John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 3:11
And the land had rest forty years ,.... As it should seem from the time of this deliverance; though, according to Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, the eight years' servitude are to be included in them; and Bishop Usher F18 Anual. Vet. Test. p. 42. reckons these forty years from the rest first settled in the land by Joshua; but the former sense seems best: and Othniel the son of Kenaz died : not at the end of the forty years; it is not likely he should live so long, but when he died is not... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 3:8-11
We now come to the records of the government of the particular judges, the first of which was Othniel, in whom the story of this book is knit to that of Joshua, for even in Joshua's time Othniel began to be famous, by which it appears that it was not long after Israel's settlement in Canaan before their purity began to be corrupted and their peace (by consequence) disturbed. And those who have taken pains to enquire into the sacred chronology are generally agreed that the Danites? idolatry,... read more