Who was Ehud?

Son of Gera, a Benjamite. He slew Eglon king of Moab, and, according to Josephus, which is confirmed in scripture, he became judge of Israel. Judges 3:15-26; Judges 4:1.

Ehud.

1894 107 When Israel had been eighteen years oppressed under the tyranny of Eglon, king of Moab, God raised them up a deliverer from the tribe of Benjamin — a strong, brave, capable man, whose work however is discredited by the unscrupulous way in which he did it. This was Ehud, the left-handed chief, who was (lit.) "shut — maimed — of his right hand." Having only one serviceable arm, he had the choice before him of sitting down and mourning for the other, as many would do, or of making the best use he could of the one remaining. He chose the latter alternative and delivered God's nation.

Ehud, the Benjamite, raised up of God to be the deliverer from Eglon, king of Moab, was "a man left-handed" (Judges 3:15), or as the margin has it, "shut of his right hand." Another translation gives "bound as to his right hand" as a literal rendering of the Hebrew idiom. The "right hand" has become almost an equivalent of "power" or "strength" in ordinary speech. Here was a man "bound" as to his strength, a man quite unlikely to deliver by one powerful blow the whole nation from the oppressor. Yet that was what he did, and as the result of the stroke of Ehud's left hand the land had rest for no less than eighty years.

They served Eglon eighteen years. For the second time they cried unto the Lord and again He answered graciously by raising up Ehud, the son of Gera , the left-handed Benjamite. The story of the deliverance wrought by him is interesting. Without repeating the history of the chapter we give briefly its typical meaning. Ehud's father was Gera , which means "meditation." This is needed first of all to get deliverance from a mere profession or world prosperity with its attending evils to bring the soul to a blessed realization of its possessions and blessings in Christ. Ehud means "I will give praise." Here is the deliverance for God's people out of a dead formalism. Meditation on the Word leads to a believing possession of the realities of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is followed by praise, the confession of His Name. Then Moab 's bondage is ended.

Ehud was left-handed, showing the weakness of the instrument. The two-edged dagger is the type of the Word of God, while the hand which grasps it illustrates how faith is to use the sword of the Spirit. Then Ehud, the Son of Gera, the left-handed, thrust the two-edged dagger into the fat belly of Eglon. Fat is the emblem of prosperity, the prosperity of the world by which so many of God's people become captivated. The sword of the Spirit must be plunged into that which is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

As to the deliverer, he is Ehud, the son of Gera, a Benjamite and it is Benjamin's territory upon which Eglon has obtained lodgment. This, again, is simple for a spiritual mind. For Benjamin, standing for Christ in us, it is here that we find what most of all the life of mere profession denies and sets aside. Thus, too, it must be with Benjamin that deliverance lies. Then he is Ehud, from the same root as Judah, which, as we have seen, speaks literally of confession, the opposite of mere profession. Ehud is the "confessor," and the son of Gera — that is, as it would seem, "rumination," that heart-meditation by which the things of Christ are appropriated and become the possession of the soul. Ehud is, then, the God-prepared deliverer for Israel in their present emergency.

The details of the deliverance, however, are less easy to understand. The dagger or sword (according to the root-idea, the "implement of destruction") would stand, according to Eph. 6 for the "word of God." Ehud, like many other Benjamites of his day, was "bound of his right hand," and uses it with his left. Does this speak of the infirmity in which the man in Christ glories, that the power of Christ may rest upon him? From Gilgal, with its inspiriting memories, Ehud turns back to Eglon, and escapes beyond it again to Seirah, "the rugged." Then he sounds a trumpet in Mount Ephraim, out of which the children of Israel hasten in response, and Jordan, which, by the power of God, Israel had passed over dry-shod, becomes the effectual doom of Moab, not a man of whom escapes their enemies' swords.

Only after this long period of degradation did they finally cry out to the Lord, who is always ready to hear and respond to need when it is confessed. On this occasion He raised up a Benjamite named Ehud, meaning "I will give thanks." He illustrates the positive attitude of thanking God in the midst of affliction. He was left handed, yet Benjamin's name means "son of my right hand." The right hand is seen as the hand of power in scripture, and the left hand speaks of weakness. Ehud had learned the lesson, "when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor.12:10). Depending on God, he became a bold man of faith.

Ehud was sent by Israel to carry tribute to the king of Moab at Jericho (v. 15). But he had prepared himself by having fastened under his clothes on his right thigh a dagger he had made himself. It was double edged and about 18 inches long (v. 16). Eglon was a very fat man, a suitable representative of the self-indulgence of which Moab speaks (v. 17).

Ehud presented the tribute of Israel to Eglon, then left with his attendants, but sent them away while he turned back alone, to tell Eglon he had a secret message for him (v. 19). Eglon had no suspicion of one man alone, and specially after Ehud had brought Israel's tribute to him. He would be interested also to know what the secret message was, so he ordered his servants out, while Ehud was allowed to come into his upper bedroom (v.20). Eglon was seated, but rose up when Ehud told him, "I have a message from God for you." With no delay Ehud quickly took his dagger with his left hand and plunged it so hard into Eglon's belly that the hilt of the dagger went in also (v. 22). What an indication is this that the judgment of God is upon those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -- who set their mind on earthly things" (Phil.3:19).

The bright shining of faith, as seen in Joshua, was soon eclipsed by the continually darkening cloud of those who came after him. The nearest approach to him is much below him. There was but little of the holiness of faith in any. Gideon comes nearest, for in him there was heart-exercise before he wrought deliverance for the people. This was not seen in the other judges, and Gideon takes pre-eminence after Joshua, and though, as to time, coming after Barak, he stands first as to order. Hebrews 11:32 gives (with others) four men "who through faith subdued kingdoms." How different the measure and character of faith in each! In the book of Judges we have the order of time as history: Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson; in the epistle the order is according to the rank of faith — Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. Is this change of order in the perfect word of God without a purpose? Gideon was a man with an exercised heart and conscience; Barak was so weak in faith that he would not go against the enemy without Deborah, and so lost the honour God presented to him. Yet the weak Barak was not so stained as the strong Samson, whose course was marked by his relationship to the Philistines, and only at the end of his life, when blind and spirit-broken, but humbled before God, accomplishing, at the cost of life, his most wonderful feat. Jephthah is still lower in the scale — he stains his victory with a heathenish vow, and sacrifices his own daughter to his superstition. Others are but recorded as the means by whom God wrought deliverance; they are not named in Hebrews 11, and there is no mention of faith working in them. Ehud began his career by an act of treachery — no holiness in that. In his case, as in some others, it was simply the intervention of God, who uses what instrument seems good to Him. Let us not think that God approves such deeds. He can, and does, use both good and bad men for the accomplishment of His purpose. This surely does not imply approval of the evil deed. Ehud said, "I have a message from God unto thee." In judgment upon Eglon, the oppressor of Israel, it was of God. But Ehud's treachery was of himself, and not from God, though overruled by Him. So also the wife of Heber, when she still more treacherously killed Sisera — a deed which would now be reprobated. But it was God's judgment upon the enemy. Deborah blessed her, which only shows Deborah's intelligence, not that God owned the manner of the deed. Such an act, per se, is abhorrent to the mind of God. In eastern countries, to eat with another was a pledge of protection. To give milk when he asked for water implied kindness, and led Sisera to trust her, and sleep in her tent. Jehu also was God's instrument of vengeance upon the guilty house of Ahab; Jehu was a bad man, but God is sovereign, and makes man's wickedness fulfil His purpose — man's responsibility remaining the same in all.

If the deliverance wrought by the Judges be typical of the work of Christ for His people, the seven prominent Judges whose lives are given in detail would represent so many distinct aspects of that work. Thus Othniel is seen in relationship with the bride, Gideon with the overthrow of idolatry, whilst Ehud represents the conquest of a malignant power by one who was wounded and weakened. There is a very distinct line of thought, most pathetic and affecting thought, relating to our salvation by a wounded Saviour, beginning with the very first promise where God had said that the woman's Seed should bruise the Serpent's head, but should itself be bruised in the heel; that is, the part which comes in direct contact with the earth — the humanity of our Lord. "He was wounded for our transgressions." After His resurrection He shows the marks of His wounds to His disciples. The prophet Zechariah says, "One shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." His conflict had a terrible reality. It was in no sense of a nature perfunctory or sinecure. The Emperor Commodus used to fight in the arena against a man armed only with a leaden sword, whom he of course easily and invariably conquered; but the wounds of Christ show that the weapons which assailed Him were real and fearful. And these wounds are the signs of the true Christ.

In delivering Israel, Ehud was doing God's work and receiving His approval; but we are not to suppose in such cases, that everything which is done, especially as to the manner of its doing, was divinely sanctioned or approved. Thus the manner of his approach to Eglon was characterised by extreme treachery, though it was certain that if Ehud, being divinely empowered for the work, had taken an open course, the result would have been equally successful and his success untarnished. On the other hand it would be absurd for us to judge a man of such times and circumstances by the standard of — the nineteenth century! nay, the light of Christianity. The great matter is that he did his work; if not in the best way — somehow: are his critics doing theirs?

He approaches the king with a present, having under his clothing a dagger, long and keen as that which Harmodius concealed with myrtle when he slew the Athenian tyrant. The fat sensual monarch is in a good humour, and invites him into the "summer parlour." "I have a secret errand for thee, O king," says Ehud. The king, doubtless, thinks to hear of fresh ways to plunder and oppress the Israelites: an obsequious parasite of their own nation is just the person to tell him, so he sends the servants and courtiers out. Imprudent to be sure; but what can an unarmed — and one-armed — man do to him? — and the man looks so innocent! The king wants to hear now what it is. The left-hand man is certainly very gauche — or is it sinister? He is stooping, groping under his clothes… The king rises, alarmed. "A message from God to thee"! says the Benjamite, and, with the dagger in his left hand, smites him an awful blow, like the kick of a horse, driving the blade, nearly two feet long, right into the fat king's body and out at the back so that the haft goes in after the blade. Well, there is nothing like being thorough after all. Then the Benjamite walks out unconcernedly, locking the door after him. Once outside the palace, he hastens to the mountain of Ephraim, and blows such a réveil on his war trumpet as awakens Israel from their troubled nightmare, and puts ten thousand Moabites to sleep for ever.

As to our standing, we have a perfect one; we are complete in Christ before God, and Christ in us has complete control. But that means there is no power of my own. He is the son of God's right hand; his own right hand is useless. That is the hand of natural power, and he is simply a poor, left-handed man, helpless in himself. Ehud is such a man, and there are many other Benjamites that we read of who were left-handed men. I think the thought suggested is that we are to glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon us. Paul was a Benjamite, a literal descendant from the tribe of Benjamin. But more, he was a spiritual Benjamite who said he gloried in his infirmities, for when he was weak then he was strong. Caught up into heaven, as you have it in the twelfth chapter of second Corinthians, he gets that right hand crippled. He comes down here a poor, weak, left-handed man, to be a witness for God, to be a testimony to the power of Christ. Ehud means the same as Judah — "praise," or rather "confession." It is a confession, and it is very different from making a profession such as Moab.

Ehud is a confessor, a confessor of his own weakness and Christ's power. He is the one that is going to deliver the people of God. You notice he comes from Gilgal. We were looking at that in another chapter. It emphasizes the lesson we are looking at — left with no strength in ourselves — death to the old man. He comes to the king of Moab, and has a sword with two edges, a cubit long. We are told that a cubit is the measure from the elbow to the hand, and I take it that a cubit is a measure of human capacity, so to speak. Here is a man who prepares a sword, and we know that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. But it must be the word of God as applied to profession. Not the whole Scripture is a sword, but that scripture which with its two edges cuts, which applies to the case.

"But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh." (Jud.3:15-16)

It is sometimes dangerous to apply spiritually the meaning of names, as sometimes different expositors and translators give different meanings to names, but one that has been suggested in connection with Ehud is 'confessor'. Confession in the New Testament means 'a person with an inward conviction', it is not simply saying we give our mental ascent to a thing, saying, 'I agree with it' without ever giving any serious thought to the matter, whatever it might be. Ehud was a confessor, he was a man with an inward conviction, and we have not the slightest doubt that when the Lord raised this man up, he did not just say 'I am going to give you immense power to deal with this enemy', but instead God worked in Ehud's heart and conscience and produced in him a conviction that he was going to lead the people of God, and that it was a just and righteous cause, so that he was not only leading the people because of the position that God gave to him, but he was doing it because he believed in it.