1. Judges 3:4 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

For whose benefit was this test?

Judges 3:4 (ESV)

4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

This test is of course not for God’s benefit, for he sees and knows all things. Rather, the test is for Israel, in order to give them an objective instrument that would declare to them the depths of their infidelity and the justice of God.1