And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
The book is named for the leaders God raised up from time to time whose deeds it records, and this verse marks one of the times of great national crisis when the nation had gone into captivity, in which God called a judge to service, for which reason the judges are called saviours. After Ehud was dead the verse begins another of the repeated cycles in Judges 3-17 of backsliding from God followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, then returning to God and receiving forgiveness and deliverance. It continues the pattern of falling back into sin after a period of reform.
The evil done again was turning from God to idolatry. That relapse exposes the perversity and unbelief of the people and magnifies the long-suffering and goodness of God. It is explained by the awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes Israel permitted to remain in the land of promise.
The doing of evil brought the nation into great national crisis and captivity under oppression and danger from its enemies. The oppression lasted twenty years before the people turned from idolatry, repented, and cried to the Lord for deliverance. The oppression involved Sisera's army with nine hundred iron chariots, but Israel under Deborah and Barak defeated him and the Canaanites when they acted in faith.
The account opened by the verse is the object-lesson battle at Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak, one of the great victories on the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people. Megiddo is the same place as Armageddon and foreshadows the final gathering of the nations into Armageddon under the sixth plague when the nations scramble for territory after the Turk leaves Europe, to be studied together with the sixth and seventh plagues. The chapter introduced by the verse, with Deborah the prophetess helping Barak, shows the honor God the Father bestowed upon women. It proves that the silence enjoined upon women concerning ruling and governmental matters in the church does not forbid women from taking part in the worship of God and public service, since a woman could serve publicly and speak for God without lording authority over men.
The account applies to fallen humanity today, since people and churches still conform to worldly fashions, and human nature cannot be trusted to remain faithful.
The book is named for the leaders God raised up from time to time whose deeds it records, and this verse marks one of the times of great national crisis when the nation had gone into captivity, in which God called a judge to service, for which reason the judges are called saviours. After Ehud was dead the verse begins another of the repeated cycles in Judges 3-17 of backsliding from God followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, then returning to God and receiving forgiveness and deliverance. It continues the pattern of falling back into sin after a period of reform.
The evil done again was turning from God to idolatry. That relapse exposes the perversity and unbelief of the people and magnifies the long-suffering and goodness of God. It is explained by the awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes Israel permitted to remain in the land of promise.
The doing of evil brought the nation into great national crisis and captivity under oppression and danger from its enemies. The oppression lasted twenty years before the people turned from idolatry, repented, and cried to the Lord for deliverance. The oppression involved Sisera's army with nine hundred iron chariots, but Israel under Deborah and Barak defeated him and the Canaanites when they acted in faith.
The account opened by the verse is the object-lesson battle at Megiddo in the days of Deborah and Barak, one of the great victories on the Old Testament battlefield where Israel fought the enemies of God's people. Megiddo is the same place as Armageddon and foreshadows the final gathering of the nations into Armageddon under the sixth plague when the nations scramble for territory after the Turk leaves Europe, to be studied together with the sixth and seventh plagues. The chapter introduced by the verse, with Deborah the prophetess helping Barak, shows the honor God the Father bestowed upon women. It proves that the silence enjoined upon women concerning ruling and governmental matters in the church does not forbid women from taking part in the worship of God and public service, since a woman could serve publicly and speak for God without lording authority over men.
The account applies to fallen humanity today, since people and churches still conform to worldly fashions, and human nature cannot be trusted to remain faithful.