The First 3 Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar | Judges 3:7-31 | 10/11/26

We'll be in Judges 3 this morning and I

just want to open with a question kind

of kind of deep off the beginning here,

but do you ever wish that you were

someone different? Do you ever have

those moments where you wish that you

were someone different? Maybe you look

at your life and you think if I had a

different story or if I had a different

set of skills or if I came from a

different family

then things would be better then God

could use my life. Francis Schaefer back

in the 1950s preached a sermon called no

little people in No Little Places. And

in the sermon he talked about the

feeling that many of us have that I am

so limited or the thought it's wonderful

to be a Christian but I am such a small

person so limited in talents, energy,

psychological strength and knowledge.

What I do is not really important.

And so he posits that question. Do you

ever wish that you were a different

person? You probably don't think about

that consciously, but we could have that

in the back of our minds and we think

about, well, who is really important?

Who is an important person in God's

kingdom? Who is the kind of person that

God uses?

But have you ever noticed the pattern in

stories?

I love looking at these big themes we

can see across many different books and

movies and plays. these themes because

they touch to our heart in so many ways.

But there's a pattern in stories where

the main character ends up being someone

who feels insignificant, who feels

overlooked,

but they become the unexpected hero.

There's some obvious ones. We have Froto

and Lord of the Rings saying to Gandalf,

"I feel very small. I feel uprooted and

well desperate and the enemy is so

strong and so terrible."

We have characters like Janeir who is

treated as unimportant or insignificant

because she lacks wealth or beauty or

status but she becomes this example of

moral strength. I think even about

Ryland Grace in the movie and book

Project Hail Mary that just came out.

He's a middle school science teacher the

source of laughter in the scientific

community who's filled with self-doubt

and their own courage ends up being the

thing the quality that they needed to be

a hero. Now that's not our story, right?

Most what we do is ordinary.

But we see the Bible is filled with so

many examples of God using the ordinary

and the unexpected. The kingdom of God

is like a mustard seed planted in the

ground that grows into a tree where all

the birds of the heavens nest in it.

Starts off small to this giant tree

representing his kingdom. King David,

the eighth son of Jesse, pushed out,

forgotten, tending the sheep as the

prophet Samuel comes to anoint the next

king. They have to call him from

watching the sheep in the field to come

join the family where he's anointed the

next king. Esther, a young Jewish woman

in exile, brought into the Persian

king's harum, able to save the nation,

save her people from extermination. The

son of God, Jesus, born in Nazareth, a

nowhere place to an impoverished family,

taking on the form of a servant, his

disciples, fishermen, tax collectors,

nobodies. And God uses those people to

change the world. And so Schaefer's

point, and to quote him here, Schaefer's

point is there are no little people in

God's sight, so there are no little

places to be wholly committed to God in

the place where God wants him. This is

the creature glorified, the human

glorified. This means being what he

wants me to be where he wants me to be.

Now, the application isn't, hey, go out,

get a frame picture that says, you're

enough. You're amazing. Like, that's not

the application here. That's not what

I'm getting at.

The idea I want us to understand is that

we put obstacles in front of God.

We put obstacles in front of God. what

he can do based on our attributes,

based on the size of the challenge that

we're facing. And that action

comes actually from a place of pride.

It comes from a place of pride.

Almost everyone God used in the

scripture recognized their limitations

and they had to submit those limitations

to God

for God to use. And so our theme in the

text this morning is that something

small and insignificant and overlooked

is the very thing that God uses for

salvation. Offel's army shouldn't be

able to stand against the invaders.

Ehud's left hand, Shamgard's oxo, a tool

used to direct oxen.

And this should give us courage that our

faithfulness

with where God has placed us is enough.

And so we may think that power, wealth,

authority, and being someone important

are the key to a meaningful relationship

with God. But this is the main idea. God

has chosen what's overlooked and

unexpected

to be part of a salvation story. And so

maybe the thing that you think is

insignificant or unimportant is the

thing that is central to how God is

going to use your life to bless and

glorify him. Let's jump into the text

this morning. We're going to see first

an unexpected enemy in our text of

scripture here. Judges 3:7.

Judges 3:7

Read with me down to verse 11.

There's an unexpected enemy. The people

of Israel did what was evil in the sight

of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their

God and serve the Baales in Asheroth.

Therefore, the anger of the Lord was

kindled against Israel and he sold them

into the hand of Kushon Rishathim, king

of Mesopotamia.

And the people of Israel served Kushan

Rishathim eight years.

But when the people of Israel cried out

to the Lord, the Lord raised up a

deliverer for the people of Israel who

saved them, the son of Canaan, Caleb's

younger brother. The spirit of the Lord

was upon him and he judged Israel. He

went out to war and the Lord gave Kushon

Rashathim, king of Mesopotamia, into his

hand, and his hand prevailed over Kashan

Rashathim.

So the land had rest 40 years. Thenel

the son of Kenaz died.

We learned last week about why God sent

tests and trials to these nations to

harass and discipline Israel to bring

them back to him to get them to repent

and cry out to him.

There was a pattern we see this cycle of

the judges where they rebelled against

God. They forgot God. God would then

send a foreign nation to discipline

them. They would cry out for help and

then God was faithful to hear their cry.

He'd raise up a judge, a the Hebrew word

for ruler to save them, and they'd have

peace for a period of time, but once the

judge died, the cycle started all over

again. This pattern plays out again and

again and again in the book of Judges,

going from needing God to them being

self-sufficient and living like the

world. And then God using suffering then

to remind his people, to remind us of

our desperation for him. And we see how

quick he is to save how quick he is to

respond when we cry out for help. God

shows us more grace than we deserve. And

the first judge we get in our text here

is actually a familiar name. It's Offel.

It's someone we met in chapter 1.

A man who was bold and faithful to God's

word. Offneil becomes the first case

study in the book of Judges here for us,

setting this pattern for us. But what

makes him unique is the enemy nation he

faced was unexpected and overpowered.

Like every season of spiritual drift,

this season for them began with

forgetting God. Verse seven, Israel did

what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

They forgot their Lord their God, and

they served the bales and Asharoth.

The Hebrew word for forget is not about

a lack of knowledge. It's not about, oh,

I just didn't remember.

It's a disregard, a turning of one's

back, a failure of taking into account

who the Lord is. We learned last week

that they knew the truth about God. But

Judges 2 verse 10 tells us there arose

Judges 2:10

another generation after who did not

know the Lord or the work that he had

done. They had forgotten God

relationally,

his power, his deliverance, his

holiness, his steadfast love. And then

the language in Judges 3 here is that

they served the baales. They served the

Asheroth. That is the language of

worship.

They serve. They devoted their lives.

They oriented their whole lives around

these false gods.

We're all worshippers. It's impossible

not to be a worshipper.

The question is, who do we worship? What

has your heart?

Martin Luther said, "Whatever your heart

clings to and confides in, that is

really your God." What has your heart?

And so when we disregard God, we forget

God. We actually become like functional

atheists.

We become like functional atheists. We

may be able to repeat truth about God,

but it isn't real to us, and it doesn't

change how we live. And so deep down, we

no longer believe the truth of the

gospel.

And notice for Israel, they did not stay

spiritually neutral. They looked around

at what the world offered. They looked

around at what the Canaanite culture

offered. They looked for spiritual

solutions to their cold hearts. And they

found them in Baal and Asher, the gods

of Canaan. Just like when we disregard

God, we look for solutions in the world.

We try and warm our hearts around the

idols of money and power and pleasure

and independence and success. We try and

find comfort and joy in those things

instead of turning our way back to the

Lord.

But this is key to know that God did not

forget his covenants.

And God's heart for his people did not

grow cold like their hearts grew cold

towards him even in their idolatry.

And so instead of giving them over

completely to their choices, we see that

God sent

that God sent something

In the scripture here, God sent three

things actually. God sent trouble. God

sent a leader and God sent the spirit.

That when God's people whom he's

covenanted to are drifting into coldness

and drifting away from him, God does not

passively remain in the background. He

sends.

And so God sent trouble. Verse eight,

therefore the anger of the Lord was

kindled against Israel. So he sold them

into the hand of Kusan Rashathim, king

of Mesopotamia and the people served him

for eight years.

Now what should be shocking for us here

is who this person is that God sold them

to. God was angry. He sold them into the

hands of the king of Mesopotamia. And

some of us have a view that God in his

love is always permissive.

That's because God loves us. He always

affirms our plans.

But you have to get this. God's anger is

not a theological problem.

The theological problem is if God was

indifferent to idolatry and indifferent

to our sin. That would be a theological

problem.

We should not be shocked by his anger

here because God's anger is protective

for his people.

God shows his love for us in that he

expresses anger when we pursue things

that will wreck our lives. And so God

sends trouble

so that we turn to him. And so God sent

trouble in Mesopotamia. The king God

wanted the people to realize their

hearts had grown cold to him. They would

never have realized their true spiritual

state or their true need without the

trouble. And so the trouble we sense

unexpected here. So one of the nations

listed in the end of chapter or

beginning of chapter 3. We get a n list

of nations there and the Canaanite

nations that they're going to harass and

you know uh give trouble to Israel. This

is someone from far away.

It's an ancient enemy who will grow into

a massive problem for them later on.

They're from the area that later becomes

known as Babylon.

The fact they marched from modern day

Iraq

to southern Israel in the ancient world

shows you that they are an empire.

They are a superpower here. And when you

compare the various enemies in the book

of Judges, the first one here is by far

the strongest, most powerful enemy. For

the king of Mesopotamia to march to

southern Israel and hold the land for

eight years demonstrates this. What

could Israel do in the face of such a

powerful enemy? Well, they cry for help.

They cry for help. And so God sent

trouble, but God sent a spiritual leader

as well. Verse 9, Omeal.

When the people of Israel cried out to

the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer

for them from the people of Israel who

saved them. Offneal the son of Canaan,

Caleb's younger brother. Remember

Offneil back in chapter 1? He led a

group to conquer the city of Deir at the

request of Caleb. and he was blessed

with marrying Caleb's daughter and

receiving the land of the springs of

water in Judah off stories is he's one

of the most faithful leaders in the

people of God their history this book

gives us very little things about him

that's negative like most of it's all

positive here and his story follows a

cycle of judges he becomes kind of like

how jazz music will start out by setting

the melody

the melody that then every other

instrument plays off of he sets the

pattern for us and then we see

variations and changes as the book of

Judges continues to move forward.

We don't get a lot of background or

insight into what Ael's challenges were

or what made him unique. But we do learn

something critical here that God can

conquer even the most powerful enemy

they could face.

That God's power was not limited.

And so God sent trouble and God sent a

spiritual leader. And then God sent the

spirit. Verse 10,

the spirit of the Lord was upon him and

he judged Israel. He went out to war and

the Lord gave Kashan Rashafim, king of

Mesopotami, into his hand and he

prevailed.

What qualified Afel to lead was God's

call and God's spirit. He believed God's

power and trusted God and went out to

war and was given victory over this

empire of Mesopotamia.

Many judges in the book of Judges will

experience the spirit of God clothing

them or resting upon them. It's God's

very presence as they go out to battle.

And so they weren't called to fight

these battles alone. And so Offnel

stands as one of the best judges in the

book. Someone without major flaws or

failures. Someone who had faith that did

not waver or grow cold. The kind of

leader who could inspire people by his

passionate following of the Lord and the

people had rest for 40 years

and then off died [clears throat] and it

all starts over again. I think the book

of Judges wants us to give this

collective groan whenever that happens

like can't the people change? Can't they

see the pattern before it develops? Why

do they need to fall into sin and then

repent and then have peace and then fall

into sin again?

The pattern starts over and over and

over again. [clears throat]

But during this season, the people

remembered God and followed his ways.

And I think a point of application for

us here when we see good examples like

Offel in our scripture that is that when

our hearts grow cold,

when you're forgetting God and God's

goodness, I think one of the best things

we can do is draw close to people

who are passionate,

who are warm in their love towards God.

That we could surround ourselves people

who love God. And it's like that fire in

your heart for God when it's dwindling

and close to extinguishing. When it's in

embers, you get huddle close to somebody

who

loves the Lord

and you can take in their warmth.

And so God saves them from an unexpected

enemy. And then we see a pattern emerge

that God uses unexpected

overlooked people.

So often it was kind of expected,

but we see this pattern emerge now where

the hero is someone that you wouldn't

predict.

We turn our attention to two unlikely

heroes in the story. Eh, called out for

being left-handed and Shamgar, the son

of Anoth. And we don't have a lot of

time to focus on Shamgar, but look at

verse 31 with me here. He's the judge

that gets one verse.

After him was Shamgar, the son of Anoth,

who killed 600 of the Philistines with

an ox code. And he also saved Israel.

That's his story.

You can be in the Bible for one thing.

This is it.

The scriptur is brief on Shamgar. We

don't know which tribe he's from or the

circumstances around the battles he

fought. We just know he used a pointy

stick and killed 600 people. Like crazy.

He too saved Israel. The thing we know

about Shangar that's interesting though

is

likely he's that kind of person that

would wish he was from a different

family.

He's probably from a family of pagan

idol worshippers because the name Anoth

is the Canaanite goddess of war. And so

just just looking at this that likely

means at least his grandparents were

were fully bought into following the

Canaanite gods. so much so that they

named their

child after the goddess of war. And then

Shamgar, the grandson,

is breaking from that tradition

and he's serving the Lord.

He becomes an unexpected savior used by

God with unexpected means using a weapon

that wasn't a weapon, the ox code. And

this is one of those stories in the

Bible that I just love more detail on.

But God wants us to see the unlikely

person, the unexpected weapon, someone

who's breaking from their family's

pattern of sin to serve the Lord. It's

possible. It's possible.

But the greatest example we have of the

unlikely and overlooked, I think, in the

book of Judges is Ehud.

Eh, look at verse 12. And we'll land

here for the majority of our time.

The people of Israel did what was evil

in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord

strengthened Eiglon, the king of Moab,

against Israel because they had done

what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He gathered himself the Ammonites and

the Amalachites and went to defeat

Israel and they took possession of the

city of palms.

Offneal died. The people forgot God

again. They did what was evil. God

raised up an enemy. This enemy was

Eiglon, the king of Moab. Moab was

related to Israel coming from Abraham's

nephew Lot, his line. Numbers 22:3,

Numbers 22:3

we're also told that Moab was afraid of

Israel. And we get this strange story of

Moab hiring out a prophet named Balam to

curse Israel. But every time he tried to

curse them, he couldn't get the words

out in the book of Numbers. He ended up

uttering blessing instead.

We even get the famous Balam's donkey

story where God talked through the

donkey to rebuke him for trying to curse

Israel.

But that fear they had of Israel was no

more.

Iglon and the people of Moab marched on

Israel. God sent them. God raised them

up. Eligan forms a coalition of armies

with the Amorites and the Malachites.

And they conquered Jericho, the city of

Palms. symbolically a really important

place for them to conquer because it was

the first city that Israel conquered in

the promised land. They crossed the

Jordan River at near Gilgal. They set up

the memorial stones and then they go and

they march around Jericho seven times,

seven days. Walls fall down and they

have their first victory.

It's called the city of palms here.

But Elon Ma is capital and he ruled

unchecked for 18 years and then we get

this almost comical story that unfolds.

It it makes me think of like the

princess bride storytelling a little bit

kind of everything's exaggerated and

comical like it's like finding the

six-fingered man right the left-handed

guy.

We have a few things here that give us

this comical exaggeration here. First

thing we get, we get a sense of the

spiritual desperation of Israel in

Ehad's own name.

Verse 15,

the people of Israel cried out to the

Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a

deliverer, Eh, the son of Gerah, the

Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

People of Israel sent tribute by him to

Eglon, the king of Moab. Eh's name

means, "Where is the glory?

Where is the splendor?

You get a sense of hopelessness

of the time.

Where is God

in this story?

And they name their child Ehud. Where is

the glory? Where is the splendor? Now,

this also is irony for us because we

find out that he's not an outwardly

glorious person because of the second

thing. The text calls out his

left-handedness.

Why is that a big deal?

The irony is that he's from the tribe of

Benjamin, which meant son of my right

hand. The hero is a left-handed man from

the right-handed tribe.

He's the only individual in the whole

Bible singularly called out for his

left-handedness.

And it comes into the story later on,

but right now we're supposed to get this

sense of the upside down nature of this.

The right hand in the Bible was a phrase

used to describe God's power.

glory and blessing. When God stretched

out a hand to save, he stretched out his

right hand to save, to rescue. God makes

promises by his right hand. By his right

hand are pleasures forever more. His

chosen one sits at his right hand. Most

people in the ancient world use their

right hand. It was a symbol of power.

And here, the deliverer cannot use his

right hand. What's interesting is in the

Hebrew text here, it doesn't actually

say left hand. It actually literally

says right hand bound or right hand shut

up.

Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I

don't know. That's a bad word, Jason. I

don't know.

Bad word.

>> Homeschool bad word.

We can take this one of two ways. Either

he was just more proficient with his

left hand, maybe even ambidextrous.

Judges chapter 20 verse 16 talks about

Judges 20:16

there being 700 men from Benjamin who

were left-handed who could sling a sling

with precision.

It could be that they were just trained

in the military that way. Maybe even

becomes a role model to them and they

learn to use their left hand. We don't

know.

That's possible.

However, it's possible that something

more is happening here than eh just

throwing 95 as a reliever outside the

bullpen, right? Like that's not like

sometimes being a lefty can make you a

lot of money.

Another possibility here is that his

right hand was restricted or unusable.

Possibly disabled or deformed or

paralyzed in some way. Again, it means

right hand is bound or shut up. It it

means it can't be used. And I think what

gives this interpretation the strongest

case here is that Ehud moves through the

story unnoticed

and overlooked. No one thinks he's a

threat in the story.

Pay attention to that as we keep reading

the scripture here. But the Moabites and

Eolan, they're prideful. They're

complacent. But no one seems to think

Ehod's a threat. They even leave him

alone with the king. They don't see his

left hand. All they can see is his

inability to use his right hand. Now,

this passage is not trying to give us a

theology around disability here. I think

there are some better places for that in

the scripture, but I do want to

acknowledge how many people in our

church are impacted by disability.

Whether that's a lifelong challenge or

chronic pain or limitations related to

aging,

we should not dismiss the real

challenges that disability and chronic

pain or extreme limitations have on our

lives. There are things that many of us

take for granted like standing up

without pain, walking easily from place

to place, being able to use both of our

hands for specific tasks.

And these are things that not everyone

can do.

But at the same time, passages like this

one, if Ead was unable to use his right

hand, if that is what's happening here,

it should give us confidence that God

has ordained

the hard things in our lives as a means

to show his power and glory.

We have an act of disability. You have

to depend on God in ways that so many

people cannot imagine. And you may want

to wear it like a badge of dishonor,

but nothing is wasted again in God's

providence.

Again, not saying it's easy, but you may

be overlooked by people in the world,

but there are no insignificant people in

God's kingdom. In fact, what gets

dismissed as an obstacle here becomes

essential to God's plan.

And so unlikely, right? This unlikely

savior who names means where is the

glory who was unique in his

left-handedness

comes into play to defeat the third

comical piece of the story here.

Elon was a very fat man.

Verse 15,

people of Israel cried out to the Lord

and the Lord raised up for them a

deliverer. Eh, the son of Gar the

Benjaminite, a left-handed man. people

of Israel sent tribute to him by Eiglon

the king of Moab. And Ehab made for

himself a sword with two edges a cubit

in length and he bound it on his right

thigh under his clothes. And he

presented the tribute to Eiglon the king

of Moab. Now Eiglon was a very fat man.

God, why are you body shaming Eiglon in

the scripture here? Like what's like

the Bible was not written in our times

apparently, right? You know, um Eligon

is one of the only two people in the

Bible described as as being heavy or fat

in the Bible. Um, now the other priest

was was a uh the other person was a

priest named Eli, which we learn about

historian Samuel. He was actually one of

Samuel's mentors. Now, it's not easy to

be obese in the ancient world. They

didn't have Netflix, Door Dash, desk

jobs, and Starbucks. Man, you thinking,

David, that was oddly specific.

Um, but typically in the ancient world

where food was more scarce and manual

labor was more common, most people were

not in the shape that I was in. And I

think we can conclude that his life was

one of luxury and ease, right?

Luxury and minimal efforts. And this is

a sign that Elon actually becomes a

standin in our story for decadence,

luxury, and complacency. A life of greed

and ease and wealth becoming

self-centered

in their use of power. I think that ego

becomes like an archetype for that in

the scripture here for us. Now, the vice

of gluttony is not just about over

consuming or overeating. It's centered

on pleasure and self-gratification. And

Elon's pictured throughout the text here

receiving tribute, sitting on a throne

in a palace and eagerness to receive

more

and more.

And Ehud exploited that.

I imagine in my mind um the picture of

humanity in the movie Wall-E, the Pixar

movie Wall-E. Ever seen it?

I this vision of future of humans riding

around on these hover chairs drinking

high calorie drinks while watching

glowing floating screens for their

entertainment. Wait, is that the future?

Is that is that where they have to

overthrow their AI overlord, the ship

they can barely stand without risk of

injury? We see that with Eiglon here

later on. He has a hard time standing

up.

I think there's a human allure for

luxury and self-centered living, excess

entertainment,

and the world says go for it. The world

says go for it. Treat yourself. But it

takes a toll on our bodies. And God's

design for us is not one of endless

worldly pleasure.

It's one of work and self-control and

yes, rest and joy, but not solely rest

and pleasure. And so, it's okay to have

good things and to be celebrated and to

celebrate good things, but to center

your life on these things is a waste.

And I think Eiglon here is painted as

the fattened calf in the palace ready to

be slaughtered.

I think Samuel, the writer of Judges,

wants us to see the warning of the

Canaanite lifestyle, the lifestyle of

the world

where we are to see self-gratification

and instant pleasure, decadence, luxury.

We're to see those things as spiritually

dangerous things. And for the Moabites

and Elon, they were so focused on

themselves,

they were not attentive to the

mistreatment of others or the dangers

they faced when they were present.

And so E-hud in this whole midst of

everything is presented as a crafty

schemer.

Ehud's plan

was to be part of the team that

presented tribute to Eiglon. Tribute

was their payment for protection money.

Basically the tribute communicated that

they were an enslaved people

and they were okay with that. But one

man wasn't okay with it. Eh was not okay

with it and God raised him up to be the

deliverer. Eh makes a sword, a dagger

about 18 inches long, two-edged might

stab straight through without a crossar.

He gets buried in eon.

He hid it under his clothes on his right

side. A place that he could access with

his left hand across his body. A place

that no right-handed person would put

their main weapon. A place that no

right-handed dominant person would think

to check.

Again, the Moabites are complacent.

They're decadent. And notice, he

delivers the tribute money

with that group. And then he leaves.

Verse 18, when Ehood had finished

presenting the tribute, he sent away the

people and carried the tribute. But he

himself turned back at the idols near

Gilgal.

And he said, "I have a secret message

for you, O king." And he commanded

silence. And all his attendants went out

from his presence. So just following the

story here, he delivers the tribute

money and then he leaves with the people

who are delivering it. They go back to

Gilgal. They go back to the place they

came from. He either cannot get close

enough to use his dagger or maybe he

lost resolve, right?

But when he went back to Gilgal, the

place where they set up the stones of

remembrance when they crossed the Jordan

River, there were now idols there. There

are now images and statues of false gods

there. The signs of decadence, luxury,

wealth, self-sufficiency.

We don't know if the Israelites set up

these idols because they started to

worship the Canaanite gods or if they

were set up by the Moabites, but Eh

turned back at that moment.

He goes back to Eiglon, back to the city

of palms and he says, "I have a message

for you."

Verse 20, Eh came to him as he was

sitting alone in the cool roof chamber.

And Ehad said, "I have a message from

God for you." And he rose from his seat.

And Eh reached with his left hand, took

the sword from his right thigh, and

thrust it into his belly. And the hilt

also went in after the blade, and the

fat closed over the blade, and he did

not pull the sword out of his belly, and

the dung came out. Then Eihad went out

into the porch and closed the doors of

the roof chamber behind him and locked

them. [clears throat]

Eh said, "I have a secret message for

you." And Eligon was overjoyed. He

overlooked Ehad as a threat. He

dismissed everyone out. The word in the

Hebrew here for message is a double

meaning. It means either word or thing.

Likely Eiglon thought another tribute

was coming, another gift was about to

arrive and he eagerly gets out of his

seat. And while he's most vulnerable as

a very heavy man trying to get out of

his throne, he had buried a dagger into

him. And Elon died and expelled his

bowels and he had escaped after locking

the dead king in his chamber.

Because the servants outside could smell

all this,

they waited. Verse 24.

When he had gone, the servants came. And

when they saw the doors of the roof

chamber were locked, they went and

thought, "Surely he's relieving himself

from the closet of the cool of the

chamber. And they waited till they were

embarrassed. And when he still did not

open the doors of the roof chamber, and

they took the key, and they opened them,

and there laid their lord dead on the

floor,

and he had escaped while they delayed.

And he passed beyond the idols and

escaped to Sarah."

Um, Ehad escaped. Afne was a typical

type of leader person you'd expect,

right? A warrior leading an army against

a superior enemy. Eh, a surprising

choice. And God used something

overlooked his left-handedness to bring

deliverance to his people. The Moabites

never once saw Ehood as a threat. They

don't prevent him from seeing Eiglon,

the king. They don't search him. They

left him alone with the king. They were

proud. They were complacent. And God

used that. and Ehud's overlooked

strength to bring salvation. And this

unlikely rescue concludes with Ehud

calling Israel to arms, calling Israel

to fight to drive out the Moabites.

Verse 26 again, Ehad escaped while they

delayed, passed beyond the idols,

escaped in to Sarah. When he arrived, he

sounded the trumpet in the hill country

of Ephraim.

Then the people of Israel went down with

him from the hill country, and he was

their leader.

And he said to them, "Follow after me,

for the Lord has given your hands uh

given your enemies, the Moabites, into

your hand." So they went down after him

and seized the forge of the Jordan

against the Moabites and did not allow

anyone to pass over. And they killed

that that time 10,000 of the Moabites,

all strong, able-bodied men. Not a man

escaped. And so Moab was subdued that

day under the hand of Israel. And the

land had rest for 80 years.

this person that would never have been

able to summon an army, but because of

his courage, his resolve,

things that were overlooked,

he leads the people of God,

to salvation, to peace.

And so God authors

rescue through the unlikely and

overlooked. And God does that all the

time in the Bible.

All the time in the Bible.

God as king has the power to rescue. He

can rescue with an entire army like

Offel. He can rescue with 300 like with

Gideon. He can rescue with one like he

did with Samson.

And we see here he can use overlooked

things like Ehud's left hand and

Shamgar's ox code

for salvation because God delights to

use what's overlooked and unlikely in

his salvation plans. And he still does

that today.

Each of the judges paints an incomplete

picture of Jesus, right? In their own

way. None of these judges are perfect

heroes. We should not model our lives on

the judges. like that would be a very

poor life choice for us.

But each does point to Jesus in a unique

way, showing us how God can save and how

God gives us more grace than we deserve.

And again, Afiel was against incredible

odds with an inferior army facing the

protoabylonian threat. Just like how

Jesus had battled on the cross, right?

It's what it looked like was a defeat

from a human perspective.

Like Offmel's army against the

Mesopotamians would have looked like

defeat before the battle even started.

Jesus on the cross looked like a defeat

from a human perspective. But he

triumphed over what Paul called the

cosmic powers of this present darkness

in Ephesians 6:12.

Ephesians 6:12

And with Eha, we see this foreshadowing

of how God values what the world calls

insignificant and unimportant. Isaiah's

prophecy about the Messiah, about Jesus

said in verse 53:2,

"He grew up before him like a young

plant and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should

look at him and no beauty that we should

desire him." No form or majesty is

saying, "Where is the glory? Where is

the splendor?"

Jesus from an outward perspective

was not

in this image or picture of power and

success in his human nature.

Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of

Lords, did not come in majesty or power.

In his first coming, he became like the

least of us.

He chose a life that was incredibly

ordinary, easily overlooked, born to a

poor family in Bethlehem, growing up in

a nowhere place like Nazareth, working a

normal job as a tradesman. And the means

of salvation that God accomplished

through him, dying on a cross was a sign

of a condemned criminal, a nobody, a

slave.

Salvation born in a manger, accomplished

on the cross. An outsider who embraced

human insignificance and weakness,

finding victory through the world called

defeat. As a church, the gospel, the

message of salvation so beautiful. Jesus

embraced the type of human life that we

live yet without sin.

Christ though he alone had all right and

authority to make it all about him. He

instead sacrificed himself as a servant

for us and for our salvation

to forgive us of our sin to remove the

barrier the obstacle to relationship and

reconciliation with God. And church hear

this. This means that no part of our

life is insignificant to God.

The world may be saying, "Be like

Eiglon, live for yourself, chase power

and pleasure." But salvation that God

brought through Eh tells a different

story that God delights to use the

overlooked and what the world would call

unimportant

to change the world.

So Paul lands in in 1 Corinthians 1,

he's looking at the church. He's looking

at the God's people.

You can imagine like saying this in

person being like not many of you were

strong. Not many of you are wise.

Many of you who are nobodyies. He said

this for consider your calling brothers.

Not many of you are wise according to

worldly standards. Not many of you are

powerful. Not many of you are of noble

birth. He's like saying many of you here

would want to change who you are and the

family that you're from.

But God chose what is foolish in the

world to shame the wise. God chose

what is weak in the world to shame the

strong. God chose what is low and

despised in the world, even things that

are not to bring to nothing things that

are so that no human being might boast

in the presence of God.

Francis Schaefer wrote again and no

little people this sermon though we are

limited and weak in talent psychological

energy physical strength I can be useful

in God's hands the scripture emphasized

that much can come from little if the

little is truly consecrated to God

if the insignificant the limit of the

weak is truly made holy by God much can

be accomplished and so the world thinks

the church is weak The world thinks the

church is insignificant and unimportant,

even foolish.

But the things of God are surprisingly

ordinary and often unimpressive.

And that seems to be the way that God

likes it.

He designed his salvation plan to

highlight the power of our human

weakness. So no one can say, "I did

this."

The army of Mesopotamia were impressive.

Eiglon was proud, self-satisfied, seems

the pillar of what people would want in

that time and place. But God delights to

use the unimpressive. And I mean this in

the nicest way. God is not impressed

with any of us.

If you're in Christ, God delights in

you. But that's different from being

impressed.

We are not impressive. The thing that's

impressive is Christ in us.

>> And that's what God wants for us. He

wants us to be dependent on him.

He wants our lives to show the gospel.

And that's why I love what Jeremiah

prophesies in Jeremiah 9:23. He says

Jeremiah 9:23

this, "Let not the wise man boast in his

wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in

his might. Let not the rich man boast in

his riches. But let him who boasts boast

in this that he understands and knows

me.

I am the Lord who practices steadfast

love, justice, and righteousness in the

earth. For in these things I delight,

declares the Lord. And so we can say no

to pride. We can say no to decadence. We

can say no to luxury. We can say no to

thinking that our limitations are

something that can prevent God or stop

God from accomplishing his power in this

world.

And instead, we can say yes to trusting

God in our time of need. and trusting

that God's placed us where he has for

his purpose and for our