Judges 3:9–10: “When the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim.”

April 17th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

In this chapter we meet the first 3 judges that led Israel, and are introduced to a spiritual cycle that continued throughout the book. Over and over again the people fell into sin and so were brought into slavery. They would cry out to the Lord, and He, having compassion on them, would raise up a leader, a judge, to rescue them. Sin always leads to servitude. At the beginning of chapter 3 we find the first instance of this. After serving the false gods of the people they had allowed to live with them, God sold them into slavery to the king of Mesopotamia. They cried out to God for help, and He commissioned the first judge, Othniel, to rescue them. It says, “the Spirit of the LORD came” on this man to lead well.

It says of several of the judges that the Spirit of the LORD came upon them, and it seems the rest apparently had this experience as well. The Spirit of God coming on someone is a common Old Testament expression signifying a unique act of God conferring power and wisdom for victory. However this did not guarantee that the will of God would be followed in every detail. We see this lack of obedience in the life of Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. The sad fact is that both then and now a Spirit-filled believer can ignore and or disobey the Spirit of God in their lives. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians of this: “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32).

Many of the judges had amazing talents and strengths, but some, through disobedience, didn’t use them as fully for the Lord as they could have. At the end of this chapter we read about Shamgar, who had nothing but an ordinary farming implement, an ox goad (probably because he was a farmer and it was handy). He was not a man of great abilities as some of the others were, but he gave what he had to the Lord. And God used him, an ordinary man with an ordinary tool to deliver His people in an extraordinary way. God seems to delight in using whatever is in our hand to bring about His purposes in our lives. Shamgar gave his abilities to God, in a way that some of the other more “extraordinary” men didn’t, and he accomplished great things for God. Life is short . . . eternity is long.

“LORD, we give you what we have, all we are, and all we are not, to You this day.”