Judges Sermons 

The Lord Saved His People Through Othniel

Scripture Readings:Judges 3:7-11 (text); Romans 13:1-4

June 19, 2016 (BSCC); June 26, 2016 (ZCRC Pasig) • Download this sermon (PDF)

Congregation of Christ: In the introduction to the Book of Judges, the author lays out for us the repeating cycle of sin, oppression, crying out in distress, God sending a judge, restoration, and then back to sin again in the life of Israel. Starting with the story of the first judge, Othniel, we see this cycle in a real historical cycle.

judges-2Othniel’s story is a short five verses. No other judge story is shorter, except for Shamgar’s at the end of Chapter 3. Othniel is colorless, undramatic, and without suspense. As the story of the first judge after the introduction, it is as if the author merely filled in the blanks of the cycle of Israel’s story under the judges. At last, there are specific names, places and years. Othniel’s story then is another introduction to whet the reader’s appetite, because the book is a series of stories of Israel’s “colorful” eleven judges.

There may be two reasons for this simplicity. The author writes Othniel’s story as a paradigm, an example judge story to introduce the other eleven judges. Except for Shamgar’s one-verse story, the rest of the judge stories are full of Hollywood-style drama, twists, intrigue and gore, in addition to plenty of interesting characters and geography.

The other reason might be that the author wanted the reader to see the work of the Lord in this story. In just five verses, YHWH, the covenant name of God, is mentioned seven times. He, not Othniel, is the main actor. Othniel is merely an instrument of the Lord in delivering his people from the oppressors. The Lord raised him up to save his people. He was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. And the Lord gave Israel’s oppressor into his hand.

So our theme today is “The Lord Saved His People Through Othniel,” under three headings: first, “The Lord Raised Up a Deliverer”; second, “The Spirit of the Lord was Upon Him”; and third, “The Lord Gave the King into His Hand.”

Read the rest of the sermon here.

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