by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
“They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses” (Judges 3:4).<\/p>\n
Judges 3 explains something important. Yahweh allowed certain nations to remain in the land as a test. Not a trap, a test. Israel’s obedience wasn’t theoretical; it had to be lived out in real situations with real pressures. Their environmental challenges revealed their hearts.<\/p>\n
This feels uncomfortable because we prefer a life without tests. But God uses challenges to expose what’s genuine. Israel’s response showed whether they trusted Him or blended in with the surrounding culture. Sadly, they often chose the easier path and adopted the practices of the surrounding nations.<\/p>\n
The chapter then introduces the first judges, each raised up when Israel cried out. God didn’t abandon them; He responded to their repentance. But the pattern shows that obedience is healthiest when it’s proactive, not reactive.<\/p>\n
In your own life, tests aren’t signs of God’s absence; they’re opportunities to demonstrate trust. When pressure comes, you choose whether to follow His commands or drift toward convenience. Tests reveal loyalty, but they also strengthen it.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores “They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses” (Judges 3:4). Judges 3 explains something important. Yahweh allowed certain nations to remain in the land as a test. Not a trap, a test. Israel’s obedience wasn’t theoretical;…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1836,188],"class_list":["post-98802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-hardship","tag-trials"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-israel-having-a-king-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":0},"title":"Was Israel Having a King Sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall A common position is that Israel's wanting a King was sinful (I Samuel 8). Israel even confesses, \"Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":98732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-act-when-god-speaks\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":1},"title":"Do We Act When God Speaks?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores \"And Yahweh said, 'Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand'\" (Judges 1:2). Judges opens with a simple but important moment. Israel asks Yahweh who should lead the fight, and Yahweh answers clearly. Judah goes first. It's not flashy, but it reminds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57046,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-long-did-the-judges-rule-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":2},"title":"How Long Did the Judges Rule Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton A passage that has given scholars difficulty over the years is Acts 13:17-20.\u00a0The New American Standard renders it thus: \"The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-the-bible-talk-of-other-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":3},"title":"Why does the Bible talk of other gods?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening! I have been wondering about certain things in the Bible, specifically the \"Divine Council.\" There are many different verses I can use, but I want to focus on three: The first being Psalm 82:1: \"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46942,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-arent-samuels-sons-counted-among-the-judges\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":4},"title":"Why aren’t Samuel’s sons counted among the judges?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Concerning your post recently about\u00a0whether Abimelech was a judge or not: I remember a passage concerning the people wanting a king because of the evil of Samuel's sons, whom he appointed to be judges over the people in I Samuel 8:1-5. I'm not sure if this would help your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-we-told-the-story-of-jael\/","url_meta":{"origin":98802,"position":5},"title":"Why Are We Told the Story of Jael?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall There is only one woman in the Bible who directly killed a man. Her name was Jael. She hammered a tent peg into the skull of Sisera (Judges 4). Why are we told this story? Considering she is the only woman in the Bible to have killed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98802"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98805,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98802\/revisions\/98805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}