In Judges, chapter three, verse ten, Israel has fallen into captivity under a foreign king because of their sinfulness and unfaithfulness to God in chapter three, verses seven through eight. Finally, after eight years of slavery, the people cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord has raised a “deliverer” in verse nine of the same chapter to save Israel from this foreign king. The role of these figures results in justification and judgment, and governance.
Readers may wonder how a single person could save a nation from slavery. The answer is in this verse: The Spirit of the Lord was on Othniel. God could have engineered events and circumstances to free Israel without working through an individual. He chose, instead, to exercise His power and might, and will through a mere human being by way of the Holy Spirit.
God, the Holy Spirit, is the third member of the Trinity, along with God the Father and the Son. Every person who comes to faith in Christ receives the Holy Spirit from God, as in John chapter fourteen, verses sixteen through seventeen. In that way, God exercises His power through people in the church in this age. In the Old Testament, God is well-known to do this only in exceptional circumstances. God’s word in Israel through Judges is one such situation.
Empowered by God in this way, the warrior-judge Othniel goes to war with Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The Lord gives Othniel and Israel victory. The people get released from their slavery and suffering. Othniel judged or ruled Israel for forty years and was the first of seventeen judges or rulers. Othniel is the son of Kenaz, was the younger brother of Caleb, and married Caleb’s daughter Acsah after capturing Kiriath Sepher. Othniel in Hebrew means Lion of God.