Judges 3 – 5 and Some Leatherwork

Judges 3 – 5

We see in chapter 3 that the Lord left certain nations in the land in order to:

1. Test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan
2. Teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle
3. See whether the Israelites would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses

Unfortunately, Israel did exactly what they were not supposed to do, not only intermarrying, but also serving the Canaanites gods.

Now the cycle begins:

• Israel does evil in the Lord’s sight
• They worship other gods
• The Lord turns them over to serve a nation such as King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim
• The Spirit of the Lord comes upon a rescuer
• The Lord gives the rescuer victory
• There is once again peace in the land until the judge/leader/rescuer dies

In the third chapter, Othniel is raised up to rescue the people. He was Caleb’s nephew who won the right to marry Caleb’s daughter Acsah. He beat King C (you don’t think I’m going to type that long name out again, do you?) and the Lord gave him victory. Israel is at peace for 40 years.

Once again, though, they do evil and King Eglon of Moab with the help of the Ammonites and the Amalekites defeat Israel. Israel serves them for eighteen years. Left-handed Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin is the next judge raised up. While delivering tribute money to King Eglon, he uses deceit and a double-edged dagger to kill Eglon and then leads the Israelites to victory over the Moabites. The next period of peace lasts eighty years.

Shamgar, son of Anath was really handy with an ox goad, rescues Israel next.

But chapter 4 says that after Ehud’s death, Israel again did evil and was turned over to King Jabin of Hazor. Sisera,the commander of Jabin’s army, oppressed the Israelites or twenty years. Israel cried out for help and Deborah, who was judging Israel at the time, persuaded Barak to take 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali to attack Sisera. The Lord gives them victory and Sisera, coward that he was, escaped on foot. A woman named Jael deceives Sisera into thinking she will help him, but she finishes him off with a hammer and a tent peg. Israel becomes stronger and finally defeats King Jabin.

So far we have read about four judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Deborah.

Tomorrow, it’s Judges 6 – 7.

Some Leatherwork

I made the following cell phone case for the park manager:

I think this is the third iteration. As you can see, I’ve lined it with pigskin:  

The following is a terrible picture, mostly because of the shadow that pretty much covers the bottom, but this is a wild rose I carved and stamped today for one of the pieces I’m working on.

 

I actually have all of the carving and stamping completed on this piece. Now I just have to color it. I’ll try to give you a better picture of this part of the design once I’ve colored it. The work is pretty time-consuming – it probably takes 24-48 hours from start to finish to make one, not counting the six hours it takes to lace it. BUT, I’m having a ball doing it.

Until next time…