The Making of a Hero
J. M. Gibbon. Judges 3:9-11 And when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them… This is a book of heroes, of strong men, and strong women too, who, in a time of storm and stress, saved their own souls and the souls of those around them also. It will brace you up, invigorate, and inspire you. It is said of Pitt that he breathed his own lofty spirit into his country. "No man," said a soldier of the time, "ever entered Mr. Pitt's room who did not feel himself a braver man when he came out than when he went in." And no man can read this book sympathetically without being moved to emulation of the mighty souls that move across its pages. It tells us very briefly, but suggestively, the story of twelve people who helped to make Israel, and of these the first, and in some respects the best also, is Othniel, the son of Kenaz. Many of these "saviours," as they are called, were far from being perfect characters. But in Othniel's life, as we have it, there is no hint of anything that offends either the taste or the conscience. His name means God's Lion; and throughout he seems to have been a brave, pure, noble man. And yet the age in which he lived was a very corrupt one. His surroundings were very unfavourable to the growth of character. There was no king or leader in Israel — every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Idolatry and licentiousness abounded. And the task set before you, young men and women, is not so very unlike that which faced Othniel. You must first save yourselves — you must, by God's help, save your own souls. You must also help God to save the world. This is your task and your privilege — both to be saved and to be saviours. But how did Othniel become a hero and a saviour of his people? I. "Caleb said 'He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.' And Othniel the son of Kenaz took it." That is the first fact given us from Othniel's life, and that is all that is said about it — Othniel took it — took the stronghold of the mighty sons of Anak — the oracle city of idolatry before which even Caleb quailed. Othniel took it. But many things go to the making of such a deed as that. 1. First, of course, comes courage. It was an undertaking full of desperate difficulties. What was needed was not so much physical as moral courage. The courage to follow is common enough; it is the courage to lead that is rare. Othniel had this soul-quality. He led the way and took the city. Well, if you young people are bent upon saving yourselves from the evil that is in the world, you too must have and must exercise this soul-courage. It often needs more courage to handle the yard-wand than the sword — to be a business-man than to be a soldier. Daily life, all hum-drum as it looks, has its Marathons, its Waterloos, and its Minas; its Six Hundreds that ride into the jaws of death. 2. But courage, what is it? How does any one get courage? Well, if we take another look at Othniel we shall see that the lion in him was not born on the day Debir was taken. It was already strong, matured, full grown. Born long before this in the desert, it had been nourished by daily deeds of unrewarded valour. Acts such as this take years to grow. All his life he had been unconsciously preparing for this. Yes, that is the story of all courage. God gives it to us as He gives all things in seed form. Every heart is full of germs — courage-germs among them. If we cultivate any germ it grows and bears fruit; if we neglect it it dies. If you want courage you must grow it from a seed — that is you must practise the little you have. 3. Once more: This deed of Othniel's lays bare to us the central secret of all true power — faith. You are familiar with great facts of which Othniel never even dreamt. But your salvation does not depend on how many beliefs you carry about with you, but on how much do you believe any of them. Any truth becomes a saving truth to the soul that trusts it and through it trusts God. Thus this little sentence, unpromising as it looks, gives us three things that go to the making of a hero: courage, habit, faith, and the greatest of these is faith. II. "And he (Caleb) gave him Achsah his daughter to wife: and it came to pass when she came unto him that she moved him to ask of her father a field." This, the second of the three facts of Othniel's history, introduces us into a very different set of circumstances, a different climate of life in fact. 1. Debir is taken; Caleb has kept his word; the bride is coming to her new home. Applause is not much for a young pair to live on; so, amid the excitement and the joy, this fair daughter of the wilderness kept her eyes open and her wits about her. She noted the situation in which her new home lay. It was south land. It had no water. She moved her husband to ask for the field that had the springs of water. But Othniel is better at fighting than asking. Her humour, her sense, and her exquisite tact carried all before them. Caleb gave her "the upper springs and the nether springs." 2. But what has this to do with the making of a hero? Much in every way. Othniel was brave enough but he had a great deal to learn. He had taken Debir with his sword, but here at his own door he is confronted with a situation in which his sword is useless. Evidently he must learn the use of other weapons. He must master the art of gracious speech. He must acquire tact. There are knots which it avails not to cut, they must be patiently untied by skilful fingers. He is to help in making a people who shall never become formidable as a military power — never produce an Alexander or a Caesar — who shall ultimately lose all their swords, lose every inch of their territory and every stone of their citadels, and yet shall overcome their enemies through sheer force of character. That he may do this God sent him to the home-school and the farm-school to learn those homely virtues of common sense, patience, and tact, without which strength and courage were of little avail. 3. Well, you too, young people, must not despise these. III. "The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord... the children of Israel served Cashan-rishathaim eight years... the children of Israel cried unto the Lord." Many years — forty, perhaps, or even more — have passed since Othniel and Achsah took possession of their new home, and we are confronted with a new and painful situation. The Lord's people "forgat the Lord and served the Baalim" — that was their sin! "They served Cushan, King of Mesopotamia" — that was their punishment Egypt and Pharaoh were not so far away as they thought. Egypt, the land of bondage, is wherever sin is, and Pharaoh follows iniquity as the night the day. "And the Lord raised up a saviour... even Othniel, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." He raised him to this glorious height of manhood by breathing into him His own breath of love and life. There were many reasons why Othniel should do nothing. The chief, perhaps, was that apparently he could do nothing. Perhaps Achsah was another — and the farm a third. Yes, depend upon it there were many voices both within and without that bade Othniel beware of meddling with things beyond his power. But the still small voice called. He put himself, all that he was, all that he had, upon the altar, "and he judged Israel." He called the erring people back to truth and duty. Led by God's spirit he began there, with the people's own sin first. Then he "went out to war... and his hand prevailed against Cushan, and the land had rest forty years." Thus Othniel, even Othniel, became a saviour of his people, and the lion-like man of war, under the influence of God's spirit, was changed into a living prophecy of the Lamb of God, the Saviour of the world. "And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died," having in a rude, hard age, nobly sustained the character of the Happy Warrior. The phase "Othniel — a saviour," is at once his epitaph and his eulogy. Well, even so are noble lives still made. Faith, patience, wisdom, and the breath of God are the great life-building powers. Saviourhood is the end of all the ways of God in a soul. He makes some men strong in order that they may help the weak. He gives wisdom to some that they may thereby guide the foolish. He makes men holy in order that they may turn the unholy from the error of their way. Now, young people, will you be made strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might? Around you, in numbers that Othniel never dreamed of, are men that "serve the Baalim and serve Cushan," that sin, and suffer for their sin in mind, body, and estate. Will you help to save these? (J. M. Gibbon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. WEB: When the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.