Judges 3:7 - 31
The Tenacity of God
02/2/14
God is tenacious. He simply does not give up. The entire range of words that belong to the tenacious
word family apply to God. He is stubborn, persistent, determined, steadfast, resolved . . . he will not be
distracted or deterred from completing his loving intentions of saving and changing people for his glory.
You or I would have given up on us soon after the first few cycles of complacency, compromise and
conformity. If you have ever thought of yourself being stubborn, tenacious and unyielding in your
pursuit of having things your way, you have met more than your match in the God of the Bible.
This morning we will be reminded and exposed to God’s tenacious love in practical and life changing
ways from Judges 3.
The first 2 chapters of Judges give a clear overview of the cycle of progressive complacency and
compromise that in many ways describe our own life experience. This summary highlights how both the
forces of the world around us pull at us as well as how the powerful mercies of God transform us. This
cycle can be summarized in 3 stages:
1) The roots of complacency and compromise – you forget to remember God.
2) The nature of complacency and compromise – you choose to serve other gods.
3) God’s response to complacency and compromise – God is angry and merciful.
The remainder of the book of Judges is simply specific stories demonstrating this cycle at work in the
lives of real people. These specific narratives with the appointed deliverer follow the pattern of God’s
people forgot God, God disciplines by raising up an enemy, God’s people cry out in distress, God
provides a deliverer, the enemy is defeated and a period of peace or rest follows until the cycle starts
again. There is a downward progression evident in the series of cycles to the point where the people,
the deliverer and the enemy all become increasingly unresponsive to God. It in fact becomes a time
aptly described as one where everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Before we look at the first 3 deliverer stories, remember two reasons why God appointed his people to
live in and among the nations who were committed to idolatry and evil. God keeps us in this world
system for many reasons related to his glory but the two that Judges high lights are testing and teaching
(2:21-3:6). Testing is that strengthening process similar to lifting weights or stretching current
limitations to achieve greater strength. Reliance on God is built through the testing of your reliance.
Love for God increases as your current love limit is put under stress. Teaching (3:2) is the simple
concept of learning by doing. You and I learn to resist the forces of conformity and complacency by
doing battle with these forces on a daily basis. We learn to not love the world by leaning on the glorious
love God has for us in Christ while the world tries to force us to conform.
We are prone to forget that loving and serving God has been placed by God into this framework of
testing and teaching. Hence, the cyclical nature of our own faith experiences. The good to great news is
that in the middle of the testing, teaching and along with the failures to listen and learn, God is
tenacious. He shows up in mercy and compassion to deliver us from our sinful choices and reset us on
the path of faith and obedience.
God’s tenacious love and mercy towards you is magnetic. It draws you back to remembering and
rejoicing in him. The first 3 deliverer stories show us 3 characteristic ways that God stubbornly tests and
teaches us to love him with all our hearts.
Expect God to expose his power.
Othniel – 3:7-11
Note the cycle clearly outlined in this brief account. Israel forgets God and serves false gods. God
responds in anger by selling his people into the hand of a powerful and ungodly King. The people cry
out in their misery. God hears and raises up a deliverer who saves them.
This brief account highlights the power of God to deliver us from our self induced despair. Note the
strength of the enemy – Mesopotamia was the world power at the time. God’s Spirit rested on Othniel
and the battle is described not by technique, strategy or human ingenuity . . . the victory is described
using the same terms used to describe God’s response of anger. He gave Israel into the King’s hand and
then he gave the King into their hand. God shows his tenacious mercy to a slow learning, test failing
people by winning a war that everyone would have said is impossible.
God exposes his power though Spirit empowered people who he raises up and the powerful works that
he does. Our cycles of complacency and compromise begin when we lose sight of God’s power to not
only do the seemingly impossible but to be the all satisfying Lord that he has promised to be.
Zech. 4:6 . . . This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,
says the Lord of hosts.
What stories of God’s power are you enjoying, telling and tethered to today? In forty years the people
of Israel will have forgotten and given their affections to a group of far less powerful gods.
Expect God to expose your foolishness.
Ehud – 3:12-30
Again, note the components of the testing and teaching cycle in this story of Ehud the deliverer. This
time the Lord responded to Israel’s disobedience by raising up Eglon the King of Moab. Eglon then
gathered a coalition of neighboring nations to defeat and subject Israel. This coalition of false god
nations established their presence and power in the key area of Jericho. In contrast with the Othniel
account, now the God appointed oppression was right next door and for 18 years extracted heavy taxes
from the people for the right to live on their own property.
The people cried out to the Lord, he heard their cry and he raised up a deliverer. The story of Ehud
assassinating King Eglon is highlighted in slow motion in verses 15-25. As we read the account, note the
following important observations.
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Ehud is described in less than heroic terms
Ehud’s actions are described as well thought through and deceptive
Mighty King Eglon is made to look foolish
20-23
Eglon’s guards/servants are made to look foolish
24-25
Eglon’s troops are made to look foolish
29
The Lord gives the Moabites to Israel, just as he gave the Israelites to Eglon. 28, 12
God exposes our foolishness in similar ways. This story gives a deliberate satire of the real power and
appeal of the Moabite false god system that the people of God had found so attractive. A left handed
Benjamite using a home-made weapon with a few simple smoke and mirror moves reduces the most
powerful man in the world to a dead corpse laying in his own excrement. This simple assassin escapes
dependent on the foolishness of the guards and their sense of smell. This is an embarrassing exposure
of the Israelites foolishness. Imagine reading this account with your children many years later and
having one of them perceptively ask, why would God’s people want to follow the gods of the Moabites?
How can you connect with God’s tenacious mercy? Acknowledge your foolishness. Admit that when
given a choice between God’s ways and wisdom and your ways and wisdom, you have strong genetic
impulses toward foolishness and self.
Ehud was used by God to expose the foolishness and shame of that which God’s people had chosen to
consider valuable and trustworthy. Contrast the caricature of Eglon with the sure and steady hand of
God again showing up to rescue his people. Forgetting God is foolish and certain to bring shameful
results. God mercifully exposes the shame of our idolatry in order to deliver us from our idolatry. Don’t
forget to remember the shame along with the deliverer.
Cmp. Psalm 44:7, 15-16
Expect God to expose his unlimited control.
Shamgar – 3:31
Three things are said about Shamgar and his delivering Israel.
Shamgar was not an Israelite. He was more likely a mercenary soldier under the command of Pharaoh.
Shamgar’s heroic killing of 500 Philistines while not intentionally for Israel, affected Israel none the less.
Shamgar saved Israel.
What’s the point? God’s tenacious mercy is at work in ways and times that you are not aware for the
purpose of your being delivered from forgetting God.
This Shamgar verse reveals more by what it does not say than what it says. There is no recognition of
forgetting God, being sold into harsh discipline, crying out for relief and God raising up a deliverer. It
simply says a soldier from Egypt won a battle in a heroic way and by it God controlled people and
nations for the benefit of his children.
Have you learned from your times of testing and teaching in this world that God has orchestrated events
and circumstances in unusual ways to help you remain and grow loyal to him? Tell those stories. Don’t
forget God’s loving control of all things on your behalf.
Summary/Take Aways
Expect God to expose his power.
Othniel – 3:7-11
Expect God to expose your foolishness.
Ehud – 3:12-30
Expect God to expose his unlimited control.
Shamgar – 3:31
God’s power to deliver from deeply entrenched enemies and hopeless oppression.
Your foolishness that enslaves you to powerless and weak gods.
God’s unlimited control that initiates and secures your salvation without your efforts.
Sounds like the gospel because it is. Turn and trust today.
Review Psalm 138
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake
the work of your hands.
138:8