Judges: Ehud
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Have you noticed in yourself or in a friend that if they move away for college, military, or for work to a different part of the country they start picking up the accent of the people?
We have some friends who have moved to the UK and starting talking with a British accent
This story has action, adventure, and deception
Likewise, you start to learn the customs, idiosyncrasies and even the humor.
Jokes that are funny with one group of people, turn out to not be funny with another group of people.
This inescapable reality of being formed by your culture is at the heart of Discipleship and growing in Christlikeness.
We are men and women who are created to be formed.
The thing is, we are to be formed into the image of Christ.
We are to talk the way God talks, we are to think the way God thinks, and we are to laugh when God laughs.
So when we come to a book like Judges, and a story like the story of Ehud, we should come seeking to be formed by the word of God to think God’s thoughts after him, and to learn to laugh at the things God finds funny.
Last week we looked at the story of Othniel, his story was like an action movie with a love story at the center.
Ehud story is a thriller/comedy.
action and intrigue
adventure and deception
Irony and word play
It has clever Humor -and even boarder line slapstick humor - and it is humor we are supposed to find funny.
And to warn some of you, There is some potty humor that is supposed to make us laugh.
Two main Characters
Eglon, An evil king who is morbidly obese - or as the bible translates it, he was a very fat man
Ehud, A left-handed assassin from the tribe of Benjamin.
And like all the stories in Judges you have Israel doing evil in the sight of YHWH, and after sending them into exile you have YHWH delivering Israel by raising up a savior to rescue them.
Ehud story is a thriller/comedy.
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.
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.
14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
12-
Once again Israel did evil in the sight of YHWH
The scripture does not tell us what it was that Israel was doing here, but there are clues within the text that Israel morality was trending back to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah
God strengthens Eglon, the king of Moab, to war against and take Israel into captivity.
However, Eglon does not do this alone.
He calls up his cousins the Ammonites, and his barbaric friends, the Amalekites.
13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms.
Amalekites
Amalekites were one of the most cruel and fierce enemies of Israel.
They were barbaric in their warfare. They were unnecessarily violent
In fact, they are one of the few nations that the scriptures says God will war against from generation to generation.
Moabites and Ammonites (were cousins)
Do you remember the story of Lot and his Daughters?
If the story of Ehud is a thriller/comedy - the story of lot and his daughters is like a creepy horror story
Lot and his daughters lived in a cave in isolation from other people
The Daughters of Lot, having been formed by the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah, partook in drunken incestuous relations with their father and the children they bore were Moab and Ammon
So it was through this horrific story that the moabites and ammonites came into existence.
Lot’s daughters were formed by the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah - which is why the acted the way they did.
The Moabites and Ammonites are an evil, perverted, gross people who were constantly waring against Israel and YHWH. ()
When we come across an evil moabite king like Eglon, we should see the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and his daughters playing in the background.
To turn Israel over to Eglon, the king of the Moabites, is to say to Israel, “ you have turned back, and you have become like Sodom and Gomorrah”.
And the people lived under the rule of this wicked moabite king for 18 years.
This is the first city that Israel defeated after coming into the land, and now Israel is going in reverse, The lose the Jericho and come under captivity there under the rule of King Eglon.
It had been the faith of Abraham that had saved Lot from Sodom, but the people lacked that faith, so they were back in Sodom.
It had been the prayers of Moses that had saved Israel from Amalek, but the people lacked those prayers, so they were oppressed again by Amalek.
So God raises up a deliver, a savior, to rescue Israel out of servitude to the evil king Eglon. victions, so Jericho had been recaptured by the enemy, and resettled.
14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
for 18 years they serve Eglon, this sodomite king figure.
18 years they served the kingdom of Darkness rather than the kingdom of God.
18 years of being formed by the Moabite culuture
18 years of living under the rule of a wicked king.
They served king Eglon rather than YHWH
They were fully immersed in the culture of Moab, Israel joined in their perversions, and were distracted by their entertainment and so on.
They were enslaved to sin, and the sin they were enslaved to was sin they enjoyed.
Much like Lot and his family were enslaved to Sodom, they did not want to leave.
God could not send a deliverer to Israel until they realized their own brokenness, their own sin, their own need for a savior.
Israel was so steeped in the Moabite culture that it took them 18 years to realize how enslaved they really were.
So after 18 years, Israel finally repented and called out to God.
So God, in his eternal faithfulness, raises up a deliverer, a savior, to rescue Israel out of servitude to the evil king, Eglon.
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.
So who does God raise up to deliver Israel from Eglon?
“Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man”
“Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man”
Here we get some of the irony of the story.
Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin, who was one of Jacobs sons, was originally named “ben-oni” (son of my sorrow), but Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, which means son of my right hand.
So Ehud, who is from the tribe of Benjamin, son of my right hand, is a left handed man.
Thats a nice introduction.
The Assassin
So why tells us that Ehud was a left-handed man?
There are three different times we see lefties show up in the Bible:
Ehud
700 left-handed warriors (judges 20)
the two-dozen ambidextrous warriors who came to support David in Hebron ().
the two-dozen ambidextrous warriors who came to support David in Hebron ().
each time we see a lefthanded person the text tells us that they come from the tribe of Benjamin.
tells us of 700 left-handed Benjaminites who were great warriors and were experts with the sling.
15 And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered 700 chosen men.
16 Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
The tribe of Benjamin is known as warriors. And the left handed warriors were like the special ops.
Jacob’s blessing on Benjamin in is one that describes the tribe of Benjamin as a ravenous wolf, devouring the prey,
So Ehud was a left-handed Benjaminite, a warrior.
So Ehud was a left handed benjaminite, and not only that but he was well respected among the people of Israel
And it was this man that God called and raised up to be the deliverer of Israel.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”
The second part of verse 15 gets the story moving.
Ehud left-handed man, from
And the second part of verse 15 gets the story moving.
Look at the last part of v.15
15 And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered 700 chosen men.
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.
15
The Victory
So the people of Israel would have to send a tribute (a gift) to Eglon, the king of Moab (this is what they had to do when they were in servitude to the king)
And they sent Ehud to lead the group of men who brought tribute to Eglon.
So before Ehud left to take the tribute to Eglon, he had some work to do.
You see, God raised up Ehud to be the savior of Israel.
He called Ehud to crush the political head of the Moabites
He called Ehud to lead Israel out of servitude to Eglon into servitude to God.
And God gave Ehud a word to deliver to Eglon, a word that would cut deep, dividing the bone and marrow.
So Ehud goes up to pay tribute to King Eglon… but the scene shifts in verse 16 to Ehud’s blacksmith shop where he is preparing this word he is going to deliver to Eglon
And in verse 16 we see Ehud preparing this word he is going to deliver to Eglon
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.
Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges,
Now, we always want to pay attention to the details to a text when we are reading it. For the details make the stories come to life!
Why is it that Ehud making own sword?
Ehud is a left handed warrior from the tribe of Benjamin.
This guy knew how to fight, he knew how to kill. He was well equipped in his training, and he had the Spirit of God upon him to empower him for the job.
So he goes out to the blacksmith shop and begins to forge for himself the weapon he would use to slaughter the fattened cow that is king Eglon.
Blacksmith shop hammering out and grinding down this special two-edged sword
This weapon would have to be a sword, a smaller sword, only a cubit in length, thats about 18 in..(elbow to knuckles)
He wanted it small enough so he could bind it to his right thigh and keep covered under his clothes…
This is a conceal and carry sort of weapon.
Why does the text tell us that its a sword with two edges
The Bible talks a lot about swords and two edged swords
Hebrews tells us, “The word of God is shaper than any two edged sword”
Revelation 1 says, speaking of Jesus, In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword...
says, From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
So we have two-edged swords in the NT used to do the work of God, yet the in the NT these swords are symbols for the word of God.
The word of God is sharper than any two edged sword
And the swords in Revelation come out of the mouth of Christ, thus they are his words, they speak of the word of God.
Well, Ehud’s two edged sword will likewise deliver the word of God to King Eglon
The Hebrew word for “edge” is “pay”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
The Hebrew word for “edge” is “pay”
Again, focusing on the details helps us understand the story.
The Hebrew word for “edge” is “pay”
“Pay” in Hebrew is the word for mouth.
‘ in Hebrew is the word for mouth.
This two-edged sword is a sword with two mouths, that are going to deliver two words to king Eglon.
Ehud is coming with a message (or a word) from God, and that message will be delivered by the two mouths of his sword.
So we see Ehud in his shop preparing this sword, for this particular task, this particular assassination, of this particular king.
In verse 17 scene changes back from Ehud’s Blacksmith shop to King Eglon’s chamber where Ehud and the men of Israel have come to present a tribute to him.
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.
There is great Irony and humor in this verse…
Describe Eglon
Eglon here is described as a very fat man.
His name literally means heifer or bull, and the fact that the bible describes him as a very fat man helps us see how he lives up to his name.
Eglon’s size is only matched by his wickedness
Eglon was an evil perverted king, who wanted to bring back the days of sodom and Gomorrah
So here is king Eglon, this very fat man, sitting in his chambers
When Ehud and others come to present the tribute
Now the tribute also plays off the fact that Eglon is a very fat man..
This tribute is a Minkah tribute, in other words its a food offering.
describes the Minkah as being being cakes and wafers and such.
We see in verse 18 that this food tribute of cakes was so significant that it took multiple people to carry it.
18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.
So this very fat king was kept happy by people coming and offering him their homemade cakes and pies and donuts.
He was so large, and ate so much that the tribute needed to keep him happy had to be carried by multiple people.
So they give him the tribute of cakes and baked goods, and then everyone left
Ehud and everyone left
Ehud leaves with everyone and they are walking back home and come near gilgal and Ehud turned back to deliver his message to the king alone.
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.
When Ehud get back to Eglon, he says
Gilgal is where the stones Joshua set up as a memorial after crossing the jordan into the promised land were located.
Perhaps Ehud saw the stone idols next to the The Memorial stones of Joshua
Perhaps Eglon carved on the stones that Joshua set up and turned them into idols.
But either way, we see that when he got near the carved stones near gilgal he turned back to speak to Eglon, the king of Moab.
“I have a secret message for you, O king.”
“I have a secret message for you, O king.”
I have a secret “debar” word for you O King
Eglon get excited and wants to hear this secret message, so he commanded “SILENCE!” which means, get out!
So all his henchmen went out from his presence
Now is the time Ehud has been waiting for.
He is alone with Eglon
He see’s this massively obease king sitting there in all his pomp, and Ehud, the left-handed assassin moves closer.
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.
Here is the second debar, the second word, the second message, and he says its from God
Ehud does not use the name YHWH, the covenant name of God, but instead he uses the word elohim, which is also used of pagan gods.
He tricks Eglon into thinking he has a secret word from some pagan god. Eglon would not want to hear a word from YHWH.
Eglon hears that the secret word is from a god, so he stands out of respect
Now is the time to give this wicked evil king the two words of God, from the two mouths of his blade.
21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
Judges
So as Eglon stood and Ehud moved closer he did not see him do anything with his right hand, and thus was not expecting any sort of threat.
Because Ehud was left handed he reached with his left hand to his right thigh and pulled out the doubled edged sword and thrust it into very fat belly of King Eglon
Now, kids, this story has been exciting, intriguing, but what happens next is what makes this story funny.
Ehud took the sword and thrust it into the belly of the king… and then verse 22 says
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.
The hilt (handle) went all the way in
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.
And Eglon was so large that the fat from his belly went over the whole sword, and Ehud did not pull the sword back out… he left it hidden in the belly of the king.
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.
And then the bible tells us that after Eglon was stabbed with the sword that his dung came out. (he messed himself, he pooped himself)
Now, there are many stories in the bible that talk about people dying or being killed. However, not many, speak of of someone losing control of his bowls.
This is written this way, by the holy spirit, to laugh at and mock the evil king. It is to his shame that the dung came out when he was stabbed.
Its not the most popular topic to study, but the bible speaks a fair bit about how that which comes out of the body is unclean and if it is seen, it is to thier shame.
So here lies the moabite king, Dead with a sword hidden in the fat of his belly, laying in his own filth.
His sin and his lifestyle has resulted in the wicked king laying dead in his own shame.
This is what the sword of the Spirit, word of God does, it divides us, and it exposes our shame.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
This great and mighty king, who was larger than life, was name mean bull, has just been exposed by the word of God.
Eglon, which means “calf,” was ready for the slaughter by God’s appointed judge.
Eglon, which means “calf,” was ready for the slaughter by God’s appointed judge.
So Ehud has crushed the political head of the moabites.
God raised him up to be a savior for his people, He gave him directions to craft a sword that has two mouths. He then comes to Eglon the king, and twice says he has a Debar (a word) for the king.
The two words from God entered into his belly by the two mouths of Ehud’s sword.
However, the story is not over… and neither is the humor
And thus cuts the head off of the moabite snake
However, the story is not over… and neither is the humor
Ehud Escapes the roof chamber… The nice thing is he didn’t have any bloody sword to carry with him because he left in Eglon’s belly.
23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.
Judgges 3 23
So Ehud had escaped from the room and heads back toward his people.
meanwhile, after just a couple minutes there would have been a smell coming out of Eglons room, because Eglon messed his pants when he was stabbed.
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.”
So his servants come back to the room and saw that the doors were locked… however the smell was unavoidable...
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.”
So they thought he was going to the bathroom.
So they waited and did not go in.
And they kept waiting… and waiting… and waiting.
They waited until they got embarrassed.
servant 1: “knock on the door”
Servant 2: “no way! you knock”
etc.
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.
Judgges 3 25
Meanwhile, while they were waiting outside, Ehud escapes the city.
26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
Now that Ehud has killed the evil king, it is time for Israel to fight back, it is time for them to take hold of Jericho once again.
26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
27 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader.
28 And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over.
29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped.
30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
27-
After the crushing the head of the Moabites, Ehud returns to his people and calls them to follow him in war for YHWH has given the Moabites into your hands.
We see
Israel went in the power of Ehud’s victory to conquer the land
Because Ehud was victorious in his mission to defeat the evil king, so Israel was victorious in their mission to conquer the land.
Israel was formed by the victory of their leader.
He was brave, so they became brave
Ehud was victorious, thus the people were given victory
Ehud obeyed God, thus the people obeyed God.
Likewise, the mission of Church, and the mission of every Christian, is to follow our king. We go forward to fight with the confidence that Jesus, the greater Ehud, has defeated the leader of the kingdom of darkness. And as we follow Jesus, we, like Israel, are formed into his image.
And as we go we
Now, we do not go forward to fight against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power over this present darkness, against the Spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
And we fight not with swords of steel, but with the doubled edged sword of the Spirit, which is the word, the message, the debar, of God.
And as we learn to wield the word of God, we will see kingdoms humbled, and enemies silenced, and people from every tribe, tongue and nation saved.