Judges 3:12-4:24

The stories of Judges.  They fascinate me.

Take Ehud, for example.  How gruesome!  Fat Eglon sits on his throne and Ehud, being left-handed, is able to sneak a sword in to kill him.  It is my understanding that they only checked the left side for swords, where a right-handed person would carry theirs.  Let's face it: most of the world is right-handed.  Ehud plunges his sword into the king's belly, his fat encloses over it, and Ehud escapes while Eglon's servants think he's in the bathroom.  Wait, what??  This is in the Bible?  Yes, yes, it is.  From there, Ehud musters the people of Israel and they defeat their oppressors, the Moabites.  Notice that Ehud gives all credit to God, that the Lord has place the Moabites into their hands.  Not Ehud.  Not the absence of King Eglon, though, obviously, his notable death would have an impact on the battle.  The Lord sent Ehud, and Ehud knew it.

Then there is Deborah, the only female judge recorded in the Bible.  She was a prophetess and an arbitrator among the people.  Her courage and faith in the Lord spurred Barak to the battle field when his own courage couldn't.  And because of his lack of faith, a woman actually took credit for the victory.  She lulled Sisera with milk and a false sense of security, then she drove a tent peg through his head.  Barak subdued the army of the Canaanites and they defeated the King Jabin, who was their oppressor at this time.  But through all this, you see the Lord's hand at work.  Deborah prophesied the the Lord's command to move against Sisera and Jabin, as well she noted that the Lord would give the victory to Jael, though many may have suspected that it would be Deborah who would gain the credit (and to this day, many still do; she is far more famous that Jael).  But the real credit belongs to the Lord, who set things in motion through Deborah, and it was the Lord who went before Barak and gave the enemy into the Israelite's hands.

As fascinating as these stories are, as gruesome their details (like a good ghost story around the campfire, yes?), this was real life for people.  A woman in Israel thousands of years ago stepped back bloody from a man she had just lulled to sleep.  A warrior deferred to a woman because he could not trust the Lord by himself.  A man, stepping out in faith, was resourceful enough to make a sword and take down the oppressing king to lead his people to victory.  All of these stories rode to success on the back of this truth: the Lord was for them, none could stand against them.  That is not to say that Israel was perfect; they certainly didn't remain so.  That is not to say that just because you step out in faith, God will approve your every action.  If it is not firmly grounded in His will, He may very well not approve of your action.  Still, it's amazing to see what happens when the Lord is working in tandem with those who follow Him.  What could He accomplish through me, if I were willing?

Tomorrow's Reading: Judges 5:1-31