Study Desk

That whole generation also died, and the next generation forgot the Lord and what he had done for Israel.

They were to be a test for Israel, to find out whether or not the Israelites would obey the commands that the Lord had given their ancestors through Moses.

So the Lord became angry with Israel and let King Cushan Rishathaim of Mesopotamia conquer them. They were subject to him for eight years.

There was peace in the land for forty years, and then Othniel died.

The Israelites were subject to Eglon for eighteen years.

Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord , and he sent someone to free them. This was Ehud, a left-handed man, who was the son of Gera, from the tribe of Benjamin. The people of Israel sent Ehud to King Eglon of Moab with gifts for him.

But Ehud himself turned back at the carved stones near Gilgal, went back to Eglon, and said, "Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you." So the king ordered his servants, "Leave us alone!" And they all went out.

Then, as the king was sitting there alone in his cool room on the roof, Ehud went over to him and said, "I have a message from God for you." The king stood up.

That day the Israelites defeated Moab, and there was peace in the land for eighty years.

Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, and he ruled the people of Israel with cruelty and violence for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help.

Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet, and she was serving as a judge for the Israelites at that time.

She would sit under a certain palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel would go there for her decisions.

One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam from the city of Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, "The Lord , the God of Israel, has given you this command: ‘Take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor.

She answered, "All right, I will go with you, but you won't get any credit for the victory, because the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah set off for Kedesh with Barak.

When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "Come here! I'll show you the man you're looking for." So he went in with her, and there was Sisera on the ground, dead, with the tent peg through his head.

The towns of Israel stood abandoned, Deborah; they stood empty until you came, came like a mother for Israel.

"Put a curse on Meroz," says the angel of the Lord , "a curse, a curse on those who live there. They did not come to help the Lord , come as soldiers to fight for him."

Sisera asked for water, but she gave him milk; she brought him cream in a beautiful bowl.

"They are only finding things to capture and divide, a woman or two for every soldier, rich cloth for Sisera, embroidered pieces for the neck of the queen."

So may all your enemies die like that, O Lord , but may your friends shine like the rising sun! And there was peace in the land for forty years.