Deeper Commentary
Jdg 3:1 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left to test Israel, those who had not known all the wars of Canaan-
Israel do the very things which God predicted in Deuteronomy would result in Him breaking the covenant with them- and yet He does not break His side of the covenant. In all this we see an altogether profound grace, arising out of God's passionate love for His people. We simply don't 'get' how passionate is God's love for us! See on Jud. 2:19.
Yahweh left or 'gave rest' to Israel's enemies, using the very word used of how He would give rest to Israel so that they didn't experience war nor opposition from enemies. But this was reversed. They need not have had any war, if they had been loyal to the covenant. So God "left' nations in the land to teach Israel war, hoping still to lead them to a position where they would conquer those enemies in obedience to the covenant. But we note "He did this only in order to teach each generation of Israelites about war, especially those who had never been in battle before" (:2 GNB). The implication is that living at peace and safety was now never envisioned by God as being possible for Israel. Even if some future generation had never experienced war [the contemporary generation most definitely had], they likely would need to fight in future. Because they seemed bent on sin, God now foresees they would never get to a point where they would be without war. Because war, the threat from enemies, was the result of unfaithfulness to the covenant. As happened after the flood, God comes to a more realistic view of His people's weakness. Through understanding what's going on here, we can better appreciate the Kingdom prophecies which speak of Israel finally dwelling at peace and without threat from their enemies. Because they shall sin no more, and the result of righteousness shall be peace from their enemies all around them.
Jdg 3:2 so that the later generations of the children of Israel might learn battle experience, those who before knew nothing of it-
As discussed on :1, this is putting it so positively. For the reason He didn't drive out the nations was because they had broken covenant with Him (Jud. 2:19-23). Even when God punished Israel, He seems to later almost take the blame for their judgments; thus He says that He left some of the Canaanite nations in the land to teach Israel battle experience. His grace is so positive about them in the way He writes about them. Yet elsewhere the presence of those remaining nations is clearly linked to Israel's faithlessness, and their survival in the land was actually part of God's punishment of Israel. He almost excuses Israel's apostasy by saying that they had not seen the great miracles of the Exodus (Jud. 2:7). "The portion of the children of Judah was too much for them" (Josh. 19:9) almost implies God made an error in allocating them too much; when actually the problem was that they lacked the faith to drive out the tribes living there. Likewise "the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them" (Josh. 19:47), although actually "The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley" (Jud. 1:34). When Dan fought against Leshem, this one act of obedience is so magnified in Josh. 19:47 to sound as if in their zeal to inherit their territory they actually found they had too little land and therefore attacked Leshem. But actually it was already part of their allotted inheritance. Yet God graciously comments: "all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel" (Jud. 18:1).
God didn't drive the nations out as a punishment and also as a test of Israel's faithfulness, which they failed by marrying into those nations and therefore worshipping their gods (Jud. 2:20-23). But here God speaks more positively of how He sought to use those nations as a training for Israel. To train their faith in Him. We marvel at God's incessant desire to save, and to use even abject human failure to somehow by all means save some.
"Learn battle experience" is literally, 'learn war'. The ideal was that God would have driven out the nations and Israel lived at peace, none making then afraid. The Kingdom age will feature "they shall learn war no more". But God now adopts a suboptimal policy. He wants to teach Israel to fight, to learn war, and so He intended to work through the nations remaining in the land. To strengthen Israel's faith. Towards the end that they would drive out all the nations and live in peace. He acts similarly if e.g. someone marries out of the Faith. He doesn't abandon them but continues working with them, even though they have made their spiritual path more difficult for themselves and less likely of success.
Jdg 3:3 the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites, the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath-
But Jud. 1:18 says that "Judah took Gaza with its border and Ashkelon with its border and Ekron with its border". I suggest the answer is that their victory was like those of Joshua- not followed up on. And like the victory over Jerusalem recorded in Jud. 1:8, soon after which the Jebusites were soon again entrenched in Jerusalem (Jud. 1:21). They failed to possess the Kingdom; all they did was prove themselves in the right as having the rightful, Divinely given title to it. And there is a challenge to us here, winning theological victories to prove ourselves right, but not possessing the Kingdom.
Jdg 3:4 They were left to test Israel, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of Yahweh which He commanded their fathers by Moses-
Israel were told to work with God to drive out the nations who lived in Canaan, because if those people remained there, they would be a spiritual temptation for Israel. But Israel sinned, they willfully followed the idols of Canaan rather than the God of Israel. And therefore God said that He would not help Israel in driving out the nations any more (Jud. 2:20,21). It was as if He was confirming them in their desire to succumb to the temptations of the surrounding nations.
Jdg 3:5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites-
Living together meant that there was a reconciliation of cultures between them. If the Israelites had been truly devoted to Yahweh's ways in practice, such reconciliation would not have been practicable; or we would be reading that the Canaanites accepted Yahweh. But the opposite happened.
Jdg 3:6 and they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods-
Many passages make the connection between marriage out of the covenant, and adopting idolatry: Ex. 34:12-16; Dt. 7:2-9; Jud. 3:6,7; 1 Kings 11:2,3; Mal. 2:11; 2 Cor. 6:14. Dt. 7:4 RV dogmatically predicts that a Gentile man will definitely turn away the heart of his Hebrew son-in-law… So certain is it that marriage to Gentiles leads to accepting their idols that Ezra 9:1,2 reasons that Israel hadn't separated from idols because they had married Gentiles. Time and again, those who marry out of the covenant claim that they feel strong enough to cope with it, that marriage is only a human thing, and that their spiritual relationship with God is between them and God, and unaffected by their worldly partner. Yet this is exactly the opposite of what God's word says. It's not true that you can marry into the world and be unaffected in your own spirituality. Solomon thought he could handle it; and apparently, he did- for the first 20 years or so. But his Gentile wives were his spiritual ruin at the end.
Jdg 3:7 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs-
"The children of Israel did evil in the sight of Yahweh" is a refrain which occurs seven times in Judges (Jud. 2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1), recalling how Israel both over history and in the last days were to be punished "seven times" for their sins (Lev. 26:23,24).
Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel and He sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. The Israelites served Cushan Rishathaim for eight years.
The pattern of 'serving' their Canaanite conquerors and then 'crying unto the Lord' (Jud. 3:8,9,14,15) recalls their servitude to the Egyptians, resulting in Israel 'crying to the Lord' (Ex. 2:23), and being answered by the Passover deliverance - which looked forward to the events of the Lord’s second coming. Their deliverances by the judges therefore also typify this. "Saviours (judges) shall come up upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (so that) the Kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obad. 21). “Saviours / judges" may be an intensive plural referring to the one true saviour / judge, Jesus.
Jdg 3:9 When the Israelites cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a saviour for them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother-
God Himself 'arose and saved' Israel from Egypt (Ps. 76:9, s.w. "raised up a saviour"), and the phrase is also used of Moses in Ex. 2:17. But the people didn't want this radical deliverance from their enemies, because like the generation saved from Egypt, they were with their enemies in their hearts, and worshipped their gods as Israel had taken the idols of their Egyptian enemies with them, through the Red Sea (Ez. 20:17). So the potential possible in these raised up saviours / judges was never totally realized.
Jdg 3:10 The Spirit of Yahweh came on him and he judged Israel. He went out to war and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim-
We can too easily skim read these verses and fail to appreciate how huge was the victory. "Mesopotamia" was the vast region between the Euphrates and Tigris; the Hebrew is Aram-naharaim ‘Syria of the two rivers,’ usually held to designate the country between the Euphrates and the Tabor (2 Kings 17:6). This king was mighty and ruled a large territory. He was perhaps seeking to get access to the sea, hence he attacked Israel. But this great king and his army were slain by the small clan of Othniel in the South of Judah.
Just as all the animals and everything in the eretz promised to Abraham was 'delivered into the hands' of Noah (s.w. Gen. 9:2), so the nations of that eretz were delivered into the hands of Israel (s.w. Ex. 6:8; 23:31; Dt. 2:24; 3:2,3; 7:24; 21:10; Josh. 2:24; Jud. 1:2). Tragically, like Adam in Eden [perhaps the same eretz promised to Abraham] and Noah in the new, cleansed eretz, Israel didn't realize this potential. What was delivered into the hand of Joshua (Josh. 2:24) actually wasn't delivered into their hand, because they disbelieved (Jud. 2:23); and this looks ahead to the disbelief of so many in the work of the Lord Jesus, who has indeed conquered the Kingdom for us. They considered the promise of the nations being delivered into their hand as somehow open to question, and only a possibility and not at all certain (Jud. 8:7; Num. 21:2 cp. Num. 21:34). Some like Jephthah (s.w. Jud. 11:32; 12:3), Ehud (Jud. 3:10,28), Deborah (Jud. 4:14), Gideon (Jud. 7:15) did, for a brief historical moment; but as individuals, and their victories were not followed up on. Instead they were dominated by the territory. And so instead, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies within the eretz (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Jud. 13:1).
This king of Cush (also featured in Ez. 38:5, N.I.V.) has the epithet 'Rishathaim', meaning 'double wickedness'. These things point forward to the conflicts of the latter days between the Lord Jesus, Israel's ultimate judge / saviour, and the latter day enemies of Israel within the land promised to Abraham. This serves to emphasize how the latter day invasion will be headed up by an individual who is unashamedly a 'man of sin', a true anti-Christ. He was "king of Mesopotamia" (Jud. 3:8), literally meaning 'Aram (Syria) of the two rivers", i.e. Tigris and Euphrates. This would point to a geographical location in modern Iran / Iraq.
Jdg 3:11 The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died-
The forty years rest of Jud. 3:11; 5:31; 8:28 may not be a literal period. I have elsewhere noted that the forty year reigns of Saul, David and Solomon create chronological problems if read literally. The idea may be that forty years was a time of testing, as it was for Israel in the wilderness. We think of the Lord's 40 days of testing too. In this case, they were tested by peace. And they consistently failed, as God's people often do.
Jdg 3:12 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of Yahweh-
This hints, perhaps, at a relatively sudden revival / strengthening of Israel's enemies, allowed by God in order to punish His people. They dominate Israel, they repent, and then cry to Yahweh for a saviour- and the Lord Jesus will be sent. It could be argued that this has indeed occurred since the discovery of oil in the Arab states; alternatively it could refer to a sudden revival after a dramatic defeat by Israel and/or her Western allies. Jer. 48:47 NIV clearly speaks of a revival of Moab's fortunes in the last days.
Jdg 3:13 He gathered to him the Ammonites and Amalek and he went and struck Israel; and they took possession of the city of palm trees-
Amalek was a tribe fated to destruction by God (Ex. 17:14), so we immediately suspect that this domination of Israel will come to destruction.
This should be seen against the background of many Scriptural indications that the latter-day entity dominating Israel in their land will comprise a confederacy of surrounding nations, united by the single desire of attacking Israel. Psalm 83 is a notable example of this. We note these attackers came from the east, over Jordan, and took Jericho (Dt. 34:3), perhaps making it their headquarters on the west bank of the Jordan. However, "the city of palm trees" could also have been En-gaddi, since Jericho had been destroyed by Joshua and wasn't rebuilt until the time of Ahab (1 Kings 16:34).
Jdg 3:14 The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years-
"Eglon" means 'calf', the same word used of the calves later worshipped by Israel. He was named after his idol, and yet Yahweh strengthened him (:12) in order to punish His people. God may use people, but that usage doesn't mean that He therefore approves of them. We too may be used by God, but this is no evidence of our acceptability with Him. He is described as "fat" and is slain with a knife- as if this was the slaying of the fatted calf. In the prodigal parable, the Lord interprets this as a celebration for repentance. Possibly Israel had sinned and repented, and Ehud was raised up in response to that. Or more likely, God counted Israel as having repented when they hadn't.
Jdg 3:15 But when the Israelites cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a saviour for them, Ehud the son of Gera the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab-
It seems from 1 Chron. 8:6 that Ehud's family were carried captive to Mahanath, a place in Moab. And this would explain his motivation in fighting to free Israel from Moabite domination. The Ehud of 1 Chron. 8:6 was also a Benjamite [from Geba] who was related to Gera; see note there. Left handed people were considered strange and often relegated to the periphery of society in primitive societies; we see again how almost all the judges had something which made them despised and rejected. And yet it was exactly that group which God delighted to use to save His people (Jud. 3:15). We notice how God used left handed people to give David victory (1 Chron. 12:2), and to punish their hypocritical brethren (Jud. 20:16), and also the left handed Jael (Jud. 5:26 LXX). He seems to rejoice in using those whom man despises. See on :21. It's also possible that Ehud was right handed but had lost use of his right hand, thus making him effectively left handed. The Hebrew for Left-handed" here is literally 'a shut up right hand'. It isn't the same as in :21 where we are told of his left hand. That again would support the theme- that human strength is taken away so that God may be glorified through human weakness. And although he was of Benjamin, the son of the right hand, that was somehow shut up or disabled. This explains why there's something odd in the grammar of the phrase "the Benjamite". Literally it reads "a son of the right hand". Perhaps the idea is that the son of the right hand has his right hand somehow disabled, so that he is left handed. His natural ability has been removed. Ehud couldn't be the man he was intended to be. And all this was part of God's psychological background work in 'raising up' Ehud to save Israel.
I discuss on Jud. 20:16 how Benjamin were noted by the other tribes for having a regiment of left handed men. Benjamin means 'son of the right hand', the firstborn- something Judah and the other tribes bitterly resented. It's as if they were known as 'left handers', famed or mocked by the other Israelites for their left handed slinging regiment- as a dig against their role as being sons of the right hand. And this tension was behind the way the Israelites were later eager for an excuse to wipe out the tribe of Benjamin. Left handedness is associated with sexual deviance, homosexuality and femininity in some African cultures, and it quite likely was in the time of Judges. "Sinister" literally means 'left handed'. "Men shook hands with their right hands since it was this hand that carried any weapon and if a weapon was being carried shaking hands could not take place". Indeed losing the right hand was seen as a punishment for sexual deviance. Ehud would have felt misunderstood and misjudged, perhaps contributing to his initial desire to make a suicide mission to assassinate Eglon. Probably his personal desperation was stronger than any courage that came from faith. In their culture at the time, being 'normal' was all important. And it was not normal to be left handed. And so many of us fall into that category, of those not considered 'normal'. But God uses those very abnormalities. The point is that the man who was of the right handed tribe was in fact left handed; he fitted the image of a man who didn't live up to his name, and was perhaps mocked because of it. But it was that despised left hand which God was to use. And so continues a great theme in Judges, that God uses the marginalized and disdained as His great warriors. Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah... the left handed, female, youngest son, illegitimate son of a prostitute. Just as Ehud uses a home made dagger with his left hand, others use an ox goad, a tent peg, water pitchers instead of swords, a millstone thrown over a wall, the jawbone of a donkey... the weak, everyday things of life. This is still how God's Spirit works.
If Ehud's right hand was deformed, and he had no sword on his left thigh, Eglon would not have suspected that Ehud had any nefarious purpose in wanting to come close to him. God worked through the left-ness of Ehud. The man who had lost use of his right hand was not fit for military service; but he became the great warrior deliverer of Israel. The right hand is associated with good things (Is. 48:13; Ex. 15:6; Ps. 89:25; 110:1), morality (Ps. 137:5), approval (Gen. 48:13-20; Ps. 80:17; Is. 41:13) and purity (Ex. 29:20; Lev. 8:23; 14:14,17). But the left hand is associated with the opposites of these things. The rejected go to the left hand; and Ecc. 10:2 sums it up: “A wise man’s mind is at his right, and the fool’s mind at his left”. But through this weakness, God works.
Ehud was "raised up" by God, but clearly worked on his own initiative. His plan involved making himself a dagger (:16), carefully working out an assassination plot based on his knowledge of Eglon's palace after having been there many times taking tribute; and a cunning plan to pretend to have received a message from the idols at Gilgal for Eglon. This was all a result of ideas forming in his own mind, and having the single minded courage to develop them. Yet all this was under God's control, 'raising him up' for the moment.
Jdg 3:16 Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he wore it under his clothing on his right thigh-
"Made himself" is literally 'made him', and could as well mean that he made the sword as a gift for Eglon- but in presenting it to him, plunged it into Eglon to murder him. There is irony throughout. Eglon, the fatted 'calf' [as Eglon means] was sacrificially offered. For the dagger recalled the priestly knives. Whereas Ehud had been bringing sacrifices to Eglon. We ponder whether all this irony and mockery was in fact of the Spirit. Yet still God worked through it all. Ehud was a man of a disabled right arm; he did whatever he did with his left hand. To fashion a sharp knife with only his left hand would not have been easy. And the record stresses that he "made [it] himself". We are left to imagine him struggling one handed with the hot metal, making some kind of vice to hold the knife as he sharpened it... And so the one handed man made a two edged sword / dagger / knife, with its own hilt. The way he makes it himself, and returns from the idols to Eglon alone, all suggests he had planned the assassination carefully- and without the involvement of anyone else. Because, I suggest, he thought of it as a suicide mission. God worked through the hand of this disabled, suicidal, left handed loner... For men who think up suicide missions do so for many reasons. Not just bravery or a desire to achieve a greater good for their own side at the cost of their life. The desire to end their own lives can also play a large part, and this was likely the case with Ehud. But as with Samson, God worked through it. We note that the Spirit only came upon Ehud after his assassination of Eglon. The assassination itself was apparently his own plan, although part of his being 'raised up' for the job of delivering Israel from Moab.
This is presumably measuring by the "short cubit," i.e. the length from the elbow to the knuckles, about 13 inches or 33 cm. The idea of a saviour with a two edged sword looks ahead to the Lord Jesus and His latter day deliverance of His people from the same neighbouring peoples (Rev. 1:16).
Jdg 3:17 He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man-
There is a strange emphasis on Eglon's physical form. "Eglon was a very fat man" is supported by the detailed and gory record of his death by stabbing: "Ehud... thrust it (the dagger) into his belly: and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly" (Jud. 3:17,21,22).
However, LXX gives "handsome", and the word translated "fat" is used also of flourishing animals and plants (Gen. 41:2,5; 1 Kings 5:3). It is the word used for Daniel and his friends appearing so healthy and strong (Dan. 1:13, as Ps. 73:4). But generally the word is used of animals, perhaps inviting us to see Ehud as a priest sacrificing Eglon, whose name means 'bull'. "Present" is mentioned three times and the word mincha can mean 'sacrifice'. But Ehud sacrifices the fattened calf Eglon with a priestly knife.
Jdg 3:18 When he had finished offering the tribute he sent away the people who carried the tribute-
This could have happened at Eglon's palace in Moab, or at his field headquarters in the "city of Palm trees" (:13), which I suggested was En-gaddi or Jericho (see on :28). It seems Ehud wanted to operate totally alone; possibly because there was nobody of exactly the same mind in the group of Israelites accompanying him. This would be a sad reflection on how willing they were to be subjugated; and also a parade example in serving God alone, even if our brethren are weak; see on :19.
Jdg 3:19 but he himself turned back from the idols that were by Gilgal and said, I have a secret errand to you, king. The king said, Keep silence! All his attendants left him-
This language could suggest that "he himself" turned away from idolatry, but his brethren were happy to remain with the idols. The assassination had to be carried out by himself alone because he had nobody of a similar mind to support him. See on :26. "Turned back" carries the idea of repentance. Perhaps only at this point did Ehud repent of idolatry; hence the significance of him passing beyond the idols on his return. "Gilgal" means a circle, so perhaps the "hewn images" were arranged in a circle. We are left guessing what happened to the other Israelites. Ehud alone "turned back from the idols" so we are left to guess that the others stayed there worshipping them. Ehud acted alone, spiritually and in every way. He never shared his mission with anyone else, for likely the mindset of the Israelites was as in Samson's time- accepting that the Gentiles ruled over them, and not seeking to overthrow them in any realistic way. They simply complained of their burdens, just as many today. The way God worked through Ehud to save them was therefore grace itself to the undeserving. "Errand" is literally a 'word', which is why the king asks his servants to be silent and to leave- so that the prophetic word could be heard by him.
"Secret message" is literally 'a hidden thing'. Ehud has in view his hidden dagger. He is constantly being sarcastic and ironic- not an altogether spiritual characteristic. The sarcasm and irony continues, in that it was the king himself who commanded his servants to leave him alone with Ehud. Ehud could not have contrived this, nor could he have asked them to leave. This was God's hand confirming him in his brave mission- which may well have been planned by him as a suicide mission, hence him going alone. For had be murdered Eglon, the servants would soon have murdered him. The long delay of the servants in unlocking the door and finding Eglon dead, a delay just long enough to allow Ehud to escape with his life, was likewise surely the hand of Divine providence which Ehud could not have himself orchestrated. We also reflect how Eglon didn't scream when stabbed or in his death throes [possibly any groaning from him was thought to be the sound of the obese man having another stomach upset]- again, Ehud could not have orchestrated this. Had Eglon screamed, his servants surely would have heard and come to arrest Ehud. Likewise the servants didn't check or frisk Ehud's right thigh where his dagger was hidden. They saw his right hand was deformed and there was no sword on his left thigh, as would be normal for a right handed man; and so presumably they let him go in to Eglon. All these things lead us to suspect again that he himself had planned it all as a suicide mission; but God saved him from death at that point, so that he could rally Israel by his example.
Jdg 3:20 Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. He arose out of his seat-
The cameraman of Divine inspiration is zoomed close in here upon the two men. We are told that the room is an upper room, and cool; we see Eglon arising out of his seat, perhaps with some difficulty if he were obese. "God" is elohim, and Ehud is pretending that he has been to the idols near Gilgal, the elohim, and has been sent back by them to Eglon with a personal message for him. Balak, another king of Moab, likewise "rose up" to hear the oracle from Balaam. And we think of Samuel taking Saul aside alone to give him a word from the Lord (1 Sam. 9:27). Oracles were sometimes given to kings by priests or local rulers as a sign that they accepted the king's sovereignty over them. And Ehud is surely doing this. Ehud's deceit is of a very high level. Although his personal bravery isn't in question, and was surely an outcome of his faith, a higher level would surely have been to simply trust in Yahweh and in Yahweh's Name attack the Moabites and liberate territory from them. But Ehud's bravery and huge risk is of such an extraordinary level that we naturally hesitate before suggesting he could have done even better. But it seems to me that he could have done even better... by not pretending he actually was an idol worshipper.
Jdg 3:21 Ehud put forth his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his body-
Again there is the stress on the fact that Ehud used his left hand; see on :15. He presumably was grasping the king, about to whisper in his ear a message from God. And perhaps he did indeed have a message from God which he whispered as he stabbed him.
Jdg 3:22 The handle also went in after the blade and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn’t draw the sword out of his body, and it came out behind-
It would seem that AV "and the dirt came out" may be correct. Ehud knew he only had one chance, to kill the man immediately without him screaming in agony to attract attention. So he would have struck him with full force. But the idea may also be that the man was as it were pierced right through; the image of total victory used several times of God's piercing through of His latter day enemies. Or we could render the phrase to the intent that he immediately went out into the parshedon, or inner chamber, and thence to the next chamber (:23). This would continue the very fine attention to detail noted on :20.
ESV "and the dung came out". This turned Eglon's throne into a toilet chair or seat. The irony and sarcasm of the record surely reflects Ehud's thinking; and such an attitude seems suboptimal in spiritual terms.
Jdg 3:23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and shut the doors of the upper room on him and locked them-
As noted on :20, we have a very close attention to detail here. He managed to make the door lock after he closed it. Ehud clearly planned the assassination carefully. He would have been familiar with the layout of the palace because he had presumably been there several times before, offering tribute during the 18 years of Moabite domination of Israel (:14). Yet bringing the tribute to Eglon could be seen as a sign of weakness. But through that, God worked. For it gave Ehud knowledge of the palace layout.
Jdg 3:24 Now when he had gone out, the servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked, and they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room-
Covering the feet is an idiom for sleeping (1 Sam. 24:3), but it could be that it also means 'to go to the toilet'. His obesity may have been such that he had frequent bowel problems, of which he was embarrassed, and they assumed he had locked the doors for the sake of his own privacy.
There is a bitter sarcasm in the record. Eglon was indeed going to the toilet, in that his excrement flowed out from his wound and he was lying in it. This sarcasm reflects how Ehud had planned things. And we again question whether such bitter sarcasm was right when doing God's work. So much could have gone wrong for Ehud, but nowhere does he hint at praise of God's grace to him. Rather does the record reflect his perspective, of shaming an enemy and making him and his people a laughingstock. But that surely isn't God's approach to His enemies. The AV brings out better the triple usage of "Behold". We are given as it were a slow motion description of the servants' actions and confusion. We aren't given such slow motion description of Ehud's escape and flight. The record seems to reflect Ehud's intention- to mock and poke fun at the Moabites, as their inaction is contrasted with his dashing heroism as he successfully exits the palace and flees: "They saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead". We note the similarities between Ehud's left handed, deceptive murder of Eglon, claiming to have a quiet word for his victim; and the deception used by Joab to assassinate Abner and Amasa, again using his left hand in an unexpected left handed thrust and shedding out the bowels of the victim (2 Sam. 3:27; 20:8-10). Joab's assassinations were wrong, as the record makes clear (1 Kings 2:5,6,31,32). But we wonder whether he was inspired by Ehud; and that raises the question as to whether Ehud used the right methods to assassinate Eglon. Even though God worked through them. Just as He did through Samson's very deceptive and morally wrong ways of murdering Philistines.
Jdg 3:25 They waited until they were ashamed; but still he didn’t open the doors of the upper room, therefore they took the key and opened them and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth-
"Still he didn’t open the doors of the upper room" is written from the perspective of the servants. For we know, as the readers, that their king is lying there dead. But the Bible chops and changes in whose perspective it adopts, and this is helpful to remember when assessing the language of demons in the New Testament.
Jdg 3:26 Ehud escaped while they waited and passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah-
This was a daring, single handed assassination that reflected a deep faith within Ehud. I suggested on :19 that the assassination had to be carried out by himself alone because he had nobody of a similar mind to support him. His brethren were happy to remain with the idols (:19), but Ehud passed beyond them- to true relationship with Yahweh. "Seirah" has not been defined as a town, and may be the name for the forests of the hill country of Ephraim (:27). The record continually mocks at the enemy, calling Eglon a fat cow sacrificed by Ehud, who cleverly duped the dumb courtiers. And here, Ehud "escaped" whilst none of the Moabites "escaped" Israel (:29 s.w.). The pesilim ["idols"] may refer to carved paganic stones which the Moabites had set up as boundary markers on the territory they had taken over from the Israelites. They probably had an image of Eglon and his gods upon them, like other boundary markers which have been unearthed, which is why Ehud claims he has received a revelation from those gods to give to Eglon.
Jdg 3:27 When he had arrived, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hill country, and he went before them-
I suggested on :19 and :26 that Ehud was pretty much alone in his high level of devotion to Yahweh. But although the other Israelites were spiritually weak, they still had some potential strength; and Ehud's example inspired them to come forward for the Lord. If [like Elijah] he had despised them for their unspirituality, then they would not have rallied to him.
There is no record of Ehud telling the Israelites that he had slain Eglon. He urges them to follow him- "he went before them"- to attack the Moabites. Clearly his single handed act of faith inspired him to further faith, and somehow his confidence in victory inspired Israel.
Jdg 3:28 He said to them Follow me, for Yahweh has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. They followed him and took the fords of the Jordan opposite the Moabites and didn’t allow any man to pass over-
I suggest that Eglon was based at "the city of palms" which he had made his headquarters on the western side of Jordan. Now he had been slain, the Moabites wanted to flee back over the Jordan to Moab. Ehud guessed this would happen, and so took the fords of Jordan. "Opposite the Moabites" would then mean "before the Moabites arrived".
Ehud was a man whose right hand was closed or restricted. But he had assassinated Eglon with his left hand. And so he urges Israel that their "hand" too can prevail, and :30 confirms this by saying that Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel. If the deformed hand of Ehud could do what he did, so could the weak hand of Israel. And we are also to be inspired by the victories of those who one way or another are limited in their right hand. We love watching handicapped people achieving great things... and should be inspired that we too can arise above our own handicaps. Ehud's victory was intended to be the inspiration for Israel's. Thus the fatness of Eglon is repeated in :29, where the 10,000 Moabites slain were all 'fat' or strong (Heb.). Above all, the Lord's victory as a man of our nature is to inspire us to likewise overcome.
Jdg 3:29 They struck down about ten thousand Moabite men at that time, every strong man and every man of valour, and none escaped-
See on :17. The word for "thousand", especially when used in a military context, doesn't necessarily refer to a literal 1,000. Rather can it mean some kind of military subdivision.
Jdg 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest for eighty years-
The nations in the land being "subdued" was the outcome of Israel being obedient to the covenant (s.w. Dt. 9:3). We read this word "subdued" used of how the land was at times subdued before Israel (Jud. 3:30; 4:23; 8:28; 11:33). But each time it is clear that the people generally were not obedient to the covenant. One faithful leader was, and the results of his faithfulness were counted to the people. This is what happened with the Lord's death leading to righteousness being imputed to us.
Jdg 3:31 After him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred Philistine men with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel-
Anath is clearly a reference to Anat, the god of warriors. He was named according to a belief that he as a warrior would have Anat supporting him. But again we see, as with Jael and Gideon, how being surrounded by a background and culture of spiritual error and weakness didn't preclude people from rising above it. And so it is today.
Some pointings of the Hebrew in Jud. 3:31 have Shamgar killing 600 Philistines with an ox goad or "mattock" [as LXX]- using whatever came to hand in workaday life. Likewise Samson killing 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass (Jud. 15:14,15). Likewise Jael with her [wooden] tent peg and mallet.
The Hebrew phrase "attack... and save" is used in 1 Sam. 23:2 when David is uncertain about whether to attack the Philistines. David is being pointed back by this allusion to the zeal of Shamgar the son of Anath, 'the answer'. The answer to David's question was in Shamgar. David was spiritually and mentally exhausted at this time, and God's way forward for him at this time was to get up and be proactive for others. That is not always the right answer for us in our low moments, but when it is, we will be directed to it by God, perhaps through allusion to Biblical characters.
Samson's victory at Lehi may have inspired Shammah to slay the Philistines at the same place, years later (2 Sam. 23:11; AV "into a troop" is Heb. "Lehi"). And yet Samson's victory with a donkey jawbone would have been inspired by Shamgar's victory with an ox goad (Jud. 3:31). This is how the body of Christ should function; one spiritual victory inspiring another.