JUDGE OF ISRAEL · THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL

Othniel. The first judge: eight years under Cushan-rishathaim, then forty years of rest.

LED ISRAELi

Not given "The land had rest forty years"; then Othniel died

TRIBE

Judah (of Caleb's Kenizzite family)

IN THE LINE

3rd of 15

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“He took Kirjath-sepher (Debir) and received Caleb's daughter Achsah as his wife.”

PROPHETS

None named

THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL: 15 RULERS MOSES → SAMUEL

THE CYCLE

Forgetting, oppression, a cry, a deliverer, rest

  • 1 · FORGOT GOD Israel "did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves". Judges 3:7
  • 2 · OPPRESSED: CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM, KING OF MESOPOTAMIA, 8 YEARS The LORD sold them into his hand, and they served him eight years. Judges 3:8
  • 3 · CRIED OUT "The children of Israel cried unto the LORD." Judges 3:9
  • 4 · DELIVERED Othniel went out to war and "his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim". Judges 3:9–10
  • 5 · REST The land had rest 40 years. Judges 3:11

SUCCESSION

Before and after

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

What Scripture says of him

  • He took Kirjath-sepher (Debir) and received Caleb's daughter Achsah as his wife. Joshua 15:15–17 Judges 1:11–13
  • "The LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." Judges 3:9
  • "The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war." Judges 3:10
  • In David's time the captain for the twelfth month was "Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel". 1 Chronicles 27:15

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

THE LAND

The places Scripture names

The tribes of Israel · tribe of Judah (of Caleb's Kenizzite family). Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

THE NATION

What the nation did

  • Israel served Baalim and the groves. Judges 3:7

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

MESOPOTAMIA (KJV)

Chushan-rishathaim

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE'S OWN NUMBERS

No years given

Eight years of oppression and forty of rest (Judges 3:8, 3:11). No year BC is given; see the group's note on the judges' chronology.

His younger brother

Origen, Theodoret, Rashi and others, as listed by Moore; Keil (1865); Moore (1895)

Judges 1:13 and 3:9 call Othniel "Caleb's younger brother"; Keil reads the Hebrew accents this way, and Moore says the words "who was younger than he" favour it.[7][21]

His nephew, the son of Caleb's brother Kenaz

The Greek (LXX, Codex Vaticanus), Calvin, Ewald, Reuss and others, as listed by Moore

"The son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb" (Joshua 15:17) can make Kenaz the brother; 1 Chronicles 4:13 counts Othniel among "the sons of Kenaz".[21]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 5

Joshua 15 Judges 1 Judges 3 1 Chronicles 4 1 Chronicles 27

PASSAGES · 5

Joshua 15:15–19 Judges 1:11–15 Judges 3:7–11 1 Chronicles 4:13 1 Chronicles 27:15

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture gives no year BC for Othniel and says nothing of his rule beyond the war and the forty years of rest.
  • Judges 3 does not name his tribe; his family belongs to Caleb, who received land "among the children of Judah" (Joshua 15:13).

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • From the textThe site's family data, from STEP Bible, makes Kenaz Othniel's father and Caleb his uncle. The verses can be read either way (see the open question). Joshua 15:17 Judges 1:13 1 Chronicles 4:13

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 276–286 (chronology of the judges).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 322–323 (Judges 5:25–27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 357–358 (Judges 8:27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 373 (Judges 10:3–5).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 387–394 (Judges 11:34–40).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 398 (Judges 12:8–10).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), pp. 156–157 (Joshua 15:13–19).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (1872 printing of the 1865 translation) (1872), p. 208 (Joshua 19:50).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), pp. 17–18 (1 Samuel 1:1).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), p. 39 (1 Samuel 2:27–36).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), p. 56 (1 Samuel 4:18).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (1872 printing of the 1866 translation) (1872), pp. 117–118 (1 Samuel 12:11).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Andrew Harper, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Chronicles (1872), pp. 123–124 (1 Chronicles 6:28, Hebrew 6:13).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Andrew Harper, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Chronicles (1872), p. 165 (1 Chronicles 9:22).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 2 (1872 printing) (1872), p. 87 (Exodus 18:24–27).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 3 (1871 printing) (1871), pp. 71–72 and note (Numbers 11:24–30).
  • George Buchanan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers (International Critical Commentary) (1903), pp. 113–115 (Numbers 11:25–29).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, vol. 3 (1871 printing) (1871), p. 499 (Deuteronomy 33:4–5).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. xxxvii–xlii (Introduction §7, Chronology).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. xxviii–xxix (Introduction, the Minor Judges).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 27 and notes (Judges 1:13).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 66–67 (Judges 2:9).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 107–108 (Judges 4, the two accounts).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 113–114 (Judges 4:5).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 231–232 (Judges 8:27).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 274–275 (Judges 10:4).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), pp. 302–305 and note (Judges 11:39).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 310 (Judges 12:8).
  • George Foot Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (International Critical Commentary) (1895), p. 311 (Judges 12:13–15, on 1 Samuel 12:11).
  • Edward Mack, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, "Chronology of the Old Testament" (1915), section VII (From the Disruption to the Exodus).
  • S. R. Driver, The Book of Exodus (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1911), p. xxx (Introduction §4).
  • James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. III (1906), §617, p. 264 (Merneptah's Hymn of Victory).
  • Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, vol. 1 (Genesis to Deuteronomy) (1706), on Deuteronomy 33:5.
  • Julius Wellhausen, tr. J. S. Black and A. Menzies, Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), ch. VI (Chronicles), §III.2.

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