Judges 3:1-31 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:1-7

We are here told what remained of the old inhabitants of Canaan. 1. There were some of them that kept together in united bodies, unbroken (Jdg. 3:3): The five lords of the Philistines, namely, Ashdod, Gaza, Askelon, Gath, and Ekron, 1 Sam. 6:7. Three of these cities had been in part reduced (Jdg. 1:18), but it seems the Philistines (probably with the help of the other two, which strengthened their confederacy with each other thenceforward) recovered the possession of them. These gave the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:8-11

We now come to the records of the government of the particular judges, the first of which was Othniel, in whom the story of this book is knit to that of Joshua, for even in Joshua's time Othniel began to be famous, by which it appears that it was not long after Israel's settlement in Canaan before their purity began to be corrupted and their peace (by consequence) disturbed. And those who have taken pains to enquire into the sacred chronology are generally agreed that the Danites? idolatry,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:12-30

Ehud is the next of the judges whose achievements are related in this history, and here is an account of his actions. I. When Israel sins again God raises up a new oppressor, Jdg. 3:12-14. It was an aggravation of their wickedness that they did evil again after they had smarted so long for their former iniquities, promised so fair when Othniel judged them, and received so much mercy from God in their deliverance. What, and after all this, again to break his commandments! Was the disease... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:31

When it is said the land had rest eighty years, some think it meant chiefly of that part of the land which lay eastward on the banks of Jordan, which had been oppressed by the Moabites; but it seems, by this passage here, that the other side of the country which lay south-west was in that time infested by the Philistines, against whom Shamgar made head. 1. It seems Israel needed deliverance, for he delivered Israel; how great the distress was Deborah afterwards related in her song (Jdg. 5:6),... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:1

Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them ,.... Which are later mentioned, Judges 3:3 , even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan ; those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as not to have knowledge of them, at least not able to bear arms at that time. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:2

Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know and teach them war ,.... That is, the following nations were left in the land, that the young generations of Israel might by their wars and conflicts with them learn the art of war, and be inured to martial discipline; which, if none had been left to engage with, they had been ignorant of: besides, their fathers in Joshua's time, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe, had no need to learn the art of war, for God fought for them; they did... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:3

Namely , five lords of the Philistines ,.... The places they were lords of were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; see Joshua 13:3 ; three of these, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, had been taken from them by Judah, since the death of Joshua, Judges 1:18 ; but they soon recovered them again, perhaps by the help of the other two. The Philistines were a people originally of Egypt, but came from thence and settled in these parts, and were here as early as in the times of Abraham, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:4

And they were to prove Israel by them ,.... They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God: to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord , which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses ; even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses, moral, civil, and ceremonial, and particularly those that concerned the destruction of the Canaanites, their altars, and their idols, ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:5

And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites ,.... As if they had been only sojourners with them, and not conquerors of them; and dwelt by sufferance, and not as proprietors and owners; such were their sloth and indolence, and such the advantage the inhabitants of the land got over them through it, and through their compliances with them; and this was the case not only of one sort of them, the Canaanites, but of the rest: the Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:6

And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons ,.... The Israelites intermarried with the inhabitants of the land, contrary to the express command of God, Deuteronomy 7:3 ; whereby they confounded their families, debased their blood, and were ensnared into idolatry, as follows: perhaps to these unlawful marriages, in their first settlement in the land of Canaan, reference is had in Ezekiel 16:3 , "thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:1-7

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:8-11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:12-30

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:31

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:6

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