In the World

The Lord used the foreign nations surrounding Israel to test the Israelite's devotion to him.  As we'll see in the rest of this sermon series, this is a test that God's people failed, again and again and again.

In this passage, we meet the first three judges of Israel.  Othniel is the first judge, and the account of his acts is the most straightforward of all the accounts in Judges.  The accounts of the later judges give more details about these judges; unfortunately, these details often include the ways the judges themselves sinned against God.  (Already with the second judge, Ehud, there is a disturbing detail about his story--basically, he was an assassin.) 

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