Study Desk

The Israelites begged the Lord for help, and the Lord chose Ehud from the Benjamin tribe to rescue them. They put Ehud in charge of taking the taxes to King Eglon, but before Ehud went, he made a double-edged dagger. Ehud was left-handed, so he strapped the dagger to his right thigh, where it would be hidden under his robes.

Ehud went with the other Israelites as far as the statues at Gilgal. Then he turned back and went upstairs to the cool room where Eglon had his throne. Ehud said, "Your Majesty, I need to talk with you in private." Eglon replied, "Don't say anything yet!" His officials left the room, and Eglon stood up as Ehud came closer. "Yes," Ehud said, "I have a message for you from God!"

Moab was so badly defeated that it was a long time before they were strong enough to attack Israel again. And Israel was at peace for eighty years.

Jabin's army had nine hundred iron chariots, and for twenty years he made life miserable for the Israelites, until finally they begged the Lord for help.

One day, Barak the son of Abinoam was in Kedesh in Naphtali, and Deborah sent word for him to come and talk with her. When he arrived, she said: I have a message for you from the Lord God of Israel! You are to get together an army of ten thousand men from the Naphtali and Zebulun tribes and lead them to Mount Tabor.

"All right, I'll go!" she replied. "But I'm warning you that the Lord is going to let a woman defeat Sisera, and no one will honor you for winning the battle." Deborah and Barak left for Kedesh,

Deborah shouted, "Barak, it's time to attack Sisera! Because today the Lord is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the Lord has already gone on ahead to fight for you." Barak led his ten thousand troops down from Mount Tabor.

Meanwhile, Barak had been following Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. "The man you're looking for is inside," she said. "Come in and I'll show him to you." They went inside, and there was Sisera—dead and stretched out with a tent-peg through his skull.

Listen, kings and rulers, while I sing for the Lord , the God of Israel.

In the time of Shamgar son of Anath, and now again in Jael's time, roads were too dangerous for caravans. Travelers had to take the back roads,

I praise you, Lord , and I am grateful for those leaders and soldiers who volunteered.

Reuben, why did you stay among your sheep pens? Was it to listen to shepherds whistling for their sheep? No one could figure out why Reuben wouldn't come.

Sisera asked for water, but Jael gave him milk— cream in a fancy cup.

She reached for a tent-peg and held a hammer in her right hand. And with a blow to the head, she crushed his skull.

"Sisera and his troops are finding treasures to bring back— a woman, or maybe two, for each man, and beautiful dresses for those women to wear."

Our Lord , we pray that all your enemies will die like Sisera. But let everyone who loves you shine brightly like the sun at dawn. There was peace in Israel for about forty years.

Then once again the Israelites started disobeying the Lord , so he let the nation of Midian control Israel for seven years.

The Midianites took almost everything that belonged to the Israelites, and the Israelites begged the Lord for help.

Then the Lord sent a prophet to them with this message: I am the Lord God of Israel, so listen to what I say. You were slaves in Egypt, but I set you free and led you out of Egypt into this land. And when nations here made life miserable for you, I rescued you and helped you get rid of them and take their land.

Gideon built an altar for worshiping the Lord and called it "The Lord Calms Our Fears." It still stands there in Ophrah, a town in the territory of the Abiezer clan.