The sin and suffering of Israel. Othniel is raised

1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. 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.

5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: 6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and

served their gods.

up.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

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. 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.

11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

LECTURE 409.

The uses of affliction, viewed as God's dispensation.

It is here stated that the Lord left the nations of the Philistines, and the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites, on purpose "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." The Lord left them, because the Israelites had not faith to drive them out. It is in this sense that we may speak of God as sending us those afflictions, which we can often clearly trace to our fault and folly. And it is as overruling our evil for good, that He may be said to send affliction to try us, and to prove what is in our hearts. He would have had us not fall at the first. But being fallen, we were still objects of his kind concern. And in our fall He made manifest his wisdom, his power, and his love, by our redemption. We are redeemed. We are aware of his mercy in redeeming us. And do we still transgress his will? We are admitted into covenant with God through Christ.

And after this do we yet turn aside from doing his commandments? Surely as we do so, we suffer for it. We lose so much of holiness; we lose so much of happiness. The sorrows of the world regain their power to wring our hearts with anguish. The enemies of our peace renew their onset with redoubled force. And each repeated act of sin adds fresh stings to those agonies of remorse, which haunt us night and day.

Now they who are in a case like this should be aware, that they are greatly indebted to God, if He thus enables them to feel the wretchedness of their fallen state, if He makes their misery the means of proving them, and if in the midst of it He points their attention to One, who is able to deliver them, mighty to save. Thus it was that He dealt with his people of old. Though for their sins He sold them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia, yet when in their distress they cried unto the Lord, He "raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." Let us but cry unto the Lord in our distress, let us but turn to Him in earnest, with godly sorrow, and unfeigned repentance; and behold our Deliverer is at hand. In Othniel we may see a type of the great Captain of our salvation; and in the rest which the land enjoyed, while Othniel lived, we may see a figure of the peace which it is given us to enjoy, whilst we walk with Christ for our Ruler, and our Guide. And in the willingness of God to hear the cry of Israel in distress, we have a lively argument of his willingness to hear us, if in the time of trouble we call upon Him.

Let us then learn to ask faithfully, being assured that God will grant effectually. Let us be encouraged to turn our thoughts to God as our Helper, whatsoever be our trouble, or distress. We may have brought it on ourselves. Nay, it cannot fail to be in some sort our own fault, if we suffer by any manner of affliction. It is by sin that suffering came into the world. And it is because all have sinned, therefore all suffer. But how does it sweeten our cup of sorrows, when we learn that it is God who gives it us to drink, and when we know that He gives it for our good! Ours is the fault, but his the love. Ours is the sin, but his the mercy. We are wrought upon to turn to Him by his chastisements. But we are confirmed in our renewed affection, by renewed conviction of his loving kindness and long suffering. We feel that it is good for us to have been afflicted. We feel that it is good for us to be at rest. We are at rest, because we are again at peace with God; and because we trust that we shall be at peace with Him for ever. May God give us this peace of his, "which passeth all understanding!" Phil. 4. 7. May God grant that when most we feel weary and heavy laden, we may have grace to come to Christ, and learn of Him, and find rest unto our souls! See Matt. 11. 29.

The acts of Ehud, and of Shamgar.

12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. 13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

17 And he brought the present into Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.

21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from

his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. 23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.

par

25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the lour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.

27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.

28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.

30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And

the land had rest fourscore years. the Philistines six hundred men 31 And after him was Shamgar with an ox goad: and he also the son of Anath, which slew of delivered Israel.

LECTURE 410.

God's ways a guide for ours.

It was the Lord who "strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord." And it was the Lord, who, when the Israelites cried unto Him in their trouble, "raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera." But do we suppose, that because the Lord strengthened Eglon against Israel, He sanctioned or approved of all the cruelties, which the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and the Amalekites, under Eglon, doubtless took this occasion to practise, upon the people who so lately had defeated them? No; nor must it enter into our hearts to imagine, that because the Lord raised up Ehud against Eglon, He approved or sanctioned the falsehood and the treachery with which the one took the life of the other. God's ways, as some have here remarked, are not as our ways. They are not; for his are true, and ours are false; his are direct, and ours are perverse. The way pursued by Ehud was the way of man, crooked, and cunning, and deceitful. And so was the way which Eglon had pursued, the way of violence, and of cruelty, and of oppression. The way of man is evil. The way of God is good. The way of man is to turn God's good to our own evil. The way of God is to overrule our evil for his good.

This is that which we are to consider God as doing, in the history before us; and not to think that He took part in an action such as this; which in itself was manifestly most wicked, but which in its consequences was no less manifestly most advantageous. And this is the use which we ought to make of reading histories like this before us, in the word of God, to mark the faithful portrait of the evil that is in our hearts, to admire and adore the striking manifestation of the good that is brought out of it by the providence of God. Thus and thus should we wish to do, if we were to follow our own natural desires, the bent of our own natural hearts. Thus crookedly should we be apt to compass our ends; thus deceitfully should we be inclined to overreach our enemies, yea and even to beguile our friends. But, thanks be to God, He has.turned our hearts into a better way. He has renewed us after his own image. He has taught us to resist the encroachment of all evil tempers in ourselves. He has inclined us to watch for them in others, only with a view to overcoming them with good. We too are raised up to fight against God's enemies. But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. The words of our message are not deceitful. Against sin, the world, and the devil, we contend earnestly, we fight openly. And with sinners we plead urgently, we remonstrate boldly, so reproving their practices by our words and by our works, that the whole tenor of our lives shall seem to say to them, "I have a message from God unto thee."

Deborah and Barak defeat the army of Jabin.

1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.

2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

6 And she sent and called BaIrak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.

8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.

13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

15 And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.