Judges 3

Judges 3:1

Gregory the Dialogist: God’s providence, Peter, in bestowing of his gifts, is wonderful: for often it falleth out, that upon whom he vouchsafeth the greater, he giveth not the less: to the end that always they may have somewhat to mis-like in themselves: so that desiring to arrive unto perfection and yet can not: and labouring about that which they have not obtained, and can not prevail: by this means they become not proud of those gifts which they have received, but do thereby learn that they have not those greater graces of themselves, who of themselves cannot overcome small faults. And this was the cause that, when God had brought his people into the land of promise, and destroyed all their mighty and potent enemies, yet did he long time after reserve the Philistines and Caananites, that, as it is written, “He might in them try Israel.” For sometime as hath been said, upon whom he bestoweth great gifts, he leaveth some small things that be blameworthy, that always they may have somewhat to fight against, and not to be proud, though their great enemies be vanquished, seeing other adversaries in very small things do put them to great trouble: and therefore it falleth out strangely, that one and the self same man is excellent for virtue, and yet of infirmity sometime doth offend, so that he may behold himself on the one side strong and well furnished, and on another open and not defended: that by the good thing which he seeketh for, and is not able to procure, he may with humility preserve that virtue which already he hath in possession. But what wonder is it that we speak this concerning man, when as heaven itself lost some of his citizens, and other some continued sound in God’s grace: that the elect Angels of God, seeing others through pride to fall from heaven, might stand so much the more steadfast, by how much with humility they preserved God’s grace received? They, therefore, took profit by that loss which heaven then had, and were thereby made to persevere more constantly in God’s service for all eternity. In like manner it fareth with each man’s soul, which sometime for preserving of humility, by a little loss it attaineth to great spiritual perfection. — Dialogues, Book 3, Chapter 14

John Cassian: As useful as it is to me that you [the Lord] should leave me for a little while in order to test the steadfastness of my desire, so it is harmful if you let me be abandoned for too long because of my deserts and my sins. For no human strength will be able to endure by its own steadfastness if it is too long abandoned by your help in time of trial. Nor will it be able to give way instantly before the power and wherewithal of the adversary if you yourself, who are aware of human strengths and are the arbiter of our struggles, “do not permit us to be tried beyond our capacity, but with the trial also provide a way out, so that we may be able to endure.“We read something like this as it appears in mystical fashion in the book of Judges with respect to the extermination of the spiritual nations that are opposed to Israel: “These are the nations that the Lord forsook, so that by them he might instruct Israel, so that they might grow accustomed to fighting with their enemies.” And again, a little further on: “The Lord left them so that he might test Israel with them, whether or not they would hear the commandments of the Lord that he had laid down for their forefathers by the hand of Moses.” God did not begrudge Israel their peace or look with malice upon them, but he planned this conflict in the knowledge that it would be beneficial. Thus, constantly oppressed by the onslaught of the nations, they would never feel that they did not need the Lord’s help. Hence they would always meditate on him and cry out to him, and they would neither lapse into sluggish inactivity nor lose their ability to fight and their training in virtue. For frequently security and prosperity have brought low those whom adversities cannot overcome. — CONFERENCE 4.6.3-4

Judges 3:8

Origen of Alexandria: Now Chusarsaton’s name is translated as “humiliation.” They were delivered, then, to the hands of one who would humiliate them. And it was because they acted wickedly on the heights of the mountains against the Most High that he sent them to their humiliation. But I don’t want you to think that it is only in relation to the ancients that divine providence delivers those who were exalted in wickedness for the purpose of humiliating them and that they may be healed by such a wholesome remedy. Presently as well, almighty God’s healing providence is [not] lacking in relation to his church. Even now, there is a “Chusarsaton king of Mesopotamia” to whom souls are handed over for humiliation and affliction, souls who had moved themselves from despised Christian humility into pride and arrogance. The vice of pride is utterly hateful in the sight of God, for, as Scripture says, “pride is the beginning of departure from God” and, again, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” — HOMILIES ON Judges 3.1

Judges 3:9

John Cassian: We frequently find this calling from need in Scripture as well, when we read that on account of their sins, the children of Israel were delivered over by the Lord to their enemies and that, having changed their course because of their domination and savage cruelty, they cried out to the Lord. “And the Lord sent them,” it says, “a deliverer named Ehud, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, who used either hand as if it were his right hand.” And again it says, “They cried out to the Lord, who raised up a deliverer for them, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, and he freed them.” And it said of them in a psalm: “When he killed them, then they sought him, and they turned and at dawn they came to God, and they remembered that God was their helper.” And again: “They cried out to the Lord when they were troubled, and he freed them from their distress.“Of these three kinds [of calling from need], then, although the first two seem to be supported by better beginnings, nonetheless we find that even on the third level [recorded by the psalmist], which seems inferior and lukewarm, there have been people who are perfect and very fervent in spirit, similar to those who have made an excellent beginning in the Lord’s service and have passed the rest of their lives in praiseworthy intensity of spirit. Likewise there are many who have become tepid and have fallen from a higher level and very frequently ended up in tragedy. [Thus], just as it was no drawback to the former that they seem to have been converted not by their own will but by force of necessity, inasmuch as the Lord’s kindness furnished the occasion whereby they might feel compunction, likewise their having been converted in some sublime fashion profited the latter nothing whatsoever, because they did not strive to live out the rest of their days accordingly. — CONFERENCE 3.4.5-3.5.1

Origen of Alexandria: It calls the savior “Othniel,” which means “the time of God for me.” Through this first Othniel, then, the people were delivered from their humiliating servility and were restored to peace rather than having their longstanding pride and various deeds removed. But because we already said that a certain spiritual identity can be found in King Chusarsaton as one of the adversaries and a prince of the “powers of the air,” it seems to me fitting to say that Othniel likewise, who was raised up to deliver the people, is a member of the “host of heaven” and of the throng of archangels who “are sent to support those who receive the inheritance of salvation.” These angels are saviors, moreover, designated under the form of Othniel or Ehud, for, as we have often shown, we do not fight alone against the powers of the enemy, but good forces and powers are also sent to our aid by the Lord. — HOMILIES ON Judges 3.3

Augustine of Hippo: And the Lord raised a savior for Israel and saved them. And then, as if he were asked who the savior was, he adds: To Gotoniel, son of Cenez. Gotoniel is here in accusative, as if he had said: Gothonielem (to Gotoniel). For the rest, we must pay attention to the fact that God calls a man a savior through whom he will save them. The text reads as follows: The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised a savior for Israel, and he saved them: to Gothoniel son of Cenez, Caleb’s younger brother, and he heard them. Among the different kinds of hyperbaton, what is here is rare, because it also participates in what the Greeks call hysterology. If the words that are put at the end: And he listened to them, put them before, the phrase would be clearer. For the order is this: And the children of Israel cried to the Lord, and he heard them, and the Lord raised up a savior for Israel. Then comes what has interposed here: And saved them. And then it is said: To Gotoniel -as if he were in accusative Gothonielem-, son of Cenez. If the passage were read this way, it would be clearer: And the Lord raised a savior for Israel, Gotoniel son of Cenez, and saved them. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 18 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:11

Augustine of Hippo: The Scripture testifies that, under judge Gotoniel, the promised land was in peace, free of wars, for forty years. It is the space of time that the beginnings of the Roman Empire under Numa Pompilio could have in peace as the only king. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 19 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:15

Jerome: What did you mean by saying, two thousand fall at the side? Naturally, when the right hand is designated and the left is not, the side is named in place of the left hand. It would not be right, certainly, for the just man to have a left hand: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek,” counsels the Lord, “turn to him the other also.” Notice that he did not say, “the left also,” for it is not the left cheek that is offered, but another right cheek. I shall express this very plainly, therefore, by saying that the just man has two right cheeks. The man, Ehud, for example, who is written of in the book of Judges, is said to have two right hands because he was a just man and killed that fat stupid king. “Though two thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand.” There are very many who lie in wait at our right hand, not so many who plot against our left; [thus], a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand. Where there is greater combat, there is, of course, greater victory. Few lie in ambush at our side, but many at our right hand. — HOMILIES ON THE Psalms 20 (Psalms 90)

John Cassian: These are the persons, then, who are referred to in holy Scripture as amphoterodexioi—that is, as ambidextrous. Ehud, “who used either hand as if it were his right hand,” is described as such in the book of Judges. We shall also be able to possess this quality in a spiritual way if by a good and correct use we put the things which are considered fortunate and right-handed and the things which are called unfortunate and left-handed on the right side, that whatever befalls may become for us, in the words of the apostle, “the arms of righteousness.” For we see that our inner man consists in two parts or, as I might say, two hands. No holy person can be without what we call the left hand, but perfect virtue is discerned in the fact that by proper use he turns both into a right hand. — CONFERENCE 6.10.1

Origen of Alexandria: Let’s observe how Ehud, whose name means “praise,” discharged his leadership. History teaches us, in its writings about King Eglon, how this most wise Ehud with particular skill and, if I may say, cunning but praiseworthy deception, would kill the tyrant Eglon, whose name means “round” or “circular.” It was necessary, then, to have the quality of judges of our people as was this Ehud, whose name means “praise,” so to cut through all his rolling motion and circuit of evil ways and to destroy the king of the Moabites. But Moabite is translated as “flow” or “effusion.” Who can the ruler or leader of this flowing and dissolute people be seen or understood to be, therefore, other than the word of that philosophy which adjudges pleasure to be the highest good, a philosophy which the word of the gospel, which has been compared to a sword, killed and destroyed? And this prophetic word would become enclosed within their belly and lowest stomach by means of the “ambidextrous” judge’s arguments, to extinguish the Moabites by assertion of the truth, enclosing also every sense of perverse doctrine and dull understanding “which extols itself and rises against the spiritual knowledge of Christ,” so that by acting thus and by doing battle with the word of God, each judge of the church may also become a praising Ehud, about whom the Lord would say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few, so I will set you over many.” — HOMILIES ON Judges 4.1

Judges 3:17

Augustine of Hippo: We can rightly ask why it is said that King Eglon was very thin and that fats closed the wound, when he was mortally wounded. We must think that what was usually understood in the opposite sense was said with that first sentence. For example, it is called sacred forest (lucus) which does not let the light pass (luceat). It is said that a thing abounds, when there is nothing of it. It is said that one blessed the king when he cursed him, as it appears in the book of the Kings about Nabute. In the Latin translation, which does not depend on the Seventy, but on the Hebrew text, we find the following: But King Eglon was very fat. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 21 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:19

Augustine of Hippo: We can ask if Judge Aod lied when he killed Eglon, king of Moab. Trying, then Ehud ambush him to kill him, he says: I have a message from God for you, oh king, so that Eglon could fire everyone who was with him. When he did it, Aod says again: I have a message from God for you, oh king! (Jc 3,20) The answer is that it may not be a lie, because the Scripture usually also calls word or message to a fact. And that was the way it was. The words: a message from God, we must understand them in the sense that God commanded that to be done to that man whom he had raised as savior for the people, as it was convenient in those times for those things to be done by divine disposition. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 20 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:23

Augustine of Hippo: And Aod went out and passed through the guards and closed the doors of the upper gallery behind him and bolted. This which had been omitted, is now said by recapitulation. Because it is to believe that Ehod did this before and so he would come down from the top and pass in front of the guardians. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 22 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:25

Augustine of Hippo: It may be strange that the servants of King Eglon had opened with a key what Eod had not locked with a key, he would not have taken it with him so that the servants would not have opened it even with the key. Therefore, either they brought another key, or it was another kind of lock that could be locked without a key, but it could not be opened without it. Sure enough, there are locks like that, like what are called locks. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 23 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:30

Augustine of Hippo: Now, judges were established over them from the time they took over the promised land and before the monarchy began. And even during this era, the children of iniquity, that is, foreign foes, afflicted them, for we read they had now peace, now war. Even so, you can find periods of peace in the age of the judges longer than that of Solomon, who reigned forty years. Specifically, under the judge named Ehud, there were eighty years of peace. — City of God 17.13

Augustine of Hippo: Under Judge Aod Israel enjoyed peace for eighty years the promised land. It is twice as long as the Romans enjoyed under King Numa Pompilio. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 24 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Judges 3:31

Augustine of Hippo: After him arose Shamgar, son of Anat, who defeated the foreigners, who were six hundred men, besides the calves of the cows, and saved Israel. We can ask how after Ehud this man fought for Israel and is said to have saved Israel, since the Israelites had not been taken captive again or had not been subjected to the yoke of slavery. But we can understand what is said: he saved, not because the enemy had caused any damage, but that he acted so that he was not allowed to do so. We can think that the enemy began to try to make war, but this Judge prevented him, defeating him. On the other hand, the meaning of the phrase is obscure: besides the calves of the cows. Did he make a killing of cows in the battle and that’s why he is said to have killed six hundred men, in addition to what he did with the cows he killed? And why calves? Is it normal in the Greek language to call calves also those who are already big? It is said that in Egypt it is said so vulgarly, just as among us chickens of any age are called chickens. The translation done on the Hebrew does not have this phrase: besides the calves of the cows, that is based on the Seventy. The translation made on the Hebrew says: Six hundred men killed with the plowshare, phrase that the Seventy do not have. — QUESTIONS ON JUDGES, Q. 25 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)