Judges 3:26-30

26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond ¹the idols and escaped to Seirah.

27 When he arrived, ²he sounded the trumpet in ³the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader.

28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, ⁴for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand. ” So they went down after him and seized ⁵the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over.

29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped.

30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. ⁶And the land had rest for eighty years.

Judges 3:26-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 3

This chapter gives an account of the nations left in Canaan to prove Israel, and who became a snare unto them, Jud 3:1-7; and of the servitude of Israel under the king of Mesopotamia for their sins, from which they were delivered by Othniel, Jud 3:8-11; and of their subjection to the Moabites, from which they were freed by Ehud, who privately assassinated the king of Moab, and then made his escape, Jud 3:12-30; and of the destruction of a large number of Philistines by Shamgar, with an ox goad, Jud 3:31.

Cross References

• 1. 3:26 ver. 19
• 2. 3:27 ch. 6:34; 1 Sam. 13:3
• 3. 3:27 See Josh. 24:33
• 4. 3:28 ch. 4:7, 14; 7:9, 15; 1 Sam. 17:47; 2 Chr. 16:8; [1 Kgs. 22:12, 15]
• 5. 3:28 ch. 12:5; Josh. 2:7; [ch. 7:24]
• 6. 3:30 ver. 11