird it under his raiment; that it might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he brought a present unto Eglon king of Moab,.... Accompanied by two servants, as Josephus says (b), and who doubtless bore the presents; for that there were such with him that did is clear from Judges 3:18; nor can it be thought that so great a personage as a judge in Israel should go alone and carry a present in his own hands; though it is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he had made an end to offer the present,.... Had delivered the several things contained in it, and very probably made a speech to the king in the name of the people of Israel from whom he brought it: he sent away the people that bare the present; not the servants of Eglon that introduced him, as if they assisted in bringing in the present...