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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Judges 3:12 - 3:12
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In vv. 12-30 the subjugation of the Israelites by Eglon, the king of the Moabites, and their deliverance from this bondage, are circumstantially described. First of all, in Jdg 3:12-14, the subjugation. When the Israelites forsook the Lord again (in the place of וגו אֶת־הָרַע ... וַיּעֲשׂוּ, Jdg 3:7, we have here the appropriate expression ... הָרַע הָרַע לַעֲשֹׂות, they added to do, i.e., did again, evil, etc., as in Jdg 4:1; Jdg 10:6; Jdg 13:1), the Lord made Eglon the king of the Moabites strong over Israel. עַל חִזַּק, to give a person strength to overcome or oppress another. כִּי עַל, as in Deu 31:17, instead of the more usual אֲשֶׁר עַל (cf. Jer 4:28; Mal 2:14; Psa 139:14). Eglon allied himself with the Ammonites and Amalekites, those arch-foes of Israel, invaded the land, took the palm-city, i.e., Jericho (see at Jdg 1:16), and made the Israelites tributary for eighteen years. Sixty years had passed since Jericho had been burnt by Joshua. During that time the Israelites had rebuilt the ruined city, but they had not fortified it, on account of the curse pronounced by Joshua upon any one who should restore it as a fortress; so that the Moabites could easily conquer it, and using it as a base, reduce the Israelites to servitude.