Judges 3:1-31
nations <01471> [A.M. 2561. B.C. 1443. An. Ex. Is. 48. the nations.]
test <05254> [prove.]
experienced <03045> [as had not.]
experienced <03045> [might know.]
teach <03925> [to teach.]
Their fathers fought by a divine power. God taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight, that they might be the instruments of destruction to the wicked nations on whom the curse rested; but now that they had forfeited His favour, they must learn what it is to fight like other men.
five lords <05633 02568> [five lords.]
Canaanites <03669> [Canaanites.]
Sidonians <06722> [Sidonians.]
Mount .... Mount <02022> [in mount.]
test <05254> [to prove.]
lived <03427> [dwelt.]
Canaanites <03669> [Canaanites.]
did evil <06213 07451> [did evil.]
Asherahs <0842> [the groves.]
furious <02734> [A.M. 2591. B.C. 1413. An. Ex. Is. 78. was hot.]
turned ... over <04376> [he sold.]
Cushan-Rishathaim ...... Cushan-Rishathaim's <03573> [Chushan-rishathaim.]
Aram-Naharaim <0763> [Mesopotamia. Heb. Aram-naharaim.]
{Aram-naharayim,} "Syria of the two rivers," or Mesopotamia, "between the rivers," is a famous province situated between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is called by Arabian geographers, {Maverannaher,} "the country beyond the river;" and is now called Diarbek.
cried <02199> [A.M. 2599. B.C. 1405. An. Ex. Is. 86. cried.]
raised <06965> [raised up.]
deliverer ...... rescued <03467> [deliverer. Heb. saviour. Othniel.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
led <08199> [came. Heb. was. Mesopotamia. Heb. Aram.]
land <0776> [the land.]
Othniel <06274> [Othniel.]
did evil ................... done evil <06213 07451> [A.M. 2662. B.C. 1342. An. Ex. Is. 148. did evil.]
Lord's .... Lord ................. Lord's <03068> [and the Lord.]
King <04428> [the king.]
Ammonites <05983> [Ammon.]
City <05892> [the city.]
subject <05647> [served.]
cried out ...... Lord he <02199 03068> [A.M. 2679. B.C. 1325. An. Ex. Is. 166. cried unto.]
Benjaminite <01145> [a Benjamite. or, the son of Jemini. left-handed. Heb. shut of his right hand.]
This Hebrew phrase intimates that, either through disease or disuse, he made little or no use of the right hand, but of his left only, and so was the less fit for war, because he would most likely wield a dagger awkwardly: yet God chose this left-handed man to be the minister of his retributive justice. It was God's right hand that gained Israel the victory, Ps 44:3; not the right hand of the instruments he employed.
sent .......... tribute payment <07971 04503> [sent a present.]
two edges <06366 08147> [two edges.]
right <03225> [upon.]
very fat <01277 03966> [a very fat.]
carved images <06456> [quarries. or graven images.]
secret <05643> [a secret.]
attendants <05975> [And all that.]
well-ventilated upper room <05944 04747> [a summer parlour. Heb. a parlour of cooling.]
The {ƒleeyah,} or upper chamber, seems to have been of the same description as the {ol‰ah} of the Arabs, but properly ventilated, described by Dr. Shaw, who says, that to most of their houses there is a smaller one annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at other times, it consists of one or two rooms only, and a terrace; while others that are built, as they frequently are, over the porch or gateway, have, if we except the ground floor, which they want, all the conveniences that belong to the house itself. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house; besides another, which opens immediately from a private staircase, down into the porch or street, without giving the least disturbance to the house. In these back houses strangers are usually lodged and entertained; and to them likewise the men are wont to retire from the noise and hurry of their families, to be more at leisure for mediation or diversions.
message <01697> [I have.]
rose up <06965> [he arose.]
drove ..... belly <08628 0990> [thrust it.]
<03318 06574> [the dirt came out. or, it came out at the fundament.]
relieving <05526> [covereth, etc. or, doeth his easement.]
carved images <06456> [the quarries.]
blew <08628> [he blew.]
hill country .......... hill country <02022> [mountain.]
them <07291> [Follow.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
fords <04569> [the fords.]
strong capable <08082> [lusty. Heb. fat.]
land <0776> [And the land.]
Shamgar <08044> [Shamgar.]
oxgoad <04451 01241> [an ox goad.]
This implement, Mr. Maundrell informs us, in Palestine and Syria is of an extraordinary size. He measured several, and "found them about eight feet long; and at the bigger end about six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen; and at the other end with a small paddle of iron, strong and massive, for cleansing the plough from the clay. In the hand of a powerful man such an instrument must be more dangerous and fatal than a sword."
delivered <03467> [also.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
"So part is called Israel."
"It seems to concern only the country next to the Philistines."
