Judges 3:5-11- Othniel, Israel's First Judge

Let’s begin by reading Judges 3:5 which says, “So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” This verse begins with the conjunction ‘So’. This means that verse five is connected to what has come before. In the larger context of Judges 1&2 we saw that Israel failed to obey the LORD in driving out the inhabitants of the land. As we read those chapters it became clear that Israel had allowed the inhabitants to intimidate them (19), and they persisted in the land (28), were allowed to live among them (29-33), and in some cases they overpowered Israel and determined where they lived (34-36).

We also saw that Israel made covenants with the inhabitants (1:22-26) and they did not break down their pagan altars as the LORD had commanded them. (2:2) Therefore, Israel had broken faith with the LORD by not obeying His Word. (2:2) Therefore, as we come to the end of this introduction to the Book of Judges we are not surprised to read, “So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorires, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jubusites.”

However, we have also seen in the immediate context that there is more going on at this point in the Book of Judges. At the end of each of the two introductory sections we are told that Israel had sinned and now there was going to be severe and long lasting consequences. In Judges 2:1-5 and in Judges 3:1-6 we were told that the LORD would no longer drive out the nations from before Israel.

• Judges 2:3 the LORD says, “I will not drive them out before you, but they will become thorns to your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”

• Judges 3:1-4 we read, “Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines,and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”

From now on Israel would experience constant trouble (both physical and spiritual) from the inhabitants of the land. Yet, these consequences would serve the LORD’s purposes and His people could benefit from these things if they respond with obedient faith and trust in the LORD.

Therefore, when we read the words, “So the people of Israel lived among the peoples…” (3:5), we know that Israel is going to have to live with the unbelieving peoples who have been left within the boundaries of the Promised Land. As they live under these conditions Israel can either prove to be faithful or they can prove to be faithless and disobedient to the LORD and His Word.

If we were reading the Book of Judges for the very first time we might get to this point and we’d be experiencing a sense of anticipation to see how Israel will respond in this crucial moment. Israel can respond in one of two ways and we desperately want them to make the right response.

First, we hope that they will prove to be faithful. We have hope for this because we saw in Judges 2:4-5 that after the LORD rebuked the people they lifted up their voices, wept, and offered sacrifices to the LORD. Therefore, because of this we might expect that Israel will respond well in this crucial moment. Spoiler alert: this is not going to happen.

Instead, the second narrative begins to play out. As we read verse 6 we see that Israel is failing the test and proving to be unfaithful to the LORD. Israel is not going to be obedient to the Word that God that they were given through Moses (Deuteronomy 7:3-5) and Joshua (Joshua 23:11-13). We read in Judges 3:6, “And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.” If your pragmatic you may say, ‘What does this matter if they love each other?’

1 Kings 11:1-8 gives us an illustration of this when we read, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women...from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love...When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father…So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done.’”

1 Kings 11:9-11 shows the consequences of this sin, “And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surly tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.’”

Observation: We live in a time when people say that God’s views regarding marriage and sexual ethics has evolved and changed. Throughout the scriptures we see that God is always consistent and unchanging regarding these things. The ones who has changed their views on these things are sinners who seek to do what is right in their own eyes.

In Judges 3:6 Israel is acting against God’s clear instructions and they are doing what seemed ‘right in their own eyes’. God’s view of this is made clear when we read in Judges 3:7, “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” (Note: This is a common phrase through most of this book.) In Judges 3:7 the Divine Judge who designs and regulates these things has determined that Israel is sinning and they are engaging in what is evil. The LORD knows that this will ultimately lead Israel to fall away from the LORD and into idolatry.

Biblical marriage is intended to portray the beauty of Christ and His relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:22-33). However, when marriage is perverted (not honored) it no longer points to these gracious realities. On the contrary, when marriage is perverted (not honored) it is always a sign of forgetting God and that our hearts are turning to other gods.

A person whose faith is healthy will produce good fruit which will show forth evidence through their purity and holiness in their marriage relationship. However, a person who does not have faith will produce evidence of this faithlessness which is seen through their secularized, worldly, and pagan view of marriage and sexuality. (Baal and Ashteroth {god of fertility})

Israel should have known these things. {#1} God had given them clear instruction regarding these things and {#2} they also could see these things in the behavior of their forefathers- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For example, Abraham knew it was important to choose wisely who someone would marry. When he and Sarah wanted to find a wife for Isaac they did not pick a wife from among the Canaanites. (Genesis 24:4) Instead Abraham sent his servant to his family in Ur of the Chaldees to find Isaac a wife. Abraham, the man of faith, had a strong conviction as to who Isaac should or should not marry.

Years later Isaac and Rebekah conceived twins- Esau and Jacob. Esau was a faithless and was not careful about the person he would marry. Esau married women who were from the Hittites within Canaan. These woman made Rebekah’s life miserable (Genesis 27:46). Because of this Rebekah tells her husband that Jacob is not to marry a Canaanite woman and they send their son to Rebekah’s family to marry one of her relatives. Jacob is a man of faith so he obeys his father and mother. Note: In the Book of Judges Jacob’s offspring are not following the example of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. This is a reflection of their faithlessness at this time.

At this time Israel acting more like Esau. Esau hears Isaac tell Jacob, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women”, so he deliberately goes out and marries a descendant of Ishmael. (Genesis 28:6-9) This reflects Esau’s faithlessness. This is the same faithlessness that is being expressed by Israel in Judges 3:6 that provokes the LORD to anger. (Judges 3:8) This sin, which is so often ignored by so many, will lead Israel to forget their God and worship the idols in the land.

Application and Consideration: These things should make us consider carefully the attitudes that we see in our day regarding sex and marriage. God is the one who instituted marriage in Genesis 2:18-25 and He has the right to define marriage and regulate all things that pertain to it. This is why the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13:4, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

Contrary to popular public opinion it is not our right to do what is right in our own eyes regarding marriage and sex. We are not to follow the example of Israel when they ‘do what is right in our own eyes’. We should not be surprised that the unbelieving world around us seeks to redefine marriage and all things pertaining to sexual purity. These are the very things that a people who is faithless will be inclined to do. In the church there should be biblical clarity and obedience to the scriptures with regard to these things among all those who profess to be believers. (1 Thess. 4:1-12)

To do what is contrary to God’s Word is to do evil in the sight of the LORD and as such these sins will never lead to anything good. No, they will inevitably lead us away from the LORD and into idolatry. We see this as we read Judges 3:7b-8a, “They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth (female fertility goddess). Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel...”. Israel knew what God commanded but their hearts were not inclined to obey Him. What they knew in their minds was not real in their hearts and they did not fear the LORD and they served other gods.

Solomon is a good example of what it means to ‘forget the LORD’. Solomon was the wisest man who has ever lived but with his heart he loved many foreign woman. He ‘clung to these women and his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father’. (1 Kings 11:1-8)

This sin in Judges 3:6-7 has ensnared many believers. This sin is often overlooked and engaged in. The apostle Paul, however, warns against this sin and says that a believer is only to marry another believer in the LORD and they are not free to marry an unbeliever. (1 Corinthians 7:39)

When this instruction is ignored, like Israel in our text, the believing spouse will have two paths that they can take. They can compromise and be conformed to the world or they can live out each day of their marriage in faith by looking to Jesus. In faith the believing spouse who has married an unbeliever can honor the LORD and remain in that marriage to the glory of God as they look to Him for His sufficient grace in all things. By His grace the believing spouse lives and hopes that one day their spouse will be won to the LORD and that they can share together in the grace of life. (1 Peter 3:1-7)

In Judges 3:8 we see that Israel’s behavior angers the LORD and He sends an enemy to make Israel’s life very hard and difficult so that they might repent. We read, “Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.” (8)

In the Book of Judges we will often be surprised by how long it will take God’s people to humble themselves, turn from their sin, and return to the LORD. It took a year for King David to repent and he did this only after the LORD sent Nathan to confront him of his sin. Oh, the suffering we endure because we will not cry out to the LORD right away in repentance while seeking the LORD’s mercy and grace. (Ps. 51, 32) For eight long years Israel remained under God’s wrath and the oppression of the king of Mesopotamia.

Then we read in verse 9-11, “But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.”

Some say that Israel does not repent here but God is acting out of pity for the suffering of His people. I think, however, that this text is suggesting that Israel is repenting appropriately after these eight long years of suffering. I say this for two reasons. First, we are told that “the people of Israel cried out to the LORD” and not simply that they cried out of misery and hardship in a general way. The second reason is implied in verse 12 when we read that after the death of Othniel “the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…”. In other words, there was a real change in Israel that lasted from the time that the people cried out to the LORD till the day Orthniel died. This change was a profound and lasting change that should be the characteristic of all those who have truly repented of their sin and trusted in the LORD. (James 2:19-26)

As we consider these things our hearts should long to be like these people who repent of their sin and experience the long lasting effects of mercy and grace upon our lives. Like the woman caught in the act of adultery we want to hear Jesus say to us, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11) The sins which characterized our previous life are gone and a new life has begun. A life of faith and faithfulness to the LORD and to His Word by the empowerment of the same Holy Spirit that Othniel was given. (10) Even better because the Spirit now dwells in us. (Romans 8:9-11)

The LORD raised up Orthniel and He put His spirit upon Him to deliver His people from the king of Mesopotamia. How much more has Christ, who had the Spirit without measure, delivered us from our enemies? Caleb and the other Judges in this book died, but the LORD has died and now reigns forever to give His people the victory over all their foes: indwelling sin, sin in the world, and the devil.

Christ is the victorious King who triumphs over all His enemies. The church is His bride that He keeps free from every spot and blemish. (Colossians 1:21-23) Though we are often unfaithful to Him, He continues to be faithful to His people and keeps us safe until the end of time. (2 Timothy 2:11-13) Amen.