So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 3:11 In Judges, things don t seem to go well when a judge dies. Like this: And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD 3:12 And we meet two men: Eglon and Ehud. We don t know a lot about either one. Here s what we know about Eglon: He was, well umm a, uh, man of substance (v. 17). He was the King of Moab.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud Here s what we know about Ehud: He was raised up by the LORD. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was left-handed. Judges 3:12-30 is a rather grisly portion of Scripture, one many would prefer to overlook. One commentator writes this: By even the most elementary standard of ethics, Ehud s deception and murder of Eglon stand condemned. Passages like this, when encountered by the untutored reader of the Scriptures, cause consternation and questioning. Phillip Elliot

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud So what do we do with passages like this? Spiritualize it, and say that his dagger was the sword of the Spirit (like Eph. 6 and Heb. 4)? Allegorize it, and make every detail in the story stand for something else, which kind of takes the sting out of the deception and murder? Moralize it, and find lessons in it about not being vengeful like Ehud, or having proper respect for authority? Or the danger of being alone too much, and look what it got Eglon? The answer to all of the above: No. Seriously.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud What is this story? What do we do with it? We find our key in v. 15: once again, this is a story about God that is what the author wants us to see. The people cried out to the LORD, and He heard. The LORD raised up for them a deliverer. He gave them another undeserved savior. This is a story of the compassion, pity, and relentless love of God for His sinful people. Through a guy like Ehud, the LORD once again saved His people.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud What is this story? What do we do with it? God did not raise up a deceiver, or a murderer, or an assassin but a deliverer. So remember this: God delights to save His people out of their troubles. In your hard, rotten, troubling circumstances, you have a Savior, a Deliverer, a compassionate God who hears your cries. A few examples: Psalm 40:1-2, 50:14-15, 69:1-3 & 33; Ex. 15:25; Nehemiah 9:9-10; Luke 18:38-42.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 12-14 Eglon, the Oppressor of Israel God s response to Israel s apostasy: He strengthened Eglon the king of Moab, which is interesting who and what was Moab? Notice that they were not included in the list of nations left to test Israel (3:3-6). Gen. 19:36-37 they are relatives of Israel, descended from Lot, Abraham s nephew. God had forbidden Israel from taking Moab s land, which He had given to them Deut. 2:8-9.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 12-14 Eglon, the Oppressor of Israel Eglon the mighty agent of the LORD s discipline! He had no idea of his role in God s plan. The Moabites were not a particularly warlike people, which explains the alliance with the neighboring Ammonites & Amalekites (Eglon may have thought a military alliance might help to keep them off his own back!). The allied nations take the strategic Jericho as Eglon s base of operations in Canaan; then he settles down and eats very well for 18 years.

A brief historical interlude The Ammonites and Amalekites who were they? Ammonites east of the Jordan, north of Moab. Descended from Lot (Gen. 19:38); relatives of Israel. Along with Moab, they hired Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24). Related in blood & language, but showed no kindness to Israel-notice the curse in Deut. 23:3-4. A predatory nomadic, warlike people; Jephthah fought against them in 11:33. Prophets predicted their judgment for hostility to Israel: Jer. 49:1-6; Ezek. 25:1-5, 10; Amos 1:1-15; Zeph. 2:8.

A brief historical interlude The Ammonites and Amalekites who were they? Amalekites lived S.W. of the Dead Sea Descended from the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12; 1 Chron. 1:36), so related to Israel. Often bitter enemies of Israel; attacked them in Ex. 17:8-13 & Num. 14:45, attempted to stop Israel s migration in Deut. 25:18. Saul finally destroyed their territory in 1 Sam. 14:48-15:3 last mentioned in 1 Chron. 4:43. Ancient Babylonian writings refer to the Amalekites as plunderers.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 12-14 Eglon, the Oppressor of Israel Eglon the mighty agent of the LORD s discipline! He is portrayed almost comically by the author, first as, well, corpulent in v. 17 & 22. Second, he was, um not the brightest light on the string, not the sharpest crayon in the box. When told that Ehud has a message from God for him (how can it be anything other than a message of more prosperity?), Eglon dismisses his bodyguards and with some effort! rises from his throne, and is alone with his enemy. What could possibly go wrong? After all, wasn t he King?

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 15-30 Ehud, the Deliverer of Israel Israel cries out in v. 15 but once again this is not a cry of repentance seeking forgiveness, but a cry of pain, distress: God, fix it! God raises up Ehud from Benjamin (which means son of my right hand ), God brings the left-handed Ehud. How did Ehud end up in king Eglon s presence? From man s perspective, he brought the regular tribute payment Eglon required. From God s perspective, he was raised up for this purpose.

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 15-30 Ehud, the Deliverer of Israel A little note here: in the middle of the ordinary, the practical, the material, don t forget the theological. God has a purpose for everything that comes into your life: conformity to Christ Rom. 8:28-29 You may never know the importance and impact of a very simple act Heb. 13:2; Matt. 25:40 God directs and orders events in our lives to fulfill His great purposes Ps. 119:67, 71 The most important things in life are unseen 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Col. 3:16

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 15-30 Ehud, the Deliverer of Israel Ehud crafts a special sword: 18 long, two-edged to slice cleanly through flesh, fastened on his right thigh to avoid detection. Ehud leaves, then turns back to Eglon s palace to bring the message from God he uses the common term Elohim rather than the name of Israel s God, Yahweh. Eglon rises in respect and now the action slows, the cameras record it in slow motion the left hand moves, the sword on the right thigh, the thrust Eglon is horrified! the sword goes in and in and disappears

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) v. 15-30 Ehud, the Deliverer of Israel and Ehud like a Ninja disappears as well. Except that he locks the doors first (v. 23). The author & every Israelite reader must have been chuckling thinking about the embarrassed servants waiting waiting waiting in v. 24-25. Though it feels anticlimactic now, Ehud escapes into Israeli-held territory (v. 26), calls out fighters from a localized area of the tribe of Ephraim, they run ahead of the Moabite army and seize the Jordan crossing effectively trapping Moab and the rest is, well, history (v. 29-30).

Judges ch. 3 Eglon and Ehud (oh, and Shamgar too!) Ok a rather grisly, comic, dramatic account of intrigue, assassination, and victory. Makes for great reading! But what s the point? Because remember: no biblical writer ever simply recorded history that was never the point. So, again, why is this account in Scripture in such detail? What was the author s intent? That is always a question we should ask anytime we open the Bible and read, study, memorize, or meditate on Scripture. Scripture means what it meant to its original authors, not what it means to us.

Judges 3:12-30 what s the point? 1. Yahweh s defeat of Moab gave Israel nearly a century of peace. To do what? To consolidate their hold on the Promised Land. Except, from ch. 1 & 4:1, we know they did not. To rid the land of the worship of foreign gods. Except, from ch. 2 & 4:1, we know they did not. To turn with a whole heart to their true God. Well, from 4:1, that didn t happen either. Which raises a question: When we are blessed to have life fairly easy for a season, do we make the best use of the time? Eph. 5:15-16.

Judges 3:12-30 what s the point? 2. From various perspectives Ehud was a traitor, a deliverer, an opportunist, ingenious, cruel notice that the author does not comment at all on the morality of Ehud s actions, he simply presents the facts as he sees them. These were dark and darkening days in Israel. The writer is showing why man needs a godly king, in preparation for the rise of King David. But even in the darkest of days God is using the tools available to preserve His people, even if they fail to recognize it at the time.

Judges 3:12-30 what s the point? 3. It is clear from v. 12, 15 & 28 that the true Hero in this account is not Ehud, but Yahweh. The credit, the glory the thanks must go to God. 4. 18 years of oppression under a luxury-loving overlord a mighty deliverance from God 80 yrs of relative peace then a further descent into greater evil were recorded by the author to show how deeply man needs God. The heart of man, outside of submission to God, will always gravitate toward selfishness and isolation from God. Always.

Judges 3:12-30 what s the point? 5. Ehud is a savior, a deliverer, but he is not good enough. The sin problem did not change. He could not release Israel from their bondage to sin, their love of other gods. It is what Paul calls in Rom. 3:9 being under sin. For our real bondage does not consist of Moabites or fat kings or physical and economic oppression. No left-handed savior can break us from our tyrant. But there is One with nailscarred hands who can and does. Dale Davis

Judges 3:31 oh wait, there s Shamgar too! So Ehud gets all that press, and poor ol Shamgar gets one lousy verse. What is he chopped liver? The name Shamgar is not an Israelite name; it appears to be of Hittite or Hurrian origin. He is Shamgar Ben-Anat, or son of Anath. There was a village named Beth-Anath to the far north in Galilee, but there were no recorded Philistine incursions in that region. What seems more likely, and is the view of most scholars, is that Shamgar was a worshipper of the goddess Anath, the consort of Baal.

Judges 3:31 oh wait, there s Shamgar too! So Ehud gets all that press, and poor ol Shamgar gets one lousy verse. What is he chopped liver? He may have been part of an Egyptian military force named after the Canaanite goddess of war called the troop of Anath; the members of that troop were called Ben Anath. Best scholarly guess is that he was an officer under the command of the Egyptian Pharaoh, not intentionally serving Israelite interests, yet his heroic stand relieved some of the Philistine pressure on Israel for a time.

Judges 3:31 oh wait, there s Shamgar too! So Ehud gets all that press, and poor ol Shamgar gets one lousy verse. What is he chopped liver? The point is this: and he also saved Israel. And guess what? A fisherman became an apostle of the Lord Jesus. It is no matter how weak the weapon is if God direct and strengthen the arm. An ox-goad, when God pleases, shall do more than Goliath s sword. And sometime He chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God. Matthew Henry

A description of another unlikely-sounding Savior: Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. - Isaiah 53:1-3