Judges 3

Philistine cities near the Mediterranean coast were Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, Gaza.

Location unknown. It may have been somewhere on Mount Hermon.

The Hebrew language calls the location lebo Hamath. This could mean the city of Lebo-hamath, in Lebanon, near where the Orontes River begins at the foot of Mount Hermon and Mount Lebanon. Or it could mean “entrance into Hamath” since lebo means “entrance.” Hamath was the name of a gateway into a mountain pass near Mount Hermon and Mount Lebanon.

Baal and Asherah in the Hebrew language here are both plural. That might be because there were different worship centers, cults, and methods for worshiping these gods. Baal of Peor, for example, was the name of the Baal that people worshiped on Mount Peor in Moab. Baal of Peor was apparently a local representation of him. When women from Moab seduced some of the Israelite men to engage in either ritual sex or just plain ol’ illicit sex, it led the men into idolatry (Numbers 25). Baal was Canaan’s main god, a god of weather and of fertility in family, flocks, and fields. Fertility was also the specialty of the goddess Asherah, lover of Canaan’s king of gods, El. Some ancient writings, however, link her to Baal. Several centuries later, Jezebel, queen of Israel, tries to murder all God’s prophets and replace them with prophets and priests devoted to Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:4, 18-19). People worshiped this goddess with sacred poles described as repulsive and obscene (1 Kings 15:13). But we’re left to guess how the people used those poles in worship.

The identity of the king and the location of his kingdom remain mysteries. Aram generally refers to what is now Syria, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia. Some say the king’s name isn’t literal, but symbolic. Cush was a nation in northern Africa. The people had dark skin, so the word came to mean “dark” or “black.” Rishathaim meant “double” something bad: double trouble, doubly guilty, double wicked. If this was a symbolic name for a real king, he was a royal piece of work—dark and double-dipped in sin.

Othniel earlier captured the city of Hebron for Caleb and won Caleb’s daughter as his wife as a reward (1:13).

Othniel had a unique Spirit of leadership and power, with perhaps the kind of charisma some people have today, which attracts fans and followers. The Christian movement started producing congregations after God’s Spirit came to Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem (Acts 2). Full of spirit, boldness, and courage, Peter preached a sermon in the city that five weeks earlier had executed his rabbi, Jesus Christ. The sermon produced more than 3,000 converts, forming the First Church of Jesus the Messiah. Not an official name. Just descriptive.

The Hebrew language says “the City of Palms,” a nickname for Jericho, an oasis region nourished by several underground springs. Jericho city had been destroyed. Joshua wished a curse on anyone who rebuilt it (Joshua 6:26).

About half a meter, some 45 centimeters.

Most people were right-handed. A right-handed man wore his sword on his left hip. There, it wasn’t in his way when he worked, and it provided a good angle for a quick pull from the sheath when it came time to fight. The king’s security detail, if he had any, would have been looking for weapons on Ehud’s left hip and outside the clothing, not on his right thigh and under his clothes.

Here’s a confession: “Fat” is not a sensitive way to put it. But the writer paints the king like an ancient version of a cartoon character. The Hebrew word for “fat” is the word Israelites would have used to talk about fattening cattle or sheep for slaughter. “Fat,” crudely put, is all over this short story. Even the king’s name sounds like the Hebrew word agol, which means, “round” like a bouncy ball. Israelites would have picked up on that, some scholars say.

Scholars debate what kind of room this was. Some say it was a cool, upper room. Others say the word for “cool” could mean “beam” of timber. So, it might have been the main throne room resting on support timbers.

The writer had described the king with words he could have used to talk about a bull ready for slaughter. Even the king’s name was a form of the Hebrew word egel, meaning a bull or a calf. Now, it’s butchering time. And there’s the king on the palace floor, lying dead in his own blood and excrement—like a butchered bull in a barnyard.

The location of Seirah was apparently somewhere in the hills of Ephraim (3:27).

Shamgar’s preferred weapon was a relatively innocent-looking ox-goad. That’s a simple stick herders used to spur cattle and sheep, a bit like cowboys would later use boot spurs to cue their horses to move.