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by Katie Erickson

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.” (Judges 3:7-11)

Today’s passage starts out with a phrase that is common throughout the book of Judges: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Judges 3:7). We also saw this in last week’s passage, in Judges 2:11, and we’ll see it more in the future as well.

Last week, I wrote about the 5-step cycle that happens often with the people of Israel throughout the book of Judges. Those 5 steps are:
1. Sin - The people disobey God.
2. Slavery - God allows them to be enslaved by their enemies.
3. Supplication - The people cry out to God for deliverance.
4. Salvation - God delivers them.
5. Silence - There is a time of peace.

We see Israel’s sin when they did evil and worshipped other gods, in verse 7: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” The Baals and Asherahs were pagan gods, so serving them was clearly forbidden by God back in Exodus 20:3-6.

Because of this sin, in verse 8 we read that God allowed them to be in slavery to the king of Aram Naharaim for 8 years. They needed to experience a negative consequence so that they would realize their sin and repent and turn away from it. We don’t have any details on what this slavery entailed, but the general nature of slavery is that it’s not a fun experience.

We see Israel’s supplication and salvation in verses 9-10: “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” Israel cried out to God, and God provided them Othniel as a deliverer, who saved them from the king’s power.

We see silence for Israel in verse 11: “So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.” They experienced peace until their deliverer died, and then the cycle starts all over again in the next passage.

How many times do we go through this same pattern in our lives? We’re attracted to the allure of this world, so we sin and take our focus off of God and what he wants for us. One example of this is buying too many material possessions because we want them, when they’re not thing we truly need. This puts us in the slavery of being stuck in debt and spending too much money. Once we realize that we’ve messed up when we run out of money or see the mountain of debt continue to grow, we cry out to God and ask Him to help us get out of this mess! Hopefully at that point, we realize that it was us who messed it up and not put the blame on anyone else. In this case, our salvation comes through God helping us to realize what we should do and make better financial moves in life. This takes hard work, but focusing on God and His plan for us will get us through it and come out victorious on the other side. The time of silence comes when we hopefully continue in the good pattern we’ve learned for many years.

This is just one example of how we can go through the same pattern as the people of Israel in the book of Judges. How do you see this happening in your life?

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