1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan;
I will not henceforth drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, that by them I may test Israel, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their fathers did, or not."
And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations from before thee by little and little; thou shalt not be able to make an end of them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORD or the work which he had done for Israel.
But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.
The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but Jehovah trieth the hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable; who can know it? I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give each one according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will answer them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.
that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in [the] revelation of Jesus Christ:
Beloved, take not [as] strange the fire [of persecution] which has taken place amongst you for [your] trial, as if a strange thing was happening to you;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 3
Commentary on Judges 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
In this chapter,
Jdg 3:1-7
We are here told what remained of the old inhabitants of Canaan.
Now concerning these remnants of the natives observe,
Jdg 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, and the war with the Benjamites for abusing the Levite's concubine, though related in the latter end of this book, happened about this time, under or before the government of Othniel, who, though a judge, was not such a king in Israel as would keep men from doing what was right in their own eyes. In this short narrative of Othniel's government we have,
Jdg 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.
Jdg 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.