Project 3:16 – Judges

In our journey through the 3:16 verses of the Bible, we have arrived at Judges. A book I do not recommend you read before bedtime due to the chance of nightmares. Unless you like gore.

Introduction

The ESV introduction states:

The theme of Judges is the downward spiral of Israel’s national and spiritual life into chaos and apostasy, showing the need for a godly king to lead it. (17:16; 21:25).

Introduction to Judges (ESV)

Per Merriam Webster, apostasy means

“an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith.”

A Google search defines the word as meaning

“the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief.“

The way I see it, we are definitely in a time of apostasy both politically and religiously in this country. But that is a topic for another time.

Chapter 3

By chapter 3, Joshua has died. God starts raising up judges who save the grumbling Israelites from people who have conquered them. Once saved, they go back to refusing to obey God, which gets them into trouble again. While the judges can physically get them out of trouble. They can not keep the Israelites on the straight and narrow path.

The Israelites live among various tribes, intermarry, and worship their wives’ gods and not the God of Abraham.

Verses 12 – 30 tell the story of a judge named Ehud. A judge God raised up to deliver His people from Moab. Ehud was the son of Gera, the Benjaminite and he was a left-handed man. Ehud being left-handed was an important factor in deflating King Eglon of Moab who was fat (verse 17).

¹⁶ And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

Judges 3:16 (ESV)

Per Google, a cubit is about 18 inches in length but there were long cubits that were 21 inches in length.

Obviously, Ehud used the sword to kill King Eglon delivering the Israelites from Moab and securing peace for 80 years.

I will let you look up chapter 3 verses 12-30 and read the details of the murder.

Isn’t this journey through the 3:16 verse of the Bible interesting?

Next week’s book is Ruth which will not be gory.

My Prayer

As always, may Project 3:16 increase your desire to dig deeper into God’s word. May God use the Bible to move you through grief and encourage you to build a new life.

Have a joy-filled day.

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to inspire widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s currently using those skills as a virtual contact center representative for a Fortune 100 company. She’s also managed call center teams, co-facilitated a grief support group, and helped small businesses with various writing assignments. Michele loves Jesus, books, history, music, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com.