It’s the Details



Judges 3:12-25
12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. [Jericho] 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. 15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. 24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

As someone who has provided Biblical education to children for many years, I have to confess to a love for the story of Ehud. A group of elementary age children (especially the boys) just love this story. It has intrigue, violence, and poop. What more could a kid want?

But aside from the rather amusing elements of the story we find God rescuing the people once again from their enemies. They had fallen into idolatry after 40 years of peace brought to them by the leadership of Othniel. Now they again embrace the gods of the people who surrounded them and God delivers them into the hands of the Moabites. Remarkably, the Moabites are distant relatives of the Hebrews and that makes the enslavement worse. Their last enslavement had lasted for 7 years. This time it takes 18 years for the people to decide they’ve had enough and they again cry out to God for release. He sends them a very unlikely candidate – Ehud.

A point is made in the text that Ehud was a left-handed individual. The original language would suggest that he wasn’t left handed by birth, but instead he probably suffered some time of disfigurement. He may have even been missing his right arm, either by accident or by birth. Regardless of the reason, he uses this disability to win the day for Israel.

Ehud was a citizen of the tribe of Benjamin, which means “son of the right hand.” Yet Ehud was not right-handed. There are two possibilities. Either Ehud was born with a natural preference for his left hand, or he was handicapped. The Hebrew expression for left-handedness is “restricted as to the right hand.” Being merely left-handed would not have been sufficient cover for the stratagem Ehud used to approach King Eglon with a concealed weapon. We would not expect a healthy-looking person, right- or left-handed, to pass the Moabite bodyguards without a body check. No, the text leads us to believe that the Moabites let down their guard at Ehud’s approach because he did not physically look the part of a dangerous fighter.
Lawrenz, J. C. ©1997. Judges, Ruth (p. 50). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.

God quite often chooses to use the least likely persons to accomplish His will, Ehud being a prime example of that propensity. There are many times where I have had to discuss with God His choice for me to be the person who accomplishes a goal for Him. I always seem like a less than ideal candidate for whatever He has in mind. But God does what He will do and there I am. Those times are actually precious because I am privilege to watch God do what I believed was going to be impossible or at the very least inadequate. Almost 40 years ago, God decided that I should be a pastor’s wife. If you know me at all, you know that this is an unlikely position for me. But – here I am, playing a role that sometimes fits poorly, but to God be the glory. He knows how to use all of my "disabilities" to execute His will and I'm grateful for the opportunities to serve.

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