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Judges 3 · a question people ask

Why would the LORD strengthen Israel's enemy (3:12)?

In the text

The verse gives its reason, and names Israel's evil twice: "The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight" (3:12). It is what 3:8 says of the first round: "the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim" (3:8). The book's summary had said it would be so, "as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them" (2:15). Moses had set it out: "I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you" (Leviticus 26:17). In Hebrew strengthened is the verb of the LORD's charge to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:6). And the chapter tells the other side in the same round: when Israel cried, "the LORD raised up a savior for them" (3:15).

The verses

“Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.”
Judges 3:8 · World English Bible
“The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.”
Judges 3:12 · World English Bible
“But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.”
Judges 3:15 · World English Bible
“The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the LORD’s hand was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them; and they were very distressed.”
Judges 2:14-15 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Judges 3

Judges 3: The LORD raised up a savior

Israel's first cry to the LORD in Judges comes in chapter 3, and both times they cry, "the LORD raised up a savior" (3:9, 3:15): Othniel, on whom the LORD's Spirit came, and Ehud, a left-handed man of Benjamin, the tribe whose name Strong's gives as "son of (the) right hand".

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions