Judges 2024

So judges chapter 3 verse 12. Again, The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord. And because they did this evil, the lord gave Elon king of Moab power over Israel. Getting the ammonites and the Melakites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the city of Palms.

The Israelites were subject to Eglon King of Moab for 18 years. Again, The Israelites cried out to the lord, and he gave them a deliverer, EHood, a left handed man, the son of Gheera, the Benjaminites. This right sent him with tribute to Eglon, King of Moab. Now EHood had made a double edged sword about a cubic long which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. He presented the tribute to Eglon King of Moab, who was a very fat man.

After EHOOD had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. But on reaching the stone images near Gil Gal, he himself went back to Eglon and said, your majesty. I have a secret message for you. The king said to his attendants, leave us. And they all left.

EHood then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, I have a message from god for you. As the king rose from his seat, Ehood reached with his left hand drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade and his bows discharged. EHOOD did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. Then Ehood went out to the porch.

He shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the offer room locked. They said he must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace. They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There, they saw their lord fall into the floor dead.

While they waited, EHood got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Sierra. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of her frame, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills with him leading them. Follow me, he ordered. For the lord has given Moab your enemy into your hands.

So they followed him down and took possession of the 4 to the Jordan that led to Moab. They allowed no 1 to cross over. At that time, they struck down about 10000 megabytes, all vigorous and strong. Not 1 escaped. That day, Moab was made subject to Israel.

And the land had peace for 80 years. Okay. Let me pray. Father, help us now as we look at this story, we've read it a few times in the last month. We've prayed please that you'd help us to see wonderful truths in this.

That would encourage us and to move us to be more Christlike People, Okay. Keep your keep your your your bible open. This this story obviously takes us back to the ancient world of the Israelites right back before there were any kings, back before king David and any king at all. So let's get into this story. And the first thing I want us to see is just the setting of this story, first of all.

And the story begins with that word again. Again in verse 12. And it's a word if you're gonna read, judges and and we have last month, a lot of us. It's a word you have to get used to. Through the book of judges, it's always again.

So verse 12, again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord, and there's this same old cycle, and we're starting up this this cycle again, this downward spiral. Even though god had been good to Israel and god had already save them, again, they they turn from god, and they turn from his love. Again. And, it's supposed to take you back to those first, chapters again. They forgot the lord god, and his love.

They were sort of dead to god, in in their hearts, but alive to the to follow the ways of the world and alive to the false gods around them. They didn't want god as their ruler, but they wanted these gods as their ruler. They didn't want, the lord as their lord, but these sort of false gods, these made up things that offered so much fun at the start. And so again, that happens, and god gives them over to their heart's desire, if that's what you want, if that's where your heart wants to go. God says, go.

Leave me. Again, verse 12, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord. Because they did this evil, the lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over them. So off Israel go. Of the people of go away from the lord.

With all the excitement of and the passion of a an adulterous affair. That's what's going on. And then enter Agron. So we're still looking at the setting, enter Eglon, King of Moab. Notice it says in verse 12 because they did this evil, the lord gave Eglon, king of Mohab, power over Israel.

See, the lord is always in control. He's ultimately in control, but he gives them over to their heart's desire. And Elon now has power There's a very strong word, grip over Israel. And just to make that grip stronger, look at verse 13, getting the Amorites and the Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the city of Park. Now the city of Palms is Jericho.

And if you know anything about Israel's history, this is utterly humiliating. To Israel because Jerichoo is the first city that the people of god under under Joshua conquered when they came into the promised land. Yeah. And so what Elon is doing here is rewriting Israel's history. You're not conquerors like you thought you were.

You're conquered. The very place you conquered right at the beginning, I've conquered back. Yeah. So then this sort of love affair obviously starts to go wrong. Look at verse 14.

The Israelites were subjected to Eglon, king of Moab, for 18 years. The word subject means, slavery. They're in slavery for 18 years. It's almost a whole generation of people. Most of the people alive would or a lot of the people alive in Israel, would would know no better days than slavery days.

That's what's going on here. But then it gets even worse. First 17, we see EHood. We'll come back to him in a minute. We see EHood, is representing Israel before Eglon, and he has to present this tribute to Eglon King of Moab.

Now the word tribute there is the word that's used throughout the whole book of leviticus for the grain offering that is supposed to be for god. So the book of leviticus, which is before before judges, is telling how the people of god that that the offerings they should offer god. And this tribute that should go to the living god is now going to eglon to make him fat. And he's feasting on this, and Israel are clearly going hungry. That's the picture that's going on here.

This tribute. And this is where we're told Eglon's a very fat man. And it's really important in the story. It's not just a sort of little thing he throws in to have a laugh, although it is a laugh, definitely. When we come to that in a minute, But but, look at verse 17.

He presented the tribute to AGron King of Moab, who was a very fat man. He's the fat controller, you see. Because he's taking all of this stuff that is for Israel and for god. And getting fat on the sweat of god's people. That's that's the whole point of it.

For 18 years, he's been throwing his weight around. And and everybody's buckling under his weight, under the weight of his power or the power of his weight, whichever way round it is. He really is a champion sumo wrestler here. And the moabites are growing fat from the tributes and the hard work of the Israelites. Do you get the picture here?

So Eglon is getting more powerful. And the Israelites are getting weaker. And to make things even worse, we're introduced to EHood. Now EHood is representing Israel before the heavyweight champion of the world. Look at verse, 15 b.

He who had a left handed man, the son of Gheera, the Benjaminite, the Israelites sent him with the tribute, to Eglon, King of Moab. Now in the Hebrew, there's there's lots of jokes going on here from out this throughout this story. It's like a pantomime, actually. It really is. Like, our sort of pantomime.

Because Egglon, EHood is a left handed man, and he's a son of a Benjaminite. Do you know what Benjamin means? Son of right hand. Yeah. So you've got this play of words going on here.

This left handed mat this left handed man is the son of a right, that right handed man. Yeah. And you've got that place. So so you've got all of this sort of going on, and to the Hebrews, they they found that very funny. You might not, but they do.

But it's not just that EHood is left handed The actual Hebrew, because this was originally written in Hebrew. It is it it it it from the translation, it's it's more that he's actually got a gammy right hand. So his right hand doesn't work. He's lost it in some way. So he's left handed because he hasn't got a right hand.

He's the son of the right hand without a right hand, but therefore he's left handed. That's what's going on. So he's very handicapped. So do you get the picture here? We have a weak disabled left handed man.

He's weak and disabled because he hasn't got a right hand. He's left handed because he hasn't got a right hand. He's bowing before this enormous fat cat. And, the obvious picture is 1 of of subjection to to Eglon. And here is EHood and they probably sent him because he was no threat.

So that's the setting. You got the setting? Part 2 then. God intervenes. Part 2 got intervenes.

And part 2 begins with, again, again. Yeah. Again, verse 15. Again, the Israelites cried out to the lord. They cried out to the lord to deliver them.

After 18 years, they'd not been able to deliver themselves. They'd been subject to slavery. They're drained of food and resources and power and even hope. The fat controller had squashed all hope out of them. And so they turned to someone bigger than themselves.

They finally see that there's they need someone bigger than themselves, but the 1 that's bigger than themselves is the 1 that they jilted. He's a jilted lover. So would he listen? Would he act? They cried out.

We're told, and the the crying out has this sense of actually collectively coming together. So it's not just sort of 1 here and 1 there. It's actually sort of like a congregation. It's an assembly. They together cry out, and it's loud, and it's vocal, and it's together.

They cry out to the 1 they jilted. So is the lord then gonna answer them or is he gonna mock them? Well, look at verse 15. Again, the Israelites cried out to the lord, and he gave them a deliverer, EHood, a left handed man, son of Giro, the Benjaminite. The Israelites sent him with a tribute to AGron King of Moab.

Is the security lover's revenge? You know, I I I heard a woman Well, I heard a whole program about Jilted, I don't know what though I should tell you this, but I heard, about a whole load of Jilted lovers and what women did to the men that Jilted jilted them. And, this 1 woman invited her husband, who had gone off with another woman. For a last pie together. Yeah.

And he came. And she talked about how she made this pie. And he particularly loves pies, but he said to her after they'd gone, that was particularly a lovely pie, very tasty. And what she'd put in the pie was lovely meat and everything, but also a dog muck in the pie. That's what Jilted's lovers do, isn't it?

Yeah. So if you walk out on your wife and she invites you for a pie, then, you know, watch it. If you've upset someone and you'll guess who and it's a pie, be careful. Particularly if they've just got a dog. Yeah.

Cause they don't know what to do with it. Yeah? But anyway, sorry. Back to this. You know, what's god gonna do?

I mean, he's the guilty of lover, and god raises up. And it's because if you're hearing this story, you see, and you don't know the end of it, You're hearing this story. What would does god do? They cry out to god, and he sends them a left handed, right handed man, from a right handed son. Hey?

And he's unable to bear arms. I mean, what good is that? He hasn't got a right arm. He's only got a left arm. Some of right arm, left arm, no right arm.

This is all a bit of a joke, isn't it? I mean, think about it. Ehood assassinated by Eglon. Fat chance. Need to think about that.

But EHood's left hand is not incidental in the story. It's central. And when we read a story like this, and we're told about his left hand, We should be scratching our head and saying hold it. We're great for the relevance of that in a minute. Because everyone's focusing on what he can't do with his right arm and not what he can do with his left arm.

That's the beauty of this storytelling. We have now lefty versus hefty. And the joke is on hefty. Paul says in the new testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world, to shame the strong.

Now presumably, the Israelites were not allowed to, have weapons or or, own any weapons. And so Ehood makes this double edge short. And it's a cubic long, and a cubic long is between your elbow and your knuckles. So it's that long. Yeah?

And so this man makes his own his own weapon, his own his own sword. And, he's heading up the team to take the tribute to Eglon. And he who, he he he does not wanna pay that tribute anymore. He's looking for an opportunity, obviously, because he's made this sword to kill Eglon or do something, kill someone And so Ehood enters into this upper room, this palace with Eglon's guard and his attendants all around. He would have been patted down, but he's, left handed man.

So they patted him down the wrong way in a right because his name is, you know, he's a son of Benjamin. So he would have had the security check checks, and I guess they would have sneered as I who's sort of this disabled man comes in in all his weakness. Yeah. Look how powerful we are. I'll show you about the guards in a minute.

There's there's something a twist in the guards, but we have to wait for that. And so, so Ehood comes into this this, upper room of the palace and his first sight of this sort of moabite jabber the heart is blimey, he's big. And he looks at his sword and thinks it's not really that big enough. It's it's it's only a cubic long. And, I I I didn't realize it'd be this big.

Lord, send someone else. My sword is too small. So verse 18, perhaps he's got, you know, sort of doubts here. So after EHood had presented the tribute, he sent on their way. Those that had carried it But then he goes with them.

But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal, he himself went back to Eglon. Now notice what makes E who turn back. So he goes in suddenly sees the enormity of the of the problem. It's towards a little bit short. What do you do?

So he goes away, but he comes to this place called Gilgal. And that's a very significant place. Because Gil Gal is the place that Israel renewed their covenant love to the lord, when they crossed over the Jordan. So it's a very significant place, and they piled up stones from the river Jordan that they've gone over. 12 of them.

It's called an Ebonese. Yeah. They piled up this Ebonese as a sign of the covenant love of god to them and that god had given them the promised land. This all happens in Joshua 4. Yeah.

So Gilger was that. So it's it's that those stones are like a wedding ring. When you look down at your I don't wear already. But what if I did, I'd look down at it and think, oh, I'm married. So when all of the girls are all coming at me, I'm thinking, hey, yeah, I'm married.

I there's no way. And that's what wedding rings do, isn't it? It it's it says, no. I made promises. I made promises.

And so at the Ebonese are these stones. At Gil Gal, they made promises. They took the pass over there, which reminded them that god had taken them out of slave god had taken them out of slavery, of the Egyptians. And they were god's people, and they'd now come into the promised land. So Gil Gal is a really important place.

So here's EHood. Yeah. He comes in, sees the enormity of the problem. A tiny little sword. Yeah.

And if it's flipping, I don't know what to do. He goes out, but he comes to Gil Gal and he reminds himself of all the Ebanese, or reminds us of the promises and the things that god did, and it gives him courage. And so he turns around And he says, look, if we don't do something about Agron, we'll be slaves forever. If we don't do something about Agron, then I'll miss out on I have all the misery of slavery and bondage and I'll be cut off from the living god. And the phrase there, just see it, Gil Gal, the stone images.

It does mean idols there. Now I I try to do a lot of research here. No 1 tells you anything. So so this is my guess. I think that that Eglon had not only taken over the city of Palms, Jericho, to show that he was the conqueror, and you're a load of rubbish, your history is gone.

I think it seems to me, but it put up images of false gods where the Ebonese was, the stones of god were. And that seems to infuriate EHood. So he turns back verse 19. But on reaching the stone images near Gil Galgell, he said to So he himself went back to Eggron and said, your majesty, I have a secret message for you. Now he's no threat.

He's a left handed disabled bloke. He's already been patted down. Yeah. And the king's intrigued. Secret message.

I mean, it it's always intriguing, isn't it? If someone said, oh, Dean, I've got a secret, I know. Whoa. Yeah. He wants to know.

If I said to him, I've got a secret, he'd be he'd be what's happening me. What is that? What is it? What did you say? I know something you don't know.

What is it? That's what the staff are like. I know something you don't know. What what is what does it tell me? Tell me.

Tell me. Oh, I tell them I might tell you tomorrow. You know, so secret message choices He he's clever because, Agron's thinking, you know, perhaps it's some more food or something. You know, perhaps it's a McDonald order, something he's never tasted before. And, so he says to his attendants, leave us, and they they all left.

But the secret message was a sword. Strpped to EHood's right thigh, because he's a left handed man, and they wouldn't have patted that down. And the message well, Eglon felt that message. He felt the power of the message. He was persuaded by the power of the message, and it was a message from god.

A message that brought the destruction of Eglon and in the end the freedom of the oppressed people. There's always judgment and salvation going on with these judges. Now we got ahead of ourselves a little, because let's slow down on this story a bit. First 20. E Hood then approached him, so the attendants had gone, And he had then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace, And he says, again, it's not just I have a secret message.

Look at the difference. I have a message from god for you. Oh, blamey. We've got a religious nut in here. Yeah.

I mean, Perhaps Agron thinks off, for goodness sake. There's a religious bonkers nut. So he rose. As the king rose from his seat, perhaps he was just about to say, I don't wanna know god, get out of here. As the king rose from his seat, he had reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly.

Even the handle sank in off the the blade, wasn't quite long enough. And his bowels charged. And the Ehood did not pull the sword out, and the fact closed in over it. So you got this bowels, all squirting out. You got this fat man just poo in everywhere.

Yeah? And And I mean, it's just it's just an amazing thing because he had deliberately goes to spill his guts. But the sword isn't quite long enough, but it's okay because the fact just pulled it in to carry on doing its job. And that's what happens. All is poo is everywhere.

And the attendance obviously think the kings were leaving himself because it stinks. Yeah. They're outside. They know what it was like. To go in after a lot of the, you know, been on the toilet, but this was gross.

Look at first 24. After he had gone, so he could get out of the way and and escapes. After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked, they said He must be relieving himself because the speed is enormous. I mean, really. He must have been relieving himself in the inner room of the palace They waited to the point of embarrassment.

I mean, how long is this bloke gonna be? For goodness, say, what I mean do we need to take more toilet paper in or something? What's going on here? But when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked it. I mean, how tentative were they on that?

I mean, the holding it knows is doing a you go in. No. I don't wanna go in. You go in. No.

I mean, what's going on with those valves with stink everywhere. They open it up and they find he's dead on the floor. So god had intervened. We've seen the setting. We've seen god intervene.

Thirdly, There's the victory. Verse 26. While they waited, he had got away. So while the attendants were waiting, he had got away, He passed by the stone images and escaped to Sierra. When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hills, country of ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills.

With him leading them. Follow me he ordered. For the lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands. So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan, that led to Moab. They allowed no 1 to cross over.

At that time, they struck down 10000 moabites, all vigorous and strong. Notice that. Or vigorous and strong, not 1 escape that day, Mohabe, was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for 80 years. He had slain the monster. Yeah.

And he he had went straight to the people blasted a trumpet declaring liberation for the captives. Follow me now let's get rid of the army. Now when it says those motorbikes are all rigor, vigorous and strong, that's not a good translation. It says they're fat. All of them are fat.

Ehood is fat. His attendants are fat. And the army are fat. They're fat off the Israelite's hard work. But now they're dead.

And there's 80 years rest. Okay. That's the story. Good. It's a good story, isn't it?

Yeah? Do you like that story? You don't like it. No 1 likes that story. I like it.

You like the story. Okay. Well, what's the meaning of it? What does it mean? What does it mean?

Well, let's move forward in Bible history, forward from from judges to a time the Israelites have been taken captive this time, and they're in exile in Babylon. I can't go into all the details of that. So whole families now have been moved from the prom promise land to Babylon. That's after the judges and after the kings. So imagine a family now sitting around a fire outside their tent by the rivers of Babylon.

You have Bony m on the opposite side of the river, sigging by the rivers of Babylon. We sat down. Yeah. And dad has just told this story round the campfire by the rivers of Babylon. Yeah?

By the rivers of Babylon. Dad. Oh, thanks for the story, dad. Yeah? So data just told us, sorry.

Now what have the children learned? Well, they've learned that However, big and powerful and ugly and evil, the ruler of the kingdom that they might be in is. The king in the kingdom will fall. That's what they've learned. They will fall eventually.

They've also learned that how however we can subjugate God's people might be. And however much tribute they've given wrongly to the evil 1, if they cry out the lord to deliver them. God in his love and grace will deliver them. They've they've learned that. They've also learned that god uses unexpected and weak things and weak people to deliver them.

They've learned that. They've also learned that, that that actually, they need to remember the Eboneses in life. The things that god has put to remind them of what god had done in the past, things like your baptism, that sort of stuff. Yeah? They've also learned to laugh.

Son too says, the 1 enthroned in heaven laughs. The lord scoffs at the enemy. They've also learned to laugh. This is a funny story, and you're meant to laugh. You're meant to laugh at it.

Now we're in an age where, you know, you say fat controller and everybody just goes mental and and won't listen. That's because we're stupid. We're meant to laugh at this. Whatever is funny is subversive. It's interesting, isn't it?

The Alexander, what's his name? No well, he's just been killed. He was laughing the day before he was killed. He was laughing. Did you see it?

He was laughing. Yeah. And when you laugh at the enemy, the enemy just gets so worked up. They're so weak, aren't they? The the Chinese people are telling me that winnie the pooh is banned from China.

Winnie the pooh. Why? Because Winnie the poo looks like the president of China, and he's so upset about it. He's so weak. That he has to ban winnie the pooh.

We are meant to laugh. We laugh at the enemy. We mock them. That is 1 of the things that you do. If you read any of those, books by, what's his name?

Ben, about the Second World War, the spies. What? Ben McIntyre, you'll see, sir, 1 of the reasons why sort of Britain won the Second World War was because we laughed at the Germans, and they didn't have the much sense of humor. Yeah. They didn't get that we were having a laugh all the time.

Yeah? And a lot of the things, so they laughed. It's right to laugh. Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie, said George Orwell. Absurdity is always a serious art said GK Chesterton.

They laugh. The kids would have been laughing. Because god can save them. But hold it. When we read the new testament, we can go further in the meaning of this story.

We can see Jesus in the story. Did you did you see him? Do you see Jesus in the story? Well, okay. There's there's only 1 eternal savior.

That's the lord Jesus Christ. There are many small s saviors and those smallest saviors are foreshadows of the the big saviors. If you go to the book of Revelation, for instance, you'll see that Jesus is on the throne, but he has many, many crowns laid before him. It's like every sort of sovereign, every ruler, every king is is sort of like a picture, of of the great king. There is some aspect that you can find of Jesus in that.

So each 1 of these old testament types and shadows that you read in the book of judges are showing us something unique about the substantial 1 the real 1. Their shadows, he's the reality. And Ehood, shows us something unique about the work of Christ. Because like Ehood, the lord Jesus Christ is sent to assassinate our arch, oppressor. And he sent to assassinate our archer pressure with a message.

And he sent to a he sent to assassinate our archer pressure a a a a presser with with a message that looks so foolish. It's a left handed message. It's the cross. Listen to 1 John. This is John writing in the new testament.

He says the 1 who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Listen. The reason the son of god, that's Jesus. The reason the son of god appeared was to destroy the devil's work. To assassinate him.

The reason the son of god Jesus appeared was to destroy the devil's work Now if you take that text, you can start to see the characters in this story of shadow as shadows and types of bigger things. What's the work of the devil? Well, it's like eglon, holding people in slavery, taking the tributes, that should be given to god for himself. He's a liar from the beginning. We're told he missed represents god.

He undermines god's word. He brings doubt and disbelief from god's word. He tries to show that god is not the king. He makes god to be an ungenerous, unkind, holding back sort of blessing type of god. We're told in the Bible that the devil is the prince of the world, the ruler of the air, the spirit who now works in those who are disobedient.

He's the un he's unseen like the air, and every breath we take, we breathe in his influence. He has power to blind the minds of unbelievers so they can't see the light of the gospel of the glorious God. Ephesians too says this, talking about the what the Christians used to be like. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the rulers of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work in disobedience.

You ran after those people. You were dead to god, and you were alive to the false gods? That's exactly what the Israelites were doing. Now the devil doesn't run the whole universe, God is the 1 who's ultimately in control, but the devil runs ungodliness and the lies and the disobedience. He's the fat controller.

He's a wolf dressed up as sheep in sheep's clothing. He disguises himself as an angel of light, but his darkness through and through. There's nothing good about him. We're told in the new testament hebrew chapter 2 that he holds death. He has the power of death until Jesus came along.

There's no spark of goodness in the devil. There's no inner core of mercy. There's no redeeming feature at all. And just like Eglon, the serpent has to crawl on his belly. He lives for his belly himself.

The reason the son of god appeared was to just destroy the works of the devil. He's come to assassinate him. And Jesus did it in such a left handed way, didn't he? It seems stupid. Jesus is the great Ehood.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but for those who are being saved, it is the power of god for it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. The intelligence of the intelligent, I will frustrate. Khoroshan's chapter 2 and having disarmed the powers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross. Can you see EHood? What a spectacle?

What a spectacle? The great jabber the hut. Yeah. With poo all over him. Can't contain his bowels.

Lived for his belly died by his belly. It's amazing, isn't it? And just like EHood, once Eglon was destroyed, then the followers can kill the army. And the followers can plunder the moabites. And that's our job.

The devil now cannot stand the against the gospel. Jes Jesus isn't he? The gates of hell. The the the the place that hell is protecting. They can't stand the gospel.

They'll fall down. We go and preach now into Elon's land. We go and preach now because his power has been taken away because Jesus destroyed the work of the evil 1. We now can go and preach in Satan's land and call people back and blow the trumpet and bring people in. And we go with a double edged sword.

The word of god. The double edged sword that can divide bone from marrow or in Egron's case fat from poo. We go with the sword that can actually now win over the egglons and save people into the kingdom of god. We can plunder Satan's kingdom because your kingdom will fall Satan. Because of what Jesus has done.

That's what that story tells you, and that's encouraging, isn't it? Around the campfire, that's the story. And it's a brilliant story. And you can imagine the kids, can't you? When they heard that story.

Oh, I don't wanna go to bed. Tell me another 1. Just tell me 1 more story. Just a little 1. And so you get first 31, where he says after Eglon, Shangar, son of Aneth, who struck down 600 Philistines, with an ox code.

He too saved as well. Wow. Will we get that longer tomorrow? No. Next week, we'll do Deborah and jail.

Let's pray.