3:9,10
They cried out to the Lord. This does not seem to have happened immediately. No doubt they weren’t happy from the beginning, but it seems to have taken time for them to think of crying out to the Lord. The Lord heard them and raised up a judge, a deliverer. This first judge was Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came on Othniel and he went to war. In Judges the Spirit does not seem to impart wisdom, so much as power. In the New Testament the Spirit gives spiritual insight and power. So Othniel saved the people.
3:11
The land had peace for forty years, until Othniel died. So war was important in setting the people free from their oppressors, but war did not dominate the reign of the judge. There was a long period of peace, though we are given no details of the period of peace. The peace would only last as long as the judge reigned. The pattern for Othniel is typical of all of the judges, though some of them receive only the briefest of mentions, while others get a fairly detailed treatment.
No comments:
Post a Comment