Israel Sold - Judges 3:8

In the book of Judges we learned how, “the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves”, and in chapter three and verse eight of Judges, we learn how Jehovah God, “sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia” where we read,

Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.

The verse reads, “Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia:” The writer began with the words, “therefore the anger of the LORD” which means “wherefore, then and on this account the wrath that wrinkles the nostrils, nose and countenance belonging to Jehovah who is the existing One and is the proper name of the One True God” “was hot against Israel” or “existed as furious, burning, kindled, incensed and grieved in opposition to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’ and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob”, “and he sold them” which means “and He, Jehovah God, merchandised and surrendered them, the people of Israel” “into the hand” or “to the power, might, strength and authority” “of Chushanrishathaim”  or  Chushan-rishathaim which means “belonging to Chushanrishathaim whose name means ‘twice-wicked Cushan’ and was a king of Mesopotamia defeated by the judge Othniel the son-in-law of Caleb” “king of Mesopotamia” or “the royal ruler and leader belonging to Mesopotamia or Aram-naharaim whose name means ‘Aram of the two rivers which were the Euphrates and the Tigris”. The writer shared how the people of Israel abandoning their relationship with Jehovah God caused Him to be furious with them, and He delivered them over to “Chushanrishathaim” who was the royal ruler belonging to “Mesopotamia”. 

The verse continues, “and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.” The writer added the words, “and the children of Israel” which means “and the offspring and progeny belonging to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails’” “served Chushanrishathaim” or “labored and worked for Chushanrishathaim whose name means “twice-wicked Chushan” “eight years” which means “eight annual sets of days”. The writer shared how the offspring belonging to Israel worked and labored for “Chushanrishathaim” the royal ruler of “Mesopotamia” for “eight years”.

When we mediate upon the words in this verse, we discover how the forsaking of Jehovah God by the offspring of “Israel” made Him exceedingly wrathful, and He turned them over to the pagan “king of Mesopotamia, Chushanrishathaim”, for eight annual sets of days. We might think that these adverse consequences time after time would be enough to divert this behavior from the people of “Israel”, however, it did not. God wants us to align with Him and His ways because He and they are better for us. When He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised Him from the dead after three days, He made the way through faith and trust in Him as our personal “Savior and Lord” to be forgiven of our sins, granted everlasting life and to be given His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and empower us to live according to that truth so we avoid all adverse consequences that shall arise because we forsake Him. (See John 3:16; Acts 1:8; Revelation 4:11) 

Next time we learn, “when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer” among pagan people, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".