1 Now these are the nations which the Lord kept in the land for the purpose of testing Israel by them, all those who had had no experience of all the wars of Canaan;
From now on I will not go on driving out from before them any of the nations which at the death of Joshua were still living in this land; In order to put Israel to the test, and see if they will keep the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did, or not.
The Lord your God will send out the nations before you little by little; they are not to be rooted out quickly, for fear that the beasts of the field may be increased overmuch against you.
Who gave you manna for your food in the waste land, a food which your fathers had never seen; so that your pride might be broken and your hearts tested for your good in the end;
And in time death overtook all that generation; and another generation came after them, having no knowledge of the Lord or of the things which he had done for Israel.
For he has knowledge of the way I take; after I have been tested I will come out like gold.
The heating-pot is for silver and the oven-fire for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.
The heart is a twisted thing, not to be searched out by man: who is able to have knowledge of it? I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts, so that I may give to every man the reward of his ways, in keeping with the fruit of his doings.
And I will make the third part go through the fire, cleaning them as silver is made clean, and testing them as gold is tested: and they will make their prayer to me and I will give them an answer: I will say, It is my people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
So that the true metal of your faith, being of much greater value than gold (which, though it comes to an end, is tested by fire), may come to light in praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of Jesus Christ:
Dear brothers, do not be surprised, as if it was something strange, if your faith is tested as by fire:
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.