04. The Person of Othniel, the First Judge

The Person of Othniel, the First Judge

We find in Othniel one of the bright lights of the book of Joshua. His name means ’lion of God’, or ’force of God’, but whichever interpretation is taken, we can see that it means that there was strength and power with this man, and as we examine his life in the few details that we have of it, the meaning of the name that he bears is amply borne out. First of all we can see what a favoured young man he was. He belonged to the royal tribe Judah, the tribe from which our Lord Jesus Christ came. Here was a man who was prepared to fight to overcome the enemy; he was prepared to fight to secure for himself a wife, he was governed by the Spirit of God and was used of God to secure great things for God and for His people.

These features that came to light in Othniel were seen in perfection in the great "Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Revelation 5:5), our Lord Jesus Christ. He answered to the challenge, and what a challenge it was. Satan faced Him with his challenge immediately He set out on His public pathway with the temptations in the wilderness; but He met that challenge and He overcame it, He overcame the great enemy of the people of God. He "loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25); loved it so that He might secure it for Himself that He might have it for His own heart’s desire and blessing. He too was governed by the Spirit of God, not that there was any possibility in the life of Jesus that He would in any way rebel against God, or that He required to be controlled by the Spirit, but in the gospels we find that every step of the pathway of Jesus was in the power of the Spirit, and in the power of that Spirit He offered Himself up to God without spot on the cross of Calvary. But we do not want to speak of the Lord now (precious though that is), but instead speak of the portion of the word that speaks about one who had features that were like the Lord Jesus - Othniel, a courageous man.

We can divide Othniel’s life into two portions, firstly the challenge that came to him, and secondly, the committal that was given to him. He came from the royal tribe, a favoured tribe. It was a good position to be in, but not only was he in a good position but he expressed in his life that he was a real man of God; he was a real ’son of Judah’ if you like. Judah was the tribe that was to reign, and this we find in Jacob’s blessing of the tribes in Genesis 49:10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah". Here was one who was imbued by that spirit, here was one who said, ’I am prepared to fight in order to secure this territory, it belongs to us, and I am going to fight to secure it.’