Cried unto the Lord. — “In the time of their trouble, when they cried unto Thee, Thou heardest them from heaven; and according to Thy manifold mercies Thou gavest them saviours” (Nehemiah 9:27). “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses” (Psalms 107:13; see, too, Psalms 26:5; Psalms 78:34; Psalms 106:44).
A deliverer. — Heb., moshia; LXX., “a saviour.” (Comp. Luke 1:69; Acts 13:23.) The same word as is used for the judges in Hebrews 9:27.
Othniel. — The name means “lion of God.” St. Jerome makes it mean “my time of God,” and spells it Athaniel
The son of Kenaz. — (See Judges 1:13.) Josephus, to escape the apparent improbability of a brother of Caleb being young enough to marry Caleb’s daughter, when Caleb was past eighty-five, calls him “a person of the tribe of Judah.” He rightly regards the events of Judges 17-21 as preceding the judgeship of Othniel; but they can hardly have happened during the oppression of Cushan-Rishathaim.