Judges 3, starting at verse 7, says, So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and Asherahs. Therefore, The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathim eight years. When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel. He went out to war and the Lord delivered Cushan Reshathim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand and his hand prevailed over Cushan Reshathim. So the land had rest 40 years. Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of Palms. So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab 18 years. But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Ehud made himself a dagger. It was double-edged and a cubit in length. and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. So he brought the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute, but he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. He said, keep silence, and all who attended him went out from him. So Ehud came to him. Now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber. Then Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. So he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly, and his entrails came out. Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. When he had gone out, Eglon's servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked, so they said, He's probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber. So they waited until they were embarrassed and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them and there was their master fallen dead on the floor. But Ehud had escaped while they delayed and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Sarah. And it happens when he arrived that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Aphraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains, and he led them. Then he said to them, follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands. So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan, leading to Moab and did not allow anyone to cross over. And at that time they killed about 10,000 men of Moab, all stout men of valor, not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for 80 years. After him was Shamgar, the son of Anoth, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also delivered Israel. Sometimes a text exists to remind us that God can use unlikely men and unexpected methods to accomplish his purpose. This morning we're gonna deal with the first three judges. The first judge, Othniel, we already met. He's going to serve as a kind of template for all the judges to follow. The third judge, the end of the chapter, Shamgar, is given to us in such scant detail that he only accounts for one verse to tell his entire story. And then in between the two, the second judge, Ehud, is given to us in so much detail that he has terrorized centuries worth of Sunday school teachers trying to sanitize this story. Just a couple of, introductory thoughts about the geography and the timeline that'll kind of help these things make sense. We said in recent weeks that the nation of Israel is at this point more a loose confederation of tribes. And as a result, these judges that we'll see through this book, might be more of regional leaders dealing with regional problems. However, by every indication, Othniel, the first judge, is a judge for all the nation. Verse 8 says the children of Israel served Cusham Reshethaim. Great name. King of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a long way off. If you can envision this geographically on a map, Mesopotamia is far east. East is this way for you guys, so I try to remember to get it backwards. Okay, it's far east, and it's likely that this big empire of Mesopotamia is actually going to war with Egypt, and Israel is kind of caught in the middle. The second judge, Ehud, is dealing with, in verse 14, Eglon, the king of Moab. Moab is a much smaller kingdom, but it's just over the other side of the Jordan River from Israel, sort of to the southern side of Israel, just over the Jordan River. The third judge, Shamgar, verse 31, he's facing the Philistines. The Philistines are seafaring folks who have come in from the coastline of the Mediterranean to assault Israel. So this is describing things that are coming from different distances and different directions. Meanwhile, time-wise, Judges, I'll remind you, is not necessarily in perfect chronological order either. So for example, verse 31 says after him, that's after Ehud, was Shamgar. Chapter 4 verse 1 says when Ehud was dead, And then when you get all the way over to chapter 5 verse 6, a later judge named Deborah is writing about the days of Shamgar and the days of Jael. Some of the events, if you put them on a timeline, are actually overlapping a bit. All that's to say, The chaos that's created by disobedience and the sin cycles that we see in Judges is not creating a simple, linear story. Often there are different portions of the nation, but at the exact same time, and the Lord is using these outside enemies to bring his people low and to draw them to repentance and obedience. To deliver this, God uses unlikely men and unlikely methods to accomplish his purpose. So we're gonna look at these three judges, we're gonna do it out of order, we're gonna talk about Othniel first, then I'm gonna skip ahead to Shamgar, and then we'll have more to say about Ehud, okay? Othniel, the first judge, verses seven through 11, It was really telling us the second part of Othniel's story in the book of Judges. If you recall back in Judges chapter one, it talked about Caleb, Caleb who was along with Joshua, one of the two spies that went into the land who came back with a good report when the other 10 told the people we can't go there. Caleb identified, back in chapter one, a mountain stronghold. And if you remember the story, he had promised to betroth his daughter to whatever man could take that stronghold. And Othniel was the man who was up for the task. He proved brave, wise, resourceful. He defeated this stronghold called Kirjath-Sephar, and he married Caleb's daughter, Exah, But even after winning, what seemed like in chapter 1 would be the major battle of his life, the Lord was not done with Othniel. He's the first judge and in many ways, Othniel serves as a model for all the judges. So for example, his story models the need for judges. Verse seven, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and they served the Baals and Asherahs. The word and context behind forgot here. means more than just oops, I forgot. It speaks to something deliberate. They intentionally did not take God into account. So it's not like they were trying to remember God and they just slipped their minds. They chose to forget him. They willingly adopted the convenience, popularity, and debauchery that came with worshiping these Canaanite fertility gods, Baal and Asherah. But the Lord, as it turns out, the Lord is not as indifferent to sin as we assume he is. Verse eight says the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. It is describing God with a burning, fiery anger. God's passion and anger is kindled and it says he sold them into the hand of Cushan Reshethaim, king of Mesopotamia. By the way, God can sell them because he owns them. Just think of the reversal that's being described here and other places in the chapter. Everything belongs to the Lord, especially these people. Why is it that this nation is God's nation? Well, it's because we know in the biblical story, he has just redeemed them. Literally, he has purchased them is what the word redeemed means. He's redeemed them from the land of Egypt. And if he bought them, He can do the reverse of their disobedience. So in verse eight it says he sold them into the hand of Cushan Reshathim, king of Mesopotamia. This is Israel's first oppressor in the book of Judges, and yet Cushan Reshathim, I'm gonna get good at it by the time the sermon's over, he is probably the most significant of the oppressors. Mesopotamia is to the far east. It is the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. It's the future location of Babylon and Assyria. It's the land that Abram had been called from and told to go to the promised land. And so whoever this king is historically, we don't know him historically except for scripture. He is not local and he is not little. You know, it's interesting. We would expect judges, if we were telling the story, to start with the, you know, smaller villains and start to sort of work their way up to the boss villain. But in reality, here, the worst one is first. And it isn't just a... This isn't just a few Canaanite tribes banding together to get Israel. This is a... major emperor who has far-reaching influence coming all the way from Mesopotamia to put Israel under his thumb. It's most likely this king of Mesopotamia is actually, his ultimate goal is Egypt. Because historically, those kingdoms from Mesopotamia and Egypt struggle against each other and it's Israel, it's the promised land that's caught in the middle. But even if that's the case, the God of creation can work through the political and military events of world history to accomplish his will. And at this point, his will is to bring his people into subjugation to Kusham Reshethim, to bring them to repentance for their sin. And he raises up Othniel, when they call out to him. We know Othniel is a courageous man. He's one of the good examples from chapter one of people doing what God said, taking the land that was given to them. His connection with Caleb suggests a good lineage, but Othniel is also unique in that he is the only judge whom nothing can really be said wrong about him. He is the ideal judge. He is a verifiable good guy for the people to follow. But of these first three judges, two of the three of them are unlikely to even be Israelites. Othniel is Caleb's nephew. He's said in verse nine to be the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. So according to the story of Caleb back in Joshua 14, Caleb is from a group called the Kenazites. The Kenazites are mentioned all the way back in Genesis 15 as descendants of Esau who lived in the land of Canaan. And so while Caleb and Othniel are clearly incorporated into the tribe of Judah, they are outsiders by birth. They are what we would call proselytes. They are people from the outside who have attached themselves to Israel and become people of God because they worship Yahweh. And so he is an unlikely deliverer. He is not the hero you'd expect. But that really fits the big picture because Judges is the story of God saving his people, not people saving themselves. And so, what qualifies Othniel for this position? Well, there's two things described in the text. First, God raised him up for this purpose. In verse nine, The Lord, that is Yahweh, raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them. It is the power of God calling and setting a purpose on his life that is all the qualifications necessary. Much like in the New Testament when it talks of John the Baptist and it says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. This calling of God was the authority that he needed. Or Moses, when Moses kept saying, you really should send somebody else, I'm not the best choice. The reality is that it's God's calling on your life, so serve him. Think of this, do you think that you are an unlikely resource for God to use? That does not hinder him a bit. If he's called you and given you purpose, follow him. The second qualification for Othniel is not only was he raised up by God, Othniel was empowered by God. In verse 10, it says the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of Yahweh came upon him and he judged Israel. Listen, Othniel is going to be very practical. He's going to make choices, set plans, move militaries, but every step of the way, he is a tool in the hand of God, as are all these judges. It's not something in them that qualifies them, it is their calling and empowerment by God that qualifies them. That phrase, the spirit of the Lord came upon them, is an Old Testament description of being empowered and emboldened for specific acts of service on God's behalf. And there's no, it's no accident that the writer of Judges describes it this way, right? He, in this first story of Othniel, he details the disobedience. So we see the need to be delivered. We see God's hand in raising up and empowering that deliverer. And then, We don't get any of the details as he skips straight to a statement of success at the end of verse 10. The Lord delivered Cushan Reshathim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand and his hand prevailed. We don't know how this happened. We don't know where any battle happened. We don't know how it unfolded. Any of the details that sort of in our minds make good history, we don't get it. because this victory is described theologically, not militarily, right? It's just described God won. Every battle belongs to the Lord. He graciously gives us some details of the story when he uses these human instruments, but he does not have to do that. According to Zechariah 4.6, victory comes. God says, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. And so this becomes sort of a template for all the story of Judges that follows. It says the land in verse 11 had rest 40 years. 40 years is a significant number representing a full generation. They were in obedience to God until Othniel died. At which point, verse 12 says the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. And we get the next cycle of judges. Now, we're gonna skip ahead for just a minute and talk about Shamgar, because verse 31, the third judge, Shamgar, says after him, so this would be after Ehud, who we'll talk about, was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad, he also delivered Israel. Most of what I can tell you about Shamgar is what I can't tell you about Shamgar. We're not told what tribe he's from, what tribe of Israel he's from, because he's probably not from a tribe of Israel at all. Shamgar does not appear to be a Hebrew name. We don't see it anywhere else in scripture. It's probably a Hittite name. He's called Shamgar the son of Anath or Shamgar ben Anath and that has been taken to mean by some that he's from the village of Anath. But oddly, Anath was the name of a Canaanite false god, and so some have suggested, and it seems likely, that his roots and his background are Canaanite. He's not an Israelite. But if so, he would also have been motivated to fight against the Philistines. for him to kill 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Look, an ox goad's not even a weapon meant to be used against people. An ox goad's a long pole pointed at one end. Sometimes it has sort of a semi-sharpened metal tip on that end, but it's meant to prod, to move livestock. So typically they were about eight feet long. So we don't know how Shamgar used it. Did he use it as a thrusting spear? Was he maybe pretty good with a bo staff? He took out an entire little Philistine army. God does not need to use a likely person. God is not limited to likely processes. And God doesn't need a somebody with special heroic weapons or bo staff skills. When the people are delivered, it's clear God is the one who's doing the delivering. Ehud, the second judge, Othniel and Shamgar like the bread on either side of this story sandwich. Ehud's clearly the focal point of chapter three. The story of Ehud and his assassination of King Eglon, verses 12 through 30, is written as a kind of morbid comedy. I will just tell you right now, it is intended to make you giggle a little bit and groan a lot. The story is filled with detail. It's contrasted. Like if you ask about Othniel, well how did Othniel defeat Kushan Reshethim? We have no idea. How did Shamgar manage to do everything he did? Where did he come from? Where did he go afterward? We don't know. We just know it involved an ox goad and he killed 600 Philistines with it. But Ehud, you get all the detail. You get details like Eglon is very fat, Ehud is left-handed. We end up knowing what this scene smells like and looks like. We know the length of Ehud's dagger. We know the military movements of blocking the river exits and crossings at the end of the story. We know what was said and what was done and what was thought. In fact, if there are any details left out, I'm not sure it's anything we'd want to know. Some of the details we get are stuff that we might really not want to know. Verses 12 through 14 gives us this version of the sin cycle. It says the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Then he, that is Eglon, gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of Palms. So after the 40 years of rest from Othniel, when Othniel dies, the people of God again begin to reject God. With Othniel dead, they're leaderless, they stray, and as a result, God lifts his protective hand and allows a coalition of Israel's enemies to join together in what looks like an apparent effort to reconquer the promised land, to take the promised land back. There's these locations that get described, right? Eglon in verse 12, he's the king of Moab. Moab is to the south, just to the east, right across the Jordan River. He allies, verse 13 tells us, Eglon allies with Ammon and Amalek. The Amalekites were the nation which attacked the Hebrews first when they were on their way out of Egypt. Ammon is another land that's just to the east of the Jordan River, just north of Moab. And so the enemies of Israel join forces and the first step of this coalition is to invade the promised land exactly like the children of Israel had done. They cross the Jordan River and verse 13, the end of verse 13 says they took possession of the city of Palms. The city of Palms back in Deuteronomy, Jericho, the city of Jericho is described as the city of Palms. And so their first step is just like Israel's first step is to come across the Jordan River and defeat Jericho. The people whom God told Israel to destroy are now rising back up and taking back the promised land just like the Israelites had taken it in Joshua's day. This situation lasts about 18 years according to verse 10. 10 years longer than they served Cushan Reshefim, king of Mesopotamia. They're stuck serving this morbidly obese monarch from Moab. King Eglon apparently had influence over a large portion of Israel since verse 15 says Ehud, who is a Benjaminite, who would have been a bit north of where Jericho was located. Ehud gets chosen by the people of Israel to take their tribute money to Eglon at Jericho. Verse 16 through 18 says, Ehud made himself a dagger. It was double edged and a cubit in length and fastened under his clothes on his right thigh. So he brought the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. All right, I just want you to know, I have waffled between whether Ehud was acting alone or as part of a concerted plan with other Hebrew elders. On the alone side of the argument, verse 16 says he made himself a dagger, and when the time comes in verse 18, the other people who helped him bring the tribute to Eglon, he sends them away. Although that might be more about trying to get a private audience with the king because a group of Israelites is not gonna be left in a room with the king. On the working with others side of the argument, at the end of the story, verse 27, he goes into the countryside, blows a trumpet, and the people start flooding down from the mountains. He gathers a little army to go out and block the getaway routes. I can't tell you for sure whether Ehud is planning this all alone or whether others are helping him, but God is definitely guiding for it to work as well as it does. All the details, and we get lots of gory details, all the details of the story are important to fully understand the story. Ehud's left-handedness is important. Apparently, Many in Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin, were either naturally left-handed or trained their children to be ambidextrous. In 1 Chronicles 12 verse 2, it describes them being from Benjamin as being able to use the right hand or the left hand to sling stones or to shoot arrows. This left-handedness is useful in a fighting group because imagine when you're going out to war and you've got a shield and you've got a sword, it'd be handy if people on the left side had a shield over here and a sword over here, right? This is useful militarily speaking. For Ehud, The usefulness was the rarity of people being left-handed. Doubtless when you approach the king at any point in time, some king's guard is gonna pat you down. You're gonna get frisked. And the habit was apparently to check the inside of the left thigh because people are right-handed and that is naturally where they would reach in order to keep a dagger or a sword. But the left-handed Ehud could hide this 18-inch dagger on his right thigh underneath of his clothes. And by Ehud's plan, He has help in bringing the tribute money to the palace of King Eglon. So this is probably a set time of the year or multiple times in the year, some set time. He comes and brings the tribute money, pays respects. They all go through the process, make their exit like they're on their way back home, and only then does Ehud send everyone on their way while he turns back alone. Verse 19 says, but he himself turned back from the stone images which were at Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he, that's Eglon, said, keep silence. And clearly he's talking to the attendants, and all who attended him went out from him. So Ehud came to him. Now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber. Then Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. So he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly, and his entrails came out. So when Ehud turns and he comes back and he announces to the king, I've come back because I have a secret message for you. It seems like the secret message has to be kept secret from those Israelites he's just sent away. Right? This is a for your ears only kind of thing. has been at this for 18 years. He's pretty comfortable with his command. He's feeling invincible. And Ehud looks like he's unarmed. Surely he has been frisked. The happy servants who have just received all the tribute money are being a bit noisy. And so he gets this message from Ehud saying, I have a secret message for you. And the king tells all the servants to shut up. Right? Keep silence. And they get the message. They keep silent to the point where they leave the throne room and Ehud and Eglon are left alone. And even then it seems that they go aside into a private place. We'll see in a moment. We know what Ehud's message is. It is an 18 inch dagger from the Lord. Right? And Ehud delivers his message. Can't resist. Eglon gets the point. Actually, he gets more than the point. He gets the whole thing. If you've ever heard the phrase, to the hilt, meaning as much as possible or to the furthest extent, Eglon gets the message to the hilt and then some. Again, all of the details here are important. Now we know why Ehud's left-handedness is helpful. We know why Eglon's immensity is a vital component to the story. Ehud's dagger sinks into the belly fat of the king to the hilt and beyond the hilt. It's probable that Ehud's dagger looks more like a prison shank, right? It's something without a handle. It is meant to make a one-way trip. Ehud's not trying to escape with it. So the dagger goes in and it stays in. Verse 22 says what came out was Aglon's entrails. The King James Version, if you're reading the KJV, it says that the dirt came out. The NIV reads his bowels discharged. In this grotesque satire on sin, the king is turned into his own dung heap. But again, that detail is going to be important. Verse 23, Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. And when he had gone out, Eglon's servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked, so they said he's probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber. So they waited until they were embarrassed. And still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them and there was their master fallen dead on the floor. But Ehud had escaped while they delayed and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Sera. This completed assassination and then the escape of Ehud, I'm going to suggest to you is less dignified than you probably imagine. The best way to understand this story is that Eglon took Ehud into a private room. He dismisses his students and that private room was literally a private room, a privy. Verse 23 tells us Ehud delivers this deadly message, and he locks the door to this upper cool room, but how is he gonna get out if he's locked the doors behind him and he's still inside with the dead body? Well, verse 23 says, Ehud went out through the porch. Let me tell you a little bit about this word porch, and then you can decide for yourself how this happened, okay? The Hebrew word for porch there in verse 23 where it describes Ehud leaving, went out through the porch, is the Hebrew word misderon, misderon. It is defined by the dictionary of biblical languages as three possible definitions. First, a vestibule or an open courtyard. Second, a privy, a latrine, a room in a house for relieving oneself. Third, an air hole or a window. Now the fun part is that that dictionary is it gives those three definitions. All three times references Judges chapter three verse 23 is a potential reference for those definitions. So we can't be 100% certain. I cannot see in the context where it's describing Ehud escaping out a porch. I think he has either exited through, he's locked this door behind him as they're in the privy room, and he has either exited through a window hole or exited through a toilet hole. But I'm certain that that's the room that they're in because the locked door provides him an opportunity to escape. The servants, it describes them as reluctant to interrupt the king because Potty time is private time. I mean, the king's in there on his throne. They assume, because remember, all the gory details are important. They assume, based on the smell, that the king is busy. Verse 24, they say, attending to his needs. Right? Maybe he's in there on his phone. Maybe he's reading a good book. There was probably at least one, hey, are you okay in there? Right? And they leave him until literally they become embarrassed to wait any longer. And even then, they have to fetch a key in order to get into this locked privy. And when they open it, they find King Eglon there in a pile of his own feces, dead. Meanwhile, Ehud is long gone. Ehud is collecting an army. He's sounding a trumpet, which is either a pre-planned call to arms or a way to spread the word. But the credit for this amazing deliverance, which seems to be Ehud's plan, and it's certainly Ehud's life if it doesn't work, All the credit is given to the Lord. Look at verse 28. He said to them, after he's sounded this trumpet and called the people to him, follow me for the Lord has delivered your enemy the Moabites into your hand. It's not look what I did, follow me because I'm great. He's been risen up to be a judge of Israel because he says Yahweh has delivered your enemies. Yahweh has done this. And the description is that they go on to seize the river crossings, because remember Moab and Ammon are just across the river. So they start seizing the fords, the river crossings over the Jordan River, so none of the Moabites in Israel can escape back home, and no reinforcements are gonna come across the river in order to rescue them. And they kill, it says in verse 29, 10,000 of the enemy who were not out-of-shape eglons, they were stout men of valor. The unguided Israelites now have a leader and the skillfully led Moabites are leaderless. the deliverance God gives through Ehud is so blessed that in verse 30 it describes they had rest for 80 years, which is a really unique description. This is a description of two generations. But still, it won't last. Ehud will die, Shamgar will be necessary, and in chapter four, verse one, when Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So, to kind of wrap all of this up, what do we make of this today? Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar are unlikely saviors. You wouldn't have expected a couple of outsiders, and then a Benjaminite whose main qualification seems to be that he's left-handed. These are unexpected heroes because they are not heroes, right? Verse nine, the Lord raised up a deliverer. Verse 10, the spirit of the Lord was on him. Verse 15, the Lord raised up a deliverer. Verse 28, the Lord has delivered your enemies into your hands. God's the hero of the stories. do not feel unusable by God. The Lord can use whom he wants, when he wants, the way he wants to accomplish what he wants. But it has to be in his calling and his power through which all good things are accomplished. He can use unlikely people and unlikely processes for our good and for his glory. Most importantly, I want you to always remember the entire book of Judges points us to an ultimate deliverer. What happened to each of these unlikely saviors? The end of every one of their stories is they died. What happened to the deliverance that they brought? It ended, right? Whether it was 40 years or whether it was 80 years, right? There is a different unexpected deliverer that's coming and his rule is not gonna be ended when he dies because he's going to rise again. His rule is just beginning. And the salvation that comes from the sin cycle, which Jesus, when he provides salvation, it does not stop after a generation or even two generations. It is eternal salvation. All the stories of the judges, these unlikely deliverers, should cause us to look forward to and trust in the ultimate deliverer who brings permanent salvation.