After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. AgainThe use of the word "again" in Judges 4:1 indicates a recurring pattern of behavior among the Israelites. This repetition suggests a cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance that characterizes much of the Book of Judges. The Hebrew root for "again" is "yāsap," which means to add or continue. This highlights the persistent nature of Israel's disobedience and their tendency to fall back into old habits despite previous deliverances. It serves as a reminder of the human propensity to repeat mistakes and the need for continual reliance on God. the Israelites
The term "the Israelites" refers to the descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel. This collective identity is significant as it ties the people to the covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Historically, the Israelites were a confederation of tribes who settled in the land of Canaan. Their identity as God's chosen people is central to their story, and their actions reflect on their relationship with God. The Israelites' repeated disobedience underscores the tension between their divine calling and their human frailty. again did evil
The phrase "again did evil" is a recurring theme in Judges, indicating a moral and spiritual decline. The Hebrew word for "evil" is "ra," which encompasses a broad range of negative behaviors, including idolatry and injustice. This phrase suggests a deliberate turning away from God's commandments and a failure to uphold the covenant. It serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of forsaking God's ways and the ease with which one can fall into sin without vigilance and faithfulness. in the sight of the LORD
The phrase "in the sight of the LORD" emphasizes that the Israelites' actions were not hidden from God. The Hebrew word for "sight" is "ayin," meaning eye, which implies God's omniscience and His active observation of human affairs. This phrase serves as a reminder that God is always aware of our actions and that nothing escapes His notice. It underscores the importance of living a life that is pleasing to God, knowing that He sees and judges all. after Ehud had died
The mention of Ehud's death marks a transition in leadership and a turning point for the Israelites. Ehud was a judge who delivered Israel from Moabite oppression, and his death signifies the end of a period of peace and stability. The Hebrew word for "died" is "muth," which often signifies not just physical death but also the end of an era or influence. This highlights the Israelites' reliance on human leaders for guidance and their tendency to stray from God in the absence of strong spiritual leadership. It serves as a reminder of the need for continual spiritual renewal and dependence on God rather than solely on human leaders. Persons / Places / Events 1. EhudA judge of Israel who delivered the Israelites from Moabite oppression. His death marks a turning point for Israel, as they fall back into sin. 2. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, who repeatedly fall into cycles of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance throughout the Book of Judges. 3. The LORDThe covenant God of Israel, who observes the actions of His people and responds according to His justice and mercy. 4. Evil in the sight of the LORDThis phrase indicates the Israelites' disobedience and idolatry, which is a recurring theme in the Book of Judges. 5. Cycle of SinThe pattern of behavior where the Israelites turn away from God, face oppression, cry out for help, and are delivered by a judge. Teaching Points The Danger of ComplacencyAfter periods of peace and prosperity, there is a tendency to become complacent in faith. The Israelites' return to evil after Ehud's death serves as a warning to remain vigilant in our spiritual walk. The Consequences of DisobedienceDisobedience to God leads to negative consequences. The Israelites' actions resulted in oppression, reminding us that sin has real-world repercussions. The Faithfulness of GodDespite Israel's repeated failures, God remains faithful to His covenant. This encourages us to trust in God's mercy and grace, even when we fall short. The Importance of Godly LeadershipThe death of a godly leader like Ehud often led to Israel's downfall. This underscores the need for strong, godly leadership in our communities and churches. The Call to RepentanceThe cycle of sin and deliverance in Judges calls us to examine our lives, repent of our sins, and seek God's forgiveness and guidance. Bible Study Questions 1. What patterns of behavior do you see in your own life that mirror the cycle of sin and deliverance seen in Judges 4:1? 2. How can we guard against spiritual complacency in times of peace and prosperity? 3. In what ways can we support and encourage godly leadership within our church and community? 4. How does understanding the consequences of disobedience in Israel's history impact your view of sin and repentance today? 5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's faithfulness despite your own shortcomings. How can this encourage you in your current walk with God? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 31:16-18This passage foretells Israel's future unfaithfulness and God's response, highlighting the covenant relationship and consequences of disobedience. Judges 2:11-19Provides a summary of the cycle of sin and deliverance that characterizes the period of the judges, offering context for Judges 4:1. 1 Samuel 12:9-11Samuel recounts the history of Israel's repeated disobedience and God's deliverance through judges, reinforcing the cyclical nature of their relationship with God. People Abinoam, Barak, Deborah, Ehud, Heber, Hobab, Israelites, Jabin, Jael, Kenites, Lapidoth, Naphtali, Sisera, ZebulunPlaces Bethel, Canaan, Harosheth-hagoyim, Hazor, Kedesh, Kedesh-naphtali, Kishon River, Moab, Mount Tabor, Ramah, ZaanannimTopics Add, Dead, Died, Ehud, Evil, Israelites, Sight, SonsDictionary of Bible Themes Judges 4:1-2 6659 freedom, acts in OT Judges 4:1-3 8739 evil, examples of Judges 4:1-6 5208 armies Judges 4:1-10 6634 deliverance Library Sin Slain
I want to picture to you to-night, if I can, three acts in a great history--three different pictures illustrating one subject. I trust we have passed through all three of them, many of us; and as we shall look upon them, whilst I paint them upon the wall, I think there will be many here who will be able to say, I was in that state once;" and when we come to the last, I hope we shall be able to clap our hands, and rejoice to feel that the last is our case also, and that we are in the plight of the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860Whether the Grace of the Word of Wisdom and Knowledge is Becoming to Women?
Objection 1: It would seem that the grace of the word of wisdom and knowledge is becoming even to women. For teaching is pertinent to this grace, as stated in the foregoing Article. Now it is becoming to a woman to teach; for it is written (Prov. 4:3,4): "I was an only son in the sight of my mother, and she taught me [*Vulg.: 'I was my father's son, tender, and as an only son in the sight of my mother. And he taught me.']." Therefore this grace is becoming to women. Objection 2: Further, the grace …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The First Blast of the Trumpet
The English Scholar's Library etc. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. The English Scholar's Library of Old and Modern Works. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. Edited by EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A., etc., LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC., UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. SOUTHGATE, LONDON, N. 15 August 1878. No. 2. (All rights reserved.) CONTENTS. Bibliography vii-viii Introduction …
John Knox—The First Blast of the Trumpet A Nation's Struggle for a Home and Freedom.
ISRAEL'S VICTORIES OVER THE CANAANITES.--Josh. 2-9; Judg. 1, 4, 5. Parallel Readings. Hist. Bible II,1-4.1. Prin. of Politics X. That the leaders took the lead in Israel, That the people volunteered readily, Bless Jehovah! Zebulun was a people who exposed themselves to deadly peril, And Naphtali on the heights of the open field. Kings came, they fought; They fought, the kings of Canaan, At Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, They took no booty of silver. Prom heaven fought the stars, From their …
Charles Foster Kent—The Making of a Nation Gamala. Chorazin.
These things determine the situation of Gamala:--1. It was "in lower Gaulon," in which, as we have seen, Bethsaida was. 2. It was "upon the lake [of Gennesaret]." 3. It was "over-against Tarichee." Compare the maps, whether in their placing of it they agree with these passages. Here was Judas born, commonly called 'Gaulanites,' and as commonly also, the 'Galilean.' So Peter and Andrew and Philip were Gaulanites; of Bethsaida, John 1:44; and yet they were called 'Galileans.' While we are speaking …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Beth-El. Beth-Aven.
Josephus thus describes the land of Benjamin; "The Benjamites' portion of land was from the river Jordan to the sea, in length: in breadth, it was bounded by Jerusalem and Beth-el." Let these last words be marked, "The breadth of the land of Benjamin was bounded by Jerusalem and Beth-el." May we not justly conclude, from these words, that Jerusalem and Beth-el were opposite, as it were, in a right line? But if you look upon the maps, there are some that separate these by a very large tract of land, …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica A Cloud of Witnesses.
"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.... By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews The Mountainous Country of Judea.
"What is the mountainous country of Judea? It is the king's mountain." However Judea, here and there, doth swell out much with mountains, yet its chief swelling appears in that broad back of mountains, that runs from the utmost southern cost as far as Hebron, and almost as Jerusalem itself. Which the Holy Scripture called "The hill-country of Judah," Joshua 21:11; Luke 1:39. Unless I am very much mistaken,--the maps of Adricomus, Tirinius, and others, ought to be corrected, which have feigned to …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica The Country of Jericho, and the Situation of the City.
Here we will borrow Josephus' pencil, "Jericho is seated in a plain, yet a certain barren mountain hangs over it, narrow, indeed, but long; for it runs out northward to the country of Scythopolis,--and southward, to the country of Sodom, and the utmost coast of the Asphaltites." Of this mountain mention is made, Joshua 2:22, where the two spies, sent by Joshua, and received by Rahab, are said to "conceal themselves." "Opposite against this, lies a mountain on the other side Jordan, beginning from …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica He Does Battle for the Faith; He Restores Peace among those who were at Variance; He Takes in Hand to Build a Stone Church.
57. (32). There was a certain clerk in Lismore whose life, as it is said, was good, but his faith not so. He was a man of some knowledge in his own eyes, and dared to say that in the Eucharist there is only a sacrament and not the fact[718] of the sacrament, that is, mere sanctification and not the truth of the Body. On this subject he was often addressed by Malachy in secret, but in vain; and finally he was called before a public assembly, the laity however being excluded, in order that if it were …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh Miscellaneous Subjects.
Woman's Freedom. The Scriptural right for women to labor in the gospel as exhorters, teachers, preachers, etc., is questioned by many. To deny women such a privilege is contrary to the Christian spirit of equality, and a serious obstruction to pure gospel light. We (male and female) are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:28. In the kingdom of grace man and woman are on an equal footing so far as concerns the work of God. To explain some texts that seem to prohibit women from laboring in the gospel …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day Judges
For the understanding of the early history and religion of Israel, the book of Judges, which covers the period from the death of Joshua to the beginning of the struggle with the Philistines, is of inestimable importance; and it is very fortunate that the elements contributed by the later editors are so easily separated from the ancient stories whose moral they seek to point. That moral is most elaborately stated in ii. 6-iii. 6, which is a sort of programme or preface to iii. 7-xvi. 31, which constitutes …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Judges 4:1 NIVJudges 4:1 NLTJudges 4:1 ESVJudges 4:1 NASBJudges 4:1 KJV
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