Judges 3
Leaders Prep Section
Watch this video, read these notes, and send the pre-written email (below) to your group 2-3 days before you meet.
Notes
God has warned his followers…don’t mix with the Canaanites and their gods. So what are they about to do? Yep, you guessed it. But we have to be fair. We would do exactly the same thing given the chance to live in an exotic land, marry exotic people of different beliefs, and stretch our boundaries. In Judges 3, we begin to see a grand scale test play out. God will let the inevitable happen then rescue his people, each time giving them a chance to stay with him.
Group Guide Starts Here
Context of scripture
God’s followers are settling into the land God promised them. But instead of finishing the work to push the Canaanites out, they’re making friends and even family with them. God’s warnings are being ignored. Now he has to take control of the situation and try to win them back.
Read Judges 3: 1-2
Why do you think God would want his followers to understand and know about war?
Read Judges 3: 3-6
Marriage creates sort of an alliance between families…the same is true today and even more so during the time of war between the Israelites and Canaanites. So when people married, their entire families, to some extent, culturally blended together.
Have you seen the trajectory of someone’s life change because of whom they married?
Can you remember a time you shifted towards your partner’s position on some important matter? Or how about the opposite…a time you stood your ground and made her come your direction?
Read Judges 3: 7-11
The name Cushan-rishathaim means Cush of double wickedness, a description of character, not his real name. The concept of tribute is where one group in power demands something from another group (crops, silver, anything). Demands of tribute were brutal, which explains why Israel cried out to God.
Imagine our families being part of the group persecuted by this other king. What would be going through your mind? Would you be mad at God?
Read Judges 3: 12-14
Notice the amounts of time mentioned. Israel served Cush of double wickedness for 8 years. Then Othniel brought 40 years of rest. Now Israel serves the king of Moab for 18 years…it’s getting longer.
Do you think God is increasing the punishment every time his people cheat on him? Would God really do that kind of thing?
Read Judges 3: 15-25
The tribe of Benjamin (where Ehud was from), notably included men who could fight equally well with both hands. Judges Ch. 20 references 700 troops from Benjamin, each who, using their left hand, could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
He strapped his sword to his inner right thigh so it hard to find during a weapon-search (most people were right handed and wore their sword on their left hip).
Gilgal was the location where the Israelites circumcised 600,000 men, keeping their commitment to serve God alone. But notice in Ehud’s time, there were idols at that exact spot. It’s when he walked among those idols that he returned to kill the king.
Ehud’s first comment clears the room (“I have a secret message”). The second makes it clear who’s really behind all this (“I have a message from God”). Also, here’s the most likely scenario for the actual killing: Ehud thrust his sword into his belly and slightly downwards towards his butt hole and, as a result, “the dung came out.”
Is this Ehud’s revenge…or Gods? Does this surprise you?
What do you think of Ehud?
Read Judges 3: 26-31
The “bad guys” are regional threats, and so the judges are regional fighters. That’s why there are so many judges and the time-periods of judges sometimes overlap.
Do you think the judges even knew God was using them? Or were they just people who were angry at the situation and ready to fight about it?