OTHNIEL - GOD'S DELIVERER (Judges 3:7-11)
INTRODUCTION:
Judges is a book about a nation who abandoned the LORD as their God and their leader and longed for a human leader to lead them. Leadership is an important topic in this book. The opening verse asks the question: “Who will go up first for us?” In other words, “Who will lead us?” The book closes with nearly the same question hanging in the air, it says because there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Israel had a King, the problem was they had forsaken and abandoned Him. This final verse hints that Israel wanted a human king to lead them, there are leaders in the book of Judges, but they are not national leaders uniting the whole nation, but local heroes. The nation had in the past some exceptional leaders given to them by God, but now they seem to be without any.
God’s people do need good leaders, but often they are in short supply. There are those times when God raises up a leader that follows God and that leader is exceptional and remarkable as he leads God’s people for God. Moses was such a leader and so was Joshua but with the death of Joshua there seems to be no one. Judges 1 does mention one who had the same faith and fighting spirit as Joshua, but he was already old and represented a generation that was quickly passing away. His name is Caleb, he was a companion of Joshua, and he took a prominent role in the book of Joshua. These two were the only spies that brought back a favorable report and encouraged the people of Israel to go in and take the land. In Judges, Caleb is less prominent, instead it is Judah, Caleb’s tribe that is featured in that first chapter, it is Judah, not Caleb, that captures Hebron and drives out the Anakim. Then when Judah reaches the city of Debir, Caleb looks for a younger man to capture it on his behalf. With this Caleb fades into the background, and Othniel takes his place as the battle leader. It is a sign of generational change and provides us with our first introduction of the man who will be Israel’s first judge.
The fact that the old generation will pass away, and the new generation will take over is inevitable, but knowing what that will lead to is hard if not impossible to predict. Those who lived during the generation of Moses could have possessed the land if they had believed God’s promise. Those of Joshua’s generation did believe and entered the land under Joshua and they continued to serve the LORD during the lifetime of Joshua and those elders who outlived him, but the following generation did not as we have learned. With the passing of Joshua and his generation the question of leadership became critical, and at the critical moment Caleb was wise enough to recognize his own limitations and to give the opportunity for new leadership to emerge. It was a master stroke, because when Caleb and those of his generation were all gone and Israel had abandoned God and needed deliverance, Othniel was there to save them. When God raised Othniel up to be a judge in Israel, the transition from the age of Joshua to the age of the judges was complete. Let’s pray and get into our passage of Scripture for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Judges 3:7-11 our passage for this morning and our introduction to the first judge in this book named for them. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word, follow along while I read.
Judges 3:7-11,
“The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.” (Judges 3:7–11, NASB95)[1]
THE NEED FOR A DELIVERER (Judges 3:7-8)
This passage opens with, “The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…” (Judges 3:7a, NASB95)[2] and we are right back at the point where the overview of the judge’s period began in chapter 2, verse 11. This is the moment of deliberate rebellion against the LORD and the beginning of that downward spiral that will just continue to get worse and worse throughout the period of the judges in chapters 3-16. There is no need for me to repeat what has already been said about this statement when we were back in chapter 2. This verse goes on to say more, the author writes, “The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.” (Judges 3:7, NASB95)[3] They deliberately turned their back on God and forgot Him, even though the author here calls the LORD their God. When we link this forgetting the LORD with forsaking the LORD in chapter 2, verse 12 this word forget takes on the meaning of “to disregard or to not take into account.” Instead of taking into account the LORD, they chose instead to worship and serve the Baals and the Asheroth. This turning away and doing evil by serving these false gods will not bode well for Israel. It means that the very identity and existence of the people of God is at stake. Israel was nothing before God saved them, and they will become nothing again without Him. The peoples who were once enslaved to Pharaoh will become slaves again if they continue down this path, slaves not just to the false gods they have chosen, but also to the whole lifestyle that goes with them. They will simply become Canaanites and cease to be the people of God at all. Their apostasy runs deep and as apostates they are in trouble. They need to be delivered; they need to be saved.
Why do people turn away from God? Because they find the world more attractive, they do not view it as dangerous or of being in trouble. They feel liberated being able to decide everything for themselves. This is what the prodigal son in the parable Jesus told thought, he went out from his father’s house with his fortune and went into a foreign country full of exciting new opportunities for pleasure and fulfillment. But trouble is sure to come sooner or later and the same was true for the Israelites when they turned their back on God, they soon discovered that the gods they were serving were not gods at all, and they had no power to save them or satisfy them. Those who forget God and do evil in His sight will soon anger Him and sooner or later they will face judgment. If they will not come back to their senses and remember the LORD their God and return to Him on their own accord, then He will go after them and teach them the error of their ways by punishing them as they deserve.
When we speak of God’s judgment, we must be careful to distinguish between God’s dealings with His children and His acts of judgment in general. Pure punishment, retribution, with no grace to soften it, is for those who are and remain outside His covenant, described by Paul in the end of Ephesians 2:12 as those, “having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12b, NASB95)[4] His final punishment for those who refuse His offer of grace is the Lake of Fire, the second death. But within God’s covenant with the people of Israel, the covenant which He promised never to break a different kind of judgment takes place. The term discipline better describes it because its purpose is corrective rather than punishment and it is always softened by grace. It can be severe, but its aim is always to reclaim rather than destroy. Hebrews 12:6-11 describes this type of discipline for the Christian, the author writes, “’For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.’ It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Hebrews 12:6–11, NASB95)[5] Only those who utterly refuse to be disciplined and trained by it become subject to God’s retribution, His pure punishment with no grace, because their conduct and refusal show that they are not true children of God at all. There are times in this book that Israel comes close to this point, and we will see that some individuals like Abimelech that we will meet in chapter 9 actually becomes subject to God’s retribution. But whatever the fate of individuals may be, God’s covenant with Israel stands and His grace again and again pulls the nation back from the brink of destruction. In our passage this morning we will learn that Othniel is the special agent of that grace.
In verse 8 we are introduced to the agent of God’s discipline in this passage, and he is a terrible tyrant. We do not have a lot of information given to us about him. We are told his name, “Cushan-rishathaim” and we are told his nationality, “king of Mesopotamia” or in Hebrew, “king of Aram-naharaim” which means “king of Aram of the two rivers” We are also told the length of his domination of Israel, “eight years.” This is not much data from which to construct a picture of him. He is a mysterious figure and much has been speculated about who he is. Some have suggested that he was an early Babylonian ruler from Mesopotamia which means two rivers in what is now southern Iraq. Others suggest he is a Nubian from southern Egypt or an Edomite from the region of the Dead Sea, this would require a change or a correcting of the text, they claim there is an error in the spelling of the place. Still others think he is Asiatic or a Midianite or even a Canaanite chieftain of southern Israel. I prefer to go with what the text has for us. I believe Cushan is Syrian, given that Aram was the ancient name of Syria, and that the “two rivers” are the Abana and Pharpar, which are referred to as the rivers of Damascus in 2 Kings 5:12. But no one knows for sure, and even to seek to find out his identity is a pointless exercise because that information has been deliberately withheld from us. These verses tell us all that we need to know, he is God’s instrument to discipline Israel and he is terrible. The mystery surrounding this person actually adds to the sense of dread that we feel as we read about him.
The second half of his name, rishathaim means “doubly wicked” and rhymes with the second part of his place of origin. He is Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and for maximum impact the name is mentioned four times in only three verses. In Hebrew he is literally “Cushan the doubly wicked.” This can hardly be his real name; no parent would name their baby that! Because of this we do not actually know who he is. This name was mostly likely given to him by those who suffered at his hands, like Ivan the terrible of Russia. In this name we see this man through the eyes of his victims—a wicked, wicked tyrant. No details are given, that is left to our imagination. But the lack of details in his description enhances rather than detracts from Cushan’s stature. He is a type that we recognize, because history is filled with men like him, from Israel’s day to our own and on to the end time. Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, Hitler, Stalin, Osama Bin Laden, the Antichrist—all of these have been the embodiment of evil. Cushan-rishathaim has lived many times. As evil and as doubly wicked this man was and many after him, we do know, from the history of Othniel and from Scripture as a whole, that when evil appears it is never ultimate. It never rules the world as God does. God’s complete mastery of it and sovereignty over it is seen particularly in the way he causes even evil people to serve His good purposes for His people. Here He hands the Israelites over to Cushan-rishathaim to be disciplined. They are not snatched from God’s hand (no tyrant no matter how evil has the power to do that), but the passage says literally that God “sold” them into the hands of Cushan, referring to a deliberate transaction by God that He initiates and controls. It is a carefully measured act of discipline, in which the punishment fits the crime. Those who “serve” foreign gods are made to “serve” a foreign ruler, and those who do “evil” are handed over to one who is “doubly wicked.” The One who determines the punishment also determines the duration. He initiates it by selling the people of Israel over to Cushan and ends it after “eight years” by raising Othniel to save them from him. Even in the darkest moments Israel is never simply in the hands of Cushan-rishathaim; they are also, still, in the hands of God, who is sovereign over evil and committed to their good. This important for us to remember, no matter the circumstances we are still in God’s hands, and He is sovereign over our circumstances and committed to our good.
THE CRY FOR A DELIVERER (Judges 3:9)
After eight years suffering at the hands of Cushan-rishathaim the people of Israel cried out to the LORD we are told in verse 9, it is at their cry that the LORD begins to bring about their deliverance, to bring about their salvation. This cry to the LORD is a good thing, and a hopeful sign that the discipline of the LORD upon His people is beginning to bear fruit. At the same time, this “cry to the LORD” comes as a surprise because there was no appeal to the LORD mentioned in the overview of the judge’s period which we looked at in chapter 2:11-19. Because of this we cannot attach too much importance to this cry, it is not essential to what happens here or anywhere else in Judges. Nor does this crying to the LORD indicate repentance, a sorrow for sin and a serious intention to turn from it. As far as we know this is simply a cry of pain and desperation. It is a hopeful sign in that the Israelites realize that the gods they are serving have turned out to be useless in their time of need. In their severe distress it is the LORD, the God of Israel to whom they cry out and not the Baals and the Asheroth. God in mercy and grace is quick to respond as He had responded when the Israelites cried out in distress in Egypt. There is hope for those who cry out to God.
GOD PROVIDES A DELIVERER (Judges 3:9-10)
God provides a deliverer; He raises up a judge Othniel, whom we have met before. We know more about him than we do about Cushan-rishathaim. We are reminded that he is Caleb’s nephew, and we know from chapter 1 that he is courageous, daring, and a proven fighter. We also know that he is married to Caleb’s daughter, which is important because in verse six of this chapter we were told that intermarriage with the pagan nations around them was the critical factor in Israel’s apostasy. This was not true of Othniel, he was married to an Israelite and completely untainted by this sin. We also know that Othniel, like Caleb, is from the tribe of Judah, that tribe that was singled out in the first two verses of the book to lead Israel. Othniel is a man of character with the right background and connections to be a model leader. We are not disappointed when Othniel goes to the battlefield as Israel’s champion because he goes to war and is victorious.
For all of this, however, the account of this first judge is very brief and lacking in action and excitement. There is not description of the battle, nor even where it took place. We are not told the size of the enemy army or what tribes of Israel took part in the battle. We are not told what tactics were used or how God intervened to turn the tide against the enemy. There is none of this, we simply are not told any details that would make this an exciting event of history. What are we to make of this? Here we have a man, Othniel, a man with impressive credentials but then this event is told with as few words as possible. I believe there are two reasons for this: First, we are shown by this that it was not the author’s intention to glorify Othniel. He saved Israel for sure, but it was not Othniel’s courage or initiative or skill in battle that is featured, but God’s activity through him. In verse 9 we are told the LORD raised Othniel up as a deliverer. Verse 10 tells us that the Spirit of the LORD was upon him and that when he went out to war, the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim into his hand. In other words, the real Savior of Israel was the LORD, not Othniel. All Othniel’s courage, initiative and skill would have counted for nothing without the LORD. Second, the lack of detail in this account allows us to see more clearly the basic features of judgeship as a gracious provision of God toward Israel. As I already told you during this time judges were mainly military deliverers rather than administrators of justice in a legal sense. They basically administered God’s justice by bringing God’s judgment to bear on Israel’s enemies, breaking their power and driving them out, which in turn lifted the heavy yoke from God’s people’s shoulders and gave them “rest”. What we learn from this is that judgeship in the book of Judges is not essentially about administration or retribution (although it involves both) but mainly it is about salvation. The book of Judges is a book of saviors, and behind each of them, raising them up, empowering them, and giving them victory is the LORD, without whom they would be nothing. Salvation belongs to the LORD. That is the key message of this passage, and everything is stripped back to the basics to let that message stand out in stark simplicity. The LORD is Israel’s Savior.
THE RESULTS OF DELIVERANCE (Judges 3:11)
This passage comes to an end when the salvation achieved through Othniel turns into rest. We will see this “rest’ often in the chapters that follow and there is a danger that because it comes often and because by its very nature, it is a quiet ending that comes after the main action is over, that we may miss its importance. So as we come to this first “rest,” I want to make several observations concerning this “rest.”
First, the “rest” spoken of here is a gift rather than an achievement. It came about because God “gave” Cushan-rishathaim into Othniel’s hand. This is important, it is fundamental to the whole Biblical understanding of salvation.
Second, this “rest” is the enjoyment of something that God had promised. He had promised it to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses had mentioned this promised rest numerous times in the book of Deuteronomy. (Deuteronomy 3:18-20; 12:9-10; 25:19) We do not have time to turn to them, but those references are in your notes. This rest was forfeited by those who wandered in the wilderness because of their unbelief. It was enjoyed for a short time by the Joshua generation but lost again by the next generation. The principle stands, rest is the promise of God. The enjoyment of it is given by God to the faithful and obedient, and as we see here to the oppressed and desperate, to those who simply cry out to God for it.
Third, this “rest” is given through a man God chooses to use, in this case Othniel. God could give it directly, but in the context of salvation God’s chosen means is to use a man he raises up and on whom He places His Spirit.
Fourth, this “rest” is generous. The forty years of rest in verse 11 is five times as long as the eight years of discipline in verse 8. This just underlines the point I made earlier; the book of Judges is fundamentally a book of salvation rather than judgement.
Fifth, this “rest” is concrete and comprehensive. In other words, it is not just inner peace amid trouble, even though this kind of rest is wonderful. But in verse 11 we are told the land had rest, the land stands for Israel’s total environment. War brings destruction to crops, the cessation of normal agricultural production, which brings famine. We will see this especially in the history of Gideon. Rest from war enables the agricultural cycle to begin again, village life to be resumed, and communities to flourish, with all the physical, social, and emotional benefits that follow from this. We will see this in the book of Ruth. So “rest” here does not mean the absence of something (war), but the presence of peace, shalom or total well-being, or at least the conditions that make it possible.
Finally, the “rest” of this verse is limited, it lasted only until Othniel the son of Kenaz died. It did not need to end then, but the real cause of its end is given in verse 12, Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, they returned to their former apostasy. But this limited nature of the rest of verse 11 points to a deeper truth. Rest can never be permanent in a world where death reigns. Othniel with all his qualities and all that God accomplished through him was a fallen man in a fallen world and because of this could not bring permanent rest to God’s people. For that a greater Savior and a greater salvation are needed.
CONCLUSION:
We have looked at the brief account of Othniel’s career as a judge, the first judge. This account is about a man who was outstanding in his generation. When we include in this passage all that we know about Othniel from chapter one it is the history of a person who had a potential for leadership and was given the opportunity to show it by an older man who knew the time had come for him to step back and make way for new leaders to emerge. Othniel being raised up by God as a deliverer, as a judge confirms Caleb’s wisdom; God chose the man Caleb had mentored.
The history of Othniel is very much a beginning rather than an end. Othniel is not just the first judge, he is a model judge. He shows us what judgeship is at its best and what God can accomplish through it—relief from oppression, salvation, and rest. Othniel sets the standard very high for judges, all who follow will be variations on the pattern he has set and will disappoint in one way or another. As we approach the end we will wonder if the period of the judges needs to be written off as a failure, an experiment with a style of leadership that simply could not work long-term. That is why the ending of the book is so significant: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25, NASB95)[6] This verse acknowledges the limitations of judgeship; it was unable to stem the tide of lawlessness, and thus the salvation it could provide was only temporary. But at the same time, it provides hope by pointing the way ahead. Judgeship was only one phase of the history of salvation. After the judges would come the kings, and after them would come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s perfect King and the bringer of complete, permanent salvation. God has provided us with a Savior who has defeated Satan and provided a deliverance for us that is greater by far than anything the judges could achieve.
What this means for us today is that “rest” that God promised in the Old Testament has been secured and expanded into an eternal rest that we enter by faith and will experience eternally in heaven. Our Scripture reading from Hebrews this morning spoke of this eternal rest. The Israelites of the wilderness wandering failed to enter this rest because of unbelief. The Joshua generation experienced it temporarily. Their descendants in the judge’s period experienced it intermittently. The fullness of it always eluded them. What they needed to enter it fully was a leader who would never die, who could break the vicious cycle of self-destruction by dealing with their sin once and for all. The good news for us is that at last that Leader has come, the One in whom the promise of rest is at last realized. Beyond Othniel lies the whole ongoing epic of God’s perseverance with His people in judgment and grace, until its climax is finally reached in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the perfector of our faith, the Savior and Judge of us all. And beyond that, in eternity, lies the full enjoyment of all He has won for us—a rest that will never end.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Emphasis mine)
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Emphasis mine)
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.