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Juízes 3

BLIVRE · Chapter 3/21

1Estas, pois, são as nações que o SENHOR deixou para provar com elas a Israel, a todos aqueles que não haviam conhecido todas as guerras de Canaã;

2Somente para que a linhagem dos filhos de Israel conhecesse, para ensiná-los na guerra, pelo menos aos que antes não a conheciam:

3Cinco príncipes dos filisteus, e todos os cananeus, e os sidônios, e os heveus que habitavam no monte Líbano: desde o monte de Baal-Hermom até chegar a Hamate.

4Estes, pois, foram para provar por eles a Israel, para saber se obedeceriam aos mandamentos do SENHOR, que ele havia prescrito a seus pais por meio de Moisés.

5Assim os filhos de Israel habitavam entre os cananeus, heteus, amorreus, perizeus, heveus, e jebuseus:

6E tomaram de suas filhas por mulheres, e deram suas filhas aos filhos deles, e serviram a seus deuses.

7Fizeram, pois, os filhos de Israel o mal aos olhos do SENHOR: e esquecidos do SENHOR seu Deus, serviram aos baalins, e aos ídolos dos bosques.

8E a ira do SENHOR se acendeu contra Israel, e vendeu-os em mãos de Cusã-Risataim rei da Mesopotâmia; e serviram os filhos de Israel a Cusã-Risataim oito anos.

9E clamaram os filhos de Israel ao SENHOR; e o SENHOR suscitou salvador aos filhos de Israel e livrou-os; é, a saber, a Otniel filho de Quenaz, irmão menor de Calebe.

10E o espírito do SENHOR foi sobre ele, e julgou a Israel, e saiu à batalha, e o SENHOR entregou em sua mão a Cusã-Risataim, rei da Síria, e prevaleceu sua mão contra Cusã-Risataim.

11E repousou a terra quarenta anos; e morreu Otniel, filho de Quenaz.

12E voltaram os filhos de Israel a fazer o mal ante os olhos do SENHOR; e o SENHOR esforçou a Eglom rei de Moabe contra Israel, porquanto fizeram o mal ante os olhos do SENHOR.

13E Juntou consigo aos filhos de Amom e de Amaleque, e foi, e feriu a Israel, e tomou a cidade das palmeiras.

14E serviram os filhos de Israel a Eglom rei dos moabitas dezoito anos.

15E clamaram os filhos de Israel ao SENHOR; e o SENHOR lhes suscitou salvador, a Eúde, filho de Gera, benjamita, o qual era canhoto. E os filhos de Israel enviaram com ele um presente a Eglom rei de Moabe.

16E Eúde se havia feito um punhal de dois fios, de um côvado de comprimento; e cingiu-se com ele debaixo de suas roupas à seu lado direito.

17E apresentou o presente a Eglom rei de Moabe; e era Eglom homem muito gordo.

18E logo que apresentou o presente, despediu à gente que o havia trazido.

19Mas ele se virou desde os ídolos que estão em Gilgal, e disse: Rei, uma palavra secreta tenho que dizer-te. Ele então disse: Cala. E sairam-se de com ele todos os que diante dele estavam.

20E chegou-se Eúde a ele, o qual estava sentado sozinho em uma sala de verão. E Eúde disse: Tenho palavra de Deus para ti. Ele então se levantou da cadeira.

21Mas Eúde meteu sua mão esquerda, e tomou o punhal de seu lado direito, e meteu-o pelo ventre;

22De tal maneira que a empunhadura entrou também atrás a lâmina, e a gordura encerrou a lâmina, que ele não tirou o punhal de seu ventre: e saiu dele fezes.

23E saindo Eúde ao pátio, fechou atrás si as portas da sala.

24E saído ele, vieram seus servos, os quais vendo as portas da sala fechadas, disseram: Sem dúvida ele está fazendo suas necessidades na sala de verão.

25E havendo esperado até estar confusos, pois que ele não abria as portas da sala, tomaram a chave e abriram: e eis que seu senhor caído em terra morto.

26Mas enquanto que eles se demoravam, Eúde se escapou, e passando os ídolos, salvou-se em Seirá.

27E quando entrou, tocou a trombeta no monte de Efraim, e os filhos de Israel desceram com ele do monte, e ele ia adiante deles.

28Então ele lhes disse: Segui-me, porque o SENHOR entregou vossos inimigos os moabitas em vossas mãos. E desceram atrás dele, e tomaram os vaus do Jordão a Moabe, e não deixaram passar a ninguém.

29E naquele tempo feriram dos moabitas como dez mil homens, todos valentes e todos homens de guerra; não escapou homem.

30Assim restou Moabe subjugado aquele dia sob a mão de Israel: e repousou a terra oitenta anos.

31Depois deste foi Sangar filho de Anate, o qual feriu seiscentos homens dos filisteus com uma aguilhada de bois; e ele também salvou a Israel.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God raises up the first judges: Othniel delivers Israel from oppression by Mesopotamia, Ehud kills the obese king Eglon of Moab with a hidden dagger, and Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines with an ox goad.

Explanation

These first three deliverers show the diversity of ways God works: Othniel is a conventional military leader, Ehud uses cunning and a concealed weapon (being left-handed, he slipped past the guards who searched the right side), and Shamgar uses nothing more than a common farming tool. Ehud's story, though violent, was told with dark humor in ancient Hebrew culture — the grotesque details about the fat king and the servants hesitant to interrupt his privacy highlight the irony of an arrogant oppressor's downfall. The central message is that God does not depend on sophisticated weapons or large armies to deliver his people.

Fun facts

  • Being left-handed in the tribe of Benjamin is mentioned repeatedly in Judges (also in chapter 20), suggesting this trait was relatively common or notable within that particular tribe.
  • Shamgar, who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad (a long stick used to drive cattle), is cited decades later in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:6) as a time marker well known to the people.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Juízes 3:1Here the text lists the nations the Lord deliberately left behind to test Israel, especially the generations that had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan.
  2. Juízes 3:2The purpose is for the new generations to learn to fight, since those who had never seen war needed this kind of experience.
  3. Juízes 3:3Five Philistine lords are named, along with the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
  4. Juízes 3:4These peoples were left to test Israel, to see whether the people would obey the commandments the Lord had given to Moses.
  5. Juízes 3:5So Israel came to live mixed together with Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
  6. Juízes 3:6The Israelites married the daughters of these peoples and gave their own daughters in marriage to them, and ended up serving their gods. This is exactly what had been forbidden from the very beginning.
  7. Juízes 3:7Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting Him and serving the Baalim and Ashtaroth.
  8. Juízes 3:8The Lord’s anger burns, and He sells Israel into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; the people serve him for eight years, the first oppression of the cycle.
  9. Juízes 3:9Israel cries out to the Lord, and He raises up a deliverer, Othniel, the same nephew of Caleb who had already appeared conquering a city back in chapter 1.
  10. Juízes 3:10The Spirit of the Lord coming upon Othniel is the mark of a judge in this book: it is not a royal anointing or an inherited office, but a one-time calling to lead the deliverance of that specific moment.
  11. Juízes 3:11The land has rest for forty years after Othniel’s victory, until he dies.
  12. Juízes 3:12Israel again does what is evil, and the Lord strengthens Eglon, king of Moab, against the people.
  13. Juízes 3:13Eglon joins forces with the Ammonites and Amalekites, attacks Israel, and takes the city of palm trees, another name for Jericho.
  14. Juízes 3:14Eighteen years under the king of Moab make up the second period of oppression in the book of Judges, until Ehud, a left-handed man, kills Eglon in cold blood and delivers the people.
  15. Juízes 3:15Israel cries out again, and the Lord raises up Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, as deliverer; the people send tribute to king Eglon by his hand.
  16. Juízes 3:16Ehud forges a short, double-edged sword and straps it to his right thigh, contrary to custom, precisely because he was left-handed. King Eglon’s guards, used to searching visitors on the left side, would never find it there.
  17. Juízes 3:17Ehud presents the tribute to Eglon, described as a very fat man, a detail that will matter in the scene that follows.
  18. Juízes 3:18After presenting the gift, Ehud sends away the men who had carried the tribute along with him.
  19. Juízes 3:19Turning back from the stone quarries near Gilgal, Ehud says he has a secret message for the king; Eglon sends all his attendants out so he can hear it alone.
  20. Juízes 3:20Ehud comes in to the cool upper chamber where the king is sitting alone and says he has a word from God for him; Eglon rises from his seat on hearing this.
  21. Juízes 3:21Ehud reaches out with his left hand, draws the sword hidden on his right thigh, and thrusts it into the king’s belly.
  22. Juízes 3:22The text describes in raw detail how the sword sinks into Eglon’s fat until it disappears entirely. It is a violent scene the narrative does not soften, because the point of the account is to show Ehud as a cunning deliverer, not to praise cruelty for its own sake.
  23. Juízes 3:23After the blow, Ehud goes out into the hallway and locks the doors of the chamber behind him.
  24. Juízes 3:24The servants arrive, find the doors locked, and conclude that the king must simply be relieving himself inside, suspecting nothing.
  25. Juízes 3:25Eglon’s servants wait so long to go in, assuming the king is merely relieving himself, that Ehud has more than enough time to escape before they discover the body.
  26. Juízes 3:26While the servants wait, Ehud has already escaped, passing by the stone quarries until he reaches Seirath.
  27. Juízes 3:27On reaching the mountains of Ephraim, Ehud blows the trumpet, and the Israelites come down with him, following him at their head.
  28. Juízes 3:28He tells the people to follow him, because the Lord has delivered the Moabites into their hand; they seize the fords of the Jordan and let no one cross.
  29. Juízes 3:29They kill about ten thousand Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men, without letting a single one escape.
  30. Juízes 3:30Moab is subdued that day, and the land has rest for eighty years.
  31. Juízes 3:31Shamgar appears in this single verse alone, killing six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, a farming tool, not a weapon. This reinforces the idea that the judges were deliverers suddenly raised up, not a class of professional warriors.

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