The Lord wanted the Israelites to know how to fight, to know what it is like to do something in the Lord's strength. It is the same for us today. God wants you to know the reality of His presence and His power. When problems are left we can be frustrated and discouraged, in fact the Lord may be using these to teach us about Himself. The test is whether or not we will obey the Lord.
The outcome here, however, was not good. The Israelites intermarried with the Canaanites, and worshiped their gods.
We then get some examples of how the cycle of disobedience-defeat-rescue worked. The first judge was Othniel. He was related to Caleb and the spirit of the Lord came upon him. This is just one example of how the Holy Spirit is seen as active in the Old Testament.
This gave them peace for a time, but it did not last. So the Moabites were given authority over Israel. This time Ehud is the one who rescues them. The methods used seem somewhat underhand! The land now had peace for eighty years, then another judge came who defeated the Philistines.
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