OK, Judges chapter 3. I'll just begin reading in verse 7 and read to the end of the chapter.
The Sin of Israel and God's Anger
So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and Asherahs. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushon Rishithim, king of Mesopotamia. And the children of Israel served Cushon Rishithim eight years.
When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel. Who delivered them? Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel.
He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushon Rishithim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushon Rishithim. So the land had rest 40 years. Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the city of Palms. So the children of Israel served Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years.
But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him, the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Ehud made himself a dagger. It was double-edged and a cubit length and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh.
So he brought the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king.
He said, keep silence. And all who attended him went out from him. Now Ehud came to him. Now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber.
Then Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. So he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade.
For he did not draw the dagger out of his belly, and his entrails came out. Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. When he had gone out, Eglon's servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, he is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.
So they waited until they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore, they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor. But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Sarah.
And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains, and he led them. Then he said to them, follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands. So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan, leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over.
And at that time, they killed about 10,000 men of Moab, all stout men of valor. Not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for 80 years.
After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also delivered Israel. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Judges 3:7–31
How can you not love the book of Judges? I mean, this is just great stuff.
Introduction
So we've gotten into the largest part of the book. Remember chapters 1 and 2 up to chapter 3, 6 is introductory, provides the context, both the geography of where they had failed to conquer, and then the theology as to what is going to take place in this period of judges. In chapter 2, we see the theme set forth, this whole idea of sin, oppression, and deliverance. And then in chapter 3, beginning in verse 7, all the way to 1631, we have the Book of Deliverers.
We have God's response to the canonization of Israel. In other words, there are these recurring cycles. The people sin, God brings them under oppression, and then God delivers them. And so we have the first three judges this evening, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar.
And basically, Othniel is a noble Judahite deliverer. Ehud is a left-handed deliverer. And then this man Shamgar is probably not even an Israelite. He is an obscure non-Israelite deliverer that the Lord God uses for the good of his people.
Now, in chapters 3, 6, 3, 7 to 16, 31, there's formula that is used, and to varying degrees, each of these particular narratives follow it. Some of the elements are present, more so in some of the narratives, others aren't present at all. In fact, in Shamgar, none of the formulaic stuff is present, but basically what you have is a negative evaluation. The people of Israel sin.
You have a statement that God then gives them over. You have a cry of distress from the people. God then raises up a deliverer, subjugates the oppressing power. Then there is a statement of peace or blessing that comes upon the people, at least for a time, and then the death of the ruler is indicated at the end of those particular narratives.
So that's sort of the pattern. And in many ways, Othniel sets forth the pattern in a very formulaic manner. We don't get a lot of details about Othniel. It reads pretty straightforwardly, tells us what's going on, how it happens, and what the Lord does.
Now with Ehud, it tells us lots of details and it's quite an exciting story and it's a specific purpose and view is that the author is writing to encourage the people of Israel with reference to the power and the glory of God and the fact that he delivers his people. But as well, he's writing to show them the horrible effects of sin. I mean, Moab and Eglon are painted in this second scenario in a very humorous sort of way. Eglon comes across as a buffoon.
He's a big, fat, pompous man. that wants to hear a secret and ultimately dies and he's lying in his own fecal matter. This was meant to get a chuckle out of the people of Israel to realize that their God brought deliverance in this particular form. But it would also indicate to them how bad things had become. Because if Aglon is a bumbling buffoon and the Moabites are these kinds of people, nevertheless Israel was in subjection to them for 18 years because of their sin and because of their rebellion and because of their covenant on faithfulness.
And so there's a lot of things going on in these passages for the instruction of Israel to encourage Israel but as well to remind them and show them what the effects of sin does or what the effects of sin brings upon a people.
Othniel: The Noble Deliverer
So let's look first at Othniel in verses 7 to 11. We see first the sin of Israel, verse 7. So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Just like back in chapter 2 at verse 11.
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Chapter 2 is thematic. It announces what's going to happen in the rest of the book. Now, in 3 to 16, we see these things fleshed out.
We see the details given with the particular oppressing agents, and we see the details given with the particular deliverer. Note that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. This indicates that God is not an absentee deity. He's not far removed.
He doesn't not pay attention. He knows what's going on with reference to His people. His people live before Him, whether for good or for ill. Solomon in the Proverbs says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the good and the evil.
And certainly that was true in Old Covenant Israel. It's certainly true in New Covenant Israel. In the letters to the churches in Asia Minor, the Lord Jesus Christ says that He's the one that searches the heart. Jesus comes to these particular churches in Asia Minor, and He highlights the good things that they do, and He points out the bad things that they do, and then He tells them to repent.
We need to understand the nearness of our God. We need to understand that when we sin, the Lord God sees. The Lord God is conscious of that, The Lord God's eyes are in every place, beholding the evil, but as well the good. We ought not to forget that either.
Calvinists very often, we emphasize depravity and sin and wretchedness and all those sorts of things, and well we should, but Jesus does know the good works of those churches in Asia Minor, and he commends that to the degree that a church faithfully follows the Lord Jesus Christ and obeys the word, and makes much of the Word, we can trust that the Lord Jesus is pleased with such conduct and He approves of it. And so this is a lesson to learn with reference to the judges. The Lord God sees everything. The Lord God is conscious of what His people are doing.
The Lord God is involved in the lives both of individuals and corporately. So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. This is then fleshed out in a couple of particulars. One, they forgot the Lord their God.
Again, it wasn't as if there was no concept whatsoever of Yahweh. It wasn't as if he was absent from their cognitive process. They forgot him in terms of obedience. They forgot him in terms of allegiance.
They may have had a confession in terms of externalism, but they certainly did not know the Lord. They certainly did not follow the Lord. And when it comes to the point where we disobey, we reject God, it can be said of us that we forgot Him. Because certainly if we remember the Lord, we want to live in obedience to Him.
If we remember the Lord, we want to do those things that are pleasing to Him. If we are living in a manner that is absolutely inconsistent with Christian profession, then it could be said of us that they forgot the Lord their God. So not only did they forget the Lord their God, note what they go on to do, they served the Baals and Asherahs. They served the Baals and Asherahs.
We looked at this or we considered this generally last week. Baal was the God who brought rain upon the crops. Baal was a fertility God. Baal was a God who prospered people's livelihood.
And so no doubt the children of Israel get into Canaan by the power and the majesty of Yahweh, but when it comes to their day-to-day events, they look to the Canaanites and they look to Baal for how they get answers and how they get water on their crops. So in order to prime the pump, in order to get Baal and his consort to water the ground, the Israelites or the Canaanite worshippers would copulate in an attempt to get Baal to likewise copulate so that he would cause fertility upon the earth. It was absolutely heinous. It is ungodly.
It is wretched. And for us to forget the Lord and turn to Baals and Asherahs is truly an indicator of the wretchedness of the heart of man. And then notice the agent of punishment or the agent of judgment is raised up. Verse 8, Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.
We can expect this. When we disobey the Lord God Almighty, we ought to expect judgment. We ought to expect chastisement. We ought to expect negative sanctions.
Again, Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the same thing holds true for the churches in the New Covenant era. What does Jesus threaten to the churches that are unfaithful? I will take your lampstand from you. That means I will shut down the church.
If you're going to continue in a path of disobedience and unfaithfulness, rejecting the living and true God, then there's going to be judgment for that particular situation. And so that's what we read here in verse 8. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushon Rishithim, king of Mesopotamia. And the children of Israel served Cushon Rishithim, eight years.
Now eight years on this side of it doesn't seem like a long time, but remember that's two presidential terms. That's two bouts of Barack Obama in the White House. That is a long time. We're sitting right in the middle of this at this particular time.
And it's important that we understand that. It's important we understand what's going on with reference to Israel. There are some, I understand, at least in the commentaries I read, that are embarrassed about the Ehud episode. There are probably Christians that might be a little bit embarrassed that one of our champions was a left-handed knife maker. that took a knife from his right thigh and plunged it all the way into a fat man.
I mean, some people, I don't know why, but they get a little offended by that particular aspect of our biblical religion. But remember, they were under oppression. They were under subjugation. They were under a warfare situation.
This is the deal. And this is what's happening in Kushan Rishethem. Eight years they are in bondage. Eight years they are under the thumb of this particular leader.
The Cry of Distress and God's Grace
Then notice, verse 9, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, Remember, this is the same crying out that we already looked at in chapter two. It's not a cry of repentance. It's not a cry of, we're sorry, Lord. It's not a cry of, our sins have brought us into this place.
It is not that. It's a cry, rather, of pain. It's a cry of distress. It's not a cry because of the conduct that put us into this mess vis-a-vis sin.
But rather, it's a cry because of the consequences. They're not crying out to the Lord for vindication or deliverance, for His honor, for His glory, and for His majesty. Rather, they put their finger in the fire, and they cried out. And so God, in his grace now, delivers him.
This is what's most impressive about this entire book. If you remember when I introduced it, when I was a young Christian, I heard that the book of Judges could be, or the cycles could be, seen by the acronym S.O.R.D. S-O-R-D. You've got sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance.
I don't think that's accurate. I think it's the acronym S.O.D. Sin, Oppression, Deliverance. There's no repentance going on.
The people of Israel are not crying out because of their sin. They're crying out because of pain. They're crying out because of distress. They're crying out because of oppression and punishment.
What the emphasis is on is the grace and the mercy and the kindness and the goodness of our God who delivers them out of that distress even when they're not sorry for their sins. That's the point of the book of Judges. You're going to hear me say that all the way through because if we're embarrassed or we're afraid or we're ashamed of how God deals in this book of Judges, we miss the most important point. amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." These people cried out because of pain and then notice in verse 9, they cried out to Yahweh and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them. The cry like we saw in the general description of 2.18 is not of repentance, The emphasis is on the condition of distress rather than on an expression of repentance.
It's just like in Exodus chapter 2. The children of Israel cry out not because of repentance, not because they want to get right with God, but because they're in pain. And yet God hears and God answers. That's what's so glorious about our God.
And that's what the author wants to convey to us several times in this book of the Deliverers.
The Spirit-Empowered Victory
So he raises up for the children of Israel who delivered them Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. We've already seen this man in Joshua chapter 15 and we have seen this man in Judges chapter 1. So here Othniel is the man that God raises up. The Lord is sovereign in all of his dealings.
The Lord raises him up. Now, Othiel was a noble Jew to height. There's nothing indicating, you know, no bad stuff in his background. He seems to be a good pattern of deliverers.
As we move through the Book of Deliverers, however, we see some pretty unsavory fellows that God uses to raise up to this position. So it's not based on pedigree. It's not based on ability. It's not based on might or power, as Zechariah would tell us, but it's based on the power of the Holy Spirit of God. and the same thing holds true here.
So the Lord demonstrates mercy and loving kindness to his wayward people, and the Lord's faithfulness is the background for this particular action. So his identity, Othniel, son of Gennes, Caleb's younger brother. Notice his strength. How is it that he can conduct himself in this particular mission of delivering Israel?
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. and he judged Israel. Isn't that glorious? It's the spirit of the living God. Bloch says, in the book of Judges, when the spirit of the Lord comes upon individuals, it signals the arresting presence and power of God, often of individuals who are unqualified for or indisposed to service for Him.
In the present instance, the empowering presence of the spirit of God transforms this minor Israelite officer from Debir into the ruler of Israel and the conqueror of a world-class enemy. Now the commentators, there's just... It's not time to bring sort of everything in here. But this Cushon Rishithim was no small potatoes.
If the commentators are right, he was a formidable foe. He was a very powerful figure, a very strong leader, and he had a very big empire. And yet, God takes Othiel, the spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and he judges Israel. Notice in verse 10b, he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushon Rishithim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands.
You see, it doesn't matter how big, it doesn't matter how powerful, it doesn't matter how mighty the alternate or the opposing enemy is, it's God. The victory is of the Lord. We cannot mistake or we cannot miss that Romans 8 connection that we will continue to bring our minds to. He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us, How shall He not also freely give us all things?
He's done the greatest in delivering up His Son. Will He not do the lesser and come and aid you in your day-to-day walk with the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord God does not look at a foe or at an enemy and say, well, I'm not sure if we've got this one down. He takes Othniel.
The Spirit of God comes upon him. Othniel then goes out to war and his hand prevailed over Cushon Rishithim. Note the sovereignty of God in this particular passage. What happens?
The Lord God is angry with Israel. He sells them into the hand of Kushan Rishithe. When it comes time to deliver, he takes Cushon Rishithe and sends him into the hand of Othniel. The Lord God Most High is absolutely sovereign in every event and in every detail of our lives.
There's not anything that escapes his prerogative or his power. That is another lesson that we have to appreciate as we work through the book of Judges. There is no doubt whatsoever of who is sovereign. There is no doubt whatsoever of who is in absolute control.
There is no doubt whatsoever of who is calling the shots. It is God Almighty, the sovereign of the universe. So his identity, Othniel, his strength, the spirit, his victory. He went out to war and the Lord delivered Hushan Rishithane into his hand.
Notice how the text ends. So the land had rest for 40 years then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died. Bloch says, personally, Othniel is a genuinely noble figure, having demonstrated his faith and military skills in the conquest of Debir. Theocratically, by beginning here, the author announces that if Yahweh can deliver Israel from this emperor, he can rescue them from any foe.
For in the end, the real hero of this story is not Othniel, but God. You see that? You see what's going on? We don't say, wow, isn't Othniel great?
Yeah, name your kid Othniel, because it's a great name. Hopefully, it'll remind you of the greatness of God. Locke goes on to say, Yahweh hears the groans of his people. He feels pity toward them.
He provides the deliverer, and he achieves the deliverance. This will be the pattern throughout the next 12 chapters. So thematically, it's announced in chapter 2 And with vivid detail, with flesh and blood and bones applied to the skeleton, we see God's handiwork through these various judges that he raised up to deliver Israel in their time of need. Certainly, it is a display of God's saving and amazing grace.
Ehud: The Left-Handed Deliverer
Now let's move secondly to this left-handed deliverer from the tribe of Benjamin. It's kind of funny, isn't it? What's Benjamin mean? Son of my right hand.
We have a lefty from the tribe of the son of my right hand. This whole story is just packed with wonderfully good things. I truly suggest that you get Ralph Davis' commentary and read it on this section. It's very good.
Very stimulating. But note, the pattern, verse 12, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. It's like a broken record. Or, I don't know, a broken CD player.
Many of you don't even know what a record is. Back in the day, a broken record means it would just repeat the same thing over and over again. You'd just keep hearing the same thing over and over and over again. That's what the book of Judges is.
Sin, oppression. deliverance, sin, oppression, deliverance. What's God trying to teach us? We sin. There'll be oppression, but he's there to deliver.
That's what he's trying to get into our heads. So the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Note the agent of punishment, Aglon, king of Moab. So the Lord strengthened Aglon, king of Moab, against Israel.
They suggest, or they say, the Hebrew guys say that Eglon is related to the word calf. It's almost like the fatted calf is being led to the slaughter in this particular narrative. So Eglon is strengthened because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Then Eglon gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek.
So you've got Moab, Ammon, and Amalek. These are all enemies of the of the children of Israel. And they went and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of Palms." What's the city of Palms? Jericho.
Jericho, not Palm Springs in the Southern California desert, but this is Jericho. This is where Eglon sets up shop, at least in this portion of his conquered kingdom. So he gathers to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the city of Palms. So the children of Israel served Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years.
As I said, one gets the impression that certain Christians and commentators are a bit embarrassed about what follows in this particular narrative. I've yet to meet a Christian parent named their kid Itha. Maybe they just don't like the name. Maybe they don't like the thought of a left-handed man with a dagger shoving it into a fat man and watching his entrails fall out.
A couple commentators that commentators I like quoted. I don't actually have these. Well, actually, one of them I do. This fellow says, Ehud was commissioned by God to save Israel, but the mode of saving them, assassination by a lie and treachery, was of his own devising.
Almost makes it sound like he was ordained by God. Well, he does. It makes it sound. He was ordained by God, but the way he carried it out wasn't necessarily sanctioned by God.
Someone has said, well, Ehud isn't in Hebrews 11. Well, neither is Othniel. Another commentator says, 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.
It certainly didn't to Israel in the Old Covenant. When they heard about Ehud's exploits with Eglon, they were probably doing these sorts of things. They were probably clapping. They were probably cheering.
They were probably dancing because of the victory that God had given them. Isn't it interesting if those men that are a bit embarrassed about Ehud's tactics, how do they think that Othniel dispensed with his enemies? Do you think Othniel said to Cushon, Rishathame, Sir, we'd like you to leave our land, please. We don't want you here anymore.
Oh, sure. Yes. Off we'll go. They killed them.
We are not to be embarrassed about the God of the Bible. or the men that he raises up. Verse 15 could not make anything clearer. When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them. Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.
There is not one shred of evidence to suggest that God the Lord was somehow ashamed or somehow disapproved of the methodology employed by this left-handed man. There is not one shred of evidence in the entire Bible to suggest that Ehud was an embarrassment to Almighty God. The point of the narrative is verse 15. If you miss verse 15, you're going to miss the entirety of the section.
And as well, we need to remember that the children of Israel were oppressed by this man for 18 long years. God's answer was to raise up Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite. Davis says it this way, what is the theme of this racy little episode in the history of God's people? It is a story about the way God saves his people in their afflictions, their well-deserved afflictions to boot.
They deserve these afflictions, but nevertheless, God raises up Ehud. And it says that Yahweh is responsible for this lefty Ehud. Yahweh raised up for them a Savior. I suspect that Dr.
Davis is a lefty. In fact, his email address is leftyehud at gmail.com. I suspect that he has an affinity with Ehud because, one, Dr. Davis is an Old Testament scholar, but two, he's a lefty.
Anyways, he says, Yahweh is responsible for this lefty Ehud. Yahweh raised up for them a Savior. Did you hear that? He did not say a murderer, or an assassin, or a liar, or a deceiver, but a Savior.
This is a story about salvation. The focus of the story is not, why does God get himself all mixed up with a character like Ehud? but see how God delights to save his people in their afflictions. Amen. That's what's going on in this particular narrative.
So the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. The Lord then responds by raising up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.
Ehud's Strategy Examined
Now let's look at the strategy of this particular deliverer. the strategy of this particular deliverer. First, the weapon is crafted. The weapon is crafted. By him, the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon, king of Moab.
Now, Ehud made himself a dagger. It was double-edged in a cubit length and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. Now, some of the commentators suggest that this is the opposite of the way things would traditionally be. Most people are right-handed.
And most people would put their dagger on their left, sort of the cross-draw idea is what is going on. So with lefty Ehud, he puts the dagger on the right side so that bodyguards or attendants of the kings are looking for bulges, not on the right side of the man because no one's left-handed. They're looking for a bulge on the left side of this man's leg. to see if he's in fact armed. You see, Ehud has to have a private audience with this gang in order to plunge a dagger into his big fat belly.
The story truly is amazing how it is crafted. So he fastens this double-edged dagger on his right thigh, which would be the appropriate place for a left-handed man and would not be what a guard would be looking for. Note, secondly, the tribute rendered. The tribute was either dough, money, or it was food.
What would happen is that when a nation would go in and conquer another nation, that conquered nation would be vassals. And that vassal nation would have to pay tribute. That vassal nation would have to pay high taxes. That vassal nation would have to provide for the coffers of the state.
And so it was very common for the people of Israel to take tribute and to pay it to Eglon. in this particular instance. Note that it indicates in verse 17 that Eglon was a very fat man. Very fat man. This guy's a behemoth.
He's huge. He's massive. Again, they were laughing when they read this initially. They saw the demise of their enemies.
They saw victory that God wrought through this left-handed son of Gera in this particular instance. Davis says it this way, and this might be offensive to some of you, but here's what he says. Try to hear this story as an Israelite would have heard it or told it. An Israelite, remember, who for 18 years who had been oppressed and taxed to the bone under blubbery King Aglon, an Israelite therefore living in persisting poverty, eking out some sort of borderline existence in the hill country of Ephraim.
Then you won't be surprised, but rather will understand the pure enjoyment, the devastating humor, the biting satire, and the sheer hilarity of this particular narrative. He's weaving it together to display the power and omnipotence and the glory of God and the futility of Eglon and the Moabites. But again, we mustn't forget that emphasis. Bloch says, the author's deliberate satirizing of Eglon in particular and the Moabites in general should not blind the reader to the ridicule he is casting upon his own people.
After all, the Book of Judges was not written primarily to mock foreigners. It challenges the Israelites to reflect on their own condition. Far from being the noble people they claim to be, in their Canaanite state they have been reduced to less than the Moabites. I mean, if the Moabites are that bad and that foolish and Aglon is that much of a bumbling fool, he's still over us.
So there is an effect here, yes, to encourage the people of God, to encourage them with the victory and power of God, raising up an Ehud and using him to bring judgment upon an Aglad. But nevertheless, it was sin that brought them to this place. It was their unfaithfulness. It was their rejection.
It was their forgetting the Lord, them pursuing the Baals and the Asherahs.
The Secret Message and Private Audience
Notice, thirdly, the secret message offered. So they go and they pay tribute, verse 18, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. But he himself, Ehud, turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal. The narrative seems to be bracketed by these stone images, which indicates for us that this is a place of idolatry.
This is a place that does not reflect the glory of the God of Israel. It has been canonized. This is Gilgal. This is where they celebrated the mercy and the kindness of God.
This is where they camped. And yet, it is rife with idols. So he comes back to the king. He says, I have a secret message for you, O king.
Who can refuse a secret message? Don't our ears just burn? Somebody says, I have a secret for you. What do you say?
No, can't hear it. Don't want anything to do with it. Just go tell it to someone else. No.
Most of the times, our ears are burning. Who could possibly reject a secret? Certainly not a fat, indulgent, oppressive king. So Eglon says, keep silence.
And all who attended him went out from him. This is incredible. This would again be akin to the President of the United States sending his secret service away and having a private meeting with a foreigner, with somebody under subjection. Truly, God is involved in this.
These things just don't happen. So then, verse 20, Ehud came to him. Now, the layout and how everything's structured and how he could so easily get away by locking the door Some of that conceptually is difficult to sort of figure out. We're just going to take the narrative as it's played out.
So the secret message is offered. Then fourthly, the private audience is gathered. So Ehud came to him. Now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber.
Then Ehud said, I have a message from God for you, which technically isn't a lie. The word message, as Bloch says, is deliciously ambiguous. It means word or message, but it also means thing or object or even experience. So I have a message from God for you.
It just happens to be in the shape of a double-edged dagger, and it's sitting on my right thigh. He doesn't get into all of those details. You see, he's coaxing the king in. I have a message from God for you.
So he arose from his seat. Now, being a very fat man, he's probably not very quick. Being a very fat man, he's probably very slow. He's a target that is sitting.
He's a target, rather, that is a sitting duck. And so Ehud reached with his left hand. Again, it wouldn't be suspecting that. That's one of the reasons why we shake with the right hand, or why people salute it with the right hand, to show that our good hand does not have a weapon.
When you come to somebody, you salute them, or you shake their hand. Now, I know that's not what it means for us. Usually it means, hi, it's good to see you. I haven't seen you for a while.
But it's an indicator that we don't have a gun in our hands. We don't have a baseball bat in our hands. We don't have a two-edged dagger in our hands. So for him to go to his right thigh, the king's not expecting this.
He's fat. He's slow. He's pompous. And then what we find is that Ehud reaches with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
Even the hilt went in after the blade and the fat closed over the blade. For he did not draw the dagger out of his belly and his entrails came out." ESV has excrement. NASB has refuse. What does NIV have?
Oh, okay. Wow. They sanitized it right out. Entrails is probably not the best.
It's probably excrement. It's probably feces. You see, that's what happens when a human body dies. There's a release and they soil themselves.
Well, they don't soil themselves at that point. Just when the body dies, that's what happens. That's very important because in a few moments, the attendants are going to think, that he is relieving himself. Probably they smell the excrement and that's one of the reasons why they think he's doing that.
It may sound crass and it may sound carnal, but while they're standing outside smelling Eglon, as far as they're concerned, alive and well, simply relieving himself as men are wont to do, Ehud's walking out of the palace. Beautiful. It's absolutely amazing. Even the hilt went in after the blade, the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger.
Talk about vivid. Talk about descriptive. Talk about, you should be enjoying Bible reading. Right?
God describes this in vivid detail. The Bible is not an uninteresting book. I defy anybody to say, well, the Bible's boring. How is this boring?
Even if you don't agree with Ehud, even if he's not your cup of tea, even if you think this is barbaric and it is the throwback to a different age and time where it's just not the way we like to do things. It's exciting. It's descriptive. I think you could picture it with your mind's eyes.
You see that knife going into that big fat man's belly and all the stuff coming out of him and him falling down into a pile of his own fecal matter. That's what the picture is of this particular man. Verse 23, then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. And this is when the brilliant escape is executed.
When he had gone out, Eglon's servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, he is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber. He is covering his feet in the cool of the chamber. He's having bathroom break.
I mean, that's a nice way to say what it really is. And that's what the Bible is doing. That's what it's saying. The man is relieving himself.
That's what they thought. He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber. The thought that the excrement is now sitting on the floor and they're smelling it only adds weight to that particular interpretation. You can see them standing there.
We're not going to bug the king. He's doing royal business. Let's leave him alone. That's our job.
And all the while, where's Ehud? He's walking right out of the palace. Why does he leave his dagger there? Because he doesn't want evidence all over his body.
If he grabs that dagger, it's dripping with blood and fecal matter. If he puts it back into his sheath, there's going to be transfer of evidence, and he's going to look like a mess. Ehud wants to walk out without anybody even wondering what it is he's doing, and he's successful. He's got all this time.
He's probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber. So they waited till they were embarrassed. It had been a while. Sir, are you finished yet?
And still, he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore, they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead, on the floor. Imagine finding your king in such a mess.
Imagine finding your king in such a situation. Imagine finding the man who has gathered together a coalition of Ammonites and Amalekites to defeat Israel, a man who did what Joshua said no man should ever do, was to build on Jericho in Joshua 6.26. Eglon did that and now Eglon is reaping the judgment of the living and true God and these servants now look and there was their master fallen dead on the floor.
The Battle Plan and Moab's Defeat
And then notice the battle plan initiated. Verse 26, but Ehud had escaped while they delayed and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Sarah. And it happened when he arrived that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with them from the mountains, and he led them. Then he said to them, follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand." So you see, he executes this plan without flaw.
Eglon's dead. The people are in disarray. He rallies up the troops of Israel. They seize the fords of Jordan.
They ambush Moab, and they end up killing 10,000 Moabites in this exchange. The victory is the Lord. This is what Ehud ascribes. He says, the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand.
So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. And at that time, they killed about 10,000 men of Moab. Notice, all stout men of valor. Not a man escaped.
This was the oppressing power. Israel was subject to them. Israel had been the oppressed. These were trained, ready, valiant warriors.
And yet, because of this particular battle plan, the king is dead. The country is destabilized. Ehud has this plan to seize the fords of Jordan. and they converge upon these people and they destroy Moab. Again, if we were the first context hearing this, we'd be cheering.
We'd be roaring. We'd be so thankful. We'd praise God from whom all ye hoods flow. We would be thankful for this man from Benjamin that brought destruction to bear on Eglon because it was God who raised him up.
It was God who raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. So Moab was subdued that day, verse 30, under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for 80 years. That's good. That's a long bit.
That's a long time. That's a long stretch that the land had rest for 80 years.
Shamgar: The Obscure Deliverer
And then notice, thirdly, in this narrative, Shamgar. After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also delivered Israel. Again, the commentators I read said he's probably not even an Israelite.
He might have been a servant or an agent of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. But he has this much in common. He likes pointing weapons as well, or stabbing weapons, just like Ehud. And he's also a deliverer of Israel.
And he's obscure. That's it. That's all we know. He comes up in Deborah's song in chapter 5 at verse 6.
But that's all the play that Shamgar gets. That's it. Matthew Henry made this comment, and I think it's perceptive. He says, see here, one, that God can make those eminently serviceable to his glory and his church's good. whose extraction, education, and employment are very mean and obscure.
He that has the residue of the spirit could, when he pleased, make plowmen judges and generals and fishermen apostles. He says, too, it is no matter how weak the weapon is if God direct and strengthen the arm. and ox goad when God pleases shall do more than Goliath's sword. And sometimes he chooses to work by such unlikely means that the excellence of the power may appear to be of God. Isn't this the point in 2 Corinthians when the apostle says that he has put this gospel treasure into earthen vessels so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of men.
When an apostle Paul stands up or hobbles into an area where sinners are gathered, there's nothing about him that endears him to us. I mean, he probably limped. He got stoned. He probably had some problems with his eyes.
He comes hobbling into a group, he preaches the gospel, and sinners get saved. Who gets the glory? Paul? No, Jesus.
When a Spurgeon stands up and preaches the gospel and God saves through him, who gets the glory? Christ. The excellence of the power may be of God and not of men. So we have this noble Judahite, Othniel.
We have this left-handed dagger maker, Ehud. And we have Shamgar, men from all different walks of life, men from different stripes and men from different areas and places and positions. But the common denominator is the Spirit of God is upon these men to carry out the will of God in delivering His people from their oppression.
Application
So some lessons that we learn, we learn the persistence of sin. It continues that chapter 4 verse 1 starts off with, when Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Again, this is a persistent continuing cycle that we see. Secondly, we see the amazing grace of God.
Verse 15 in this particular section. Verse 9 in this particular section. the end of verse 31, and he also delivered Israel in this section. This is God's grace. Remember, it wasn't as if the children of Israel were crying out in repentance, they were crying out in faith, they were rejecting their bails, they were forsaking Asherah, and they were following the Lord with a whole heart.
That wasn't it at all. It was God who heard their cry of distress, and God comes and delivers them, out of that distress. And again, when we jump into the New Covenant context, and we consider the fact that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are children of our great God and Father, when we cry out to Him in distress, shall He not avenge us? Isn't this what Christ teaches with reference to that persistent widow?
When that widow comes to the judge and asks for a verdict to be rendered, and the judge who doesn't fear God The judge who doesn't regard men finally says, I'm going to give this widow what she wants because she's wearing me with her persistency. What's Jesus' implication? Shall not God avenge his own elect who cry to him day and night? If you need something to stir up the prayer juices in your heart and life, Go to Judges 3 sometime.
See how Israel conducted themselves and see how God delivered them because of his grace and mercy. That truly ought to lead us to pray and to rejoice and to celebrate our great God. Thirdly, we continue to see the power and sovereignty of God. He raises up oppressors.
He uses them to chase in his people. And then he destroys those oppressors himself. You can't say, well, I'm not sure about the sovereignty of God. In the prophet Isaiah, woe to you, Assyria.
God uses Assyria to judge the northern tribes. Assyria boasts. They get anger or get arrogant. And then God uses another empire to put them down.
God is sovereign over the nations. God is sovereign internationally. God is sovereign personally and individually as well. And then finally, this chapter displays to us or describes for us our need for Jesus Christ.
If Othniel and Ehud and Shamgar were deliverers, they certainly did not deliver the people from the power of sin. They delivered them from the oppression of Moabites and Philistines but they did not deliver them from the oppression of sin. Here's what Davis has to say, and I agree 100%. Ehud, sorry to say, is not a totally adequate savior.
For though Yahweh brings a certain kind of salvation and help through Ehud, nothing Ehud did could change the hearts of Israel. He may have exerted some beneficial influence on them while he lived, but he could not rip the idols out of their hearts. Here is the tragedy of the people of God. Slavery to sin.
And no left-handed savior spilling the guts of foreign kings can release you from that bondage. He then ends this section by saying, for our real bondage does not consist of Moabites or fat kings or physical and economic oppression. No left-handed savior can break us free from our tyrant. But there is one with nail-scarred hands who can and does.
The only tragedy in our story will be if having heard of this Savior, we do not cry to him for help. For Yahweh has raised up for us a Savior, Jesus, who shall save his people from their sins." So again, Judges is a time of tutelage, pointing the people forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, every earthly deliverer that God raises up is a type of our Lord Jesus. But these men do not have the power to break the oppression of sin. That comes later in the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior.
So there's Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. Again, I commend to you younger people. Consider them. for your baby names. Raise up some Shamgars in our generation for the Lord God Almighty.
I'm just kidding. You name your kid Billy or Johnny or Henry or whatever it is you want. That's your choice. Well, why don't we pray?
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you very much for your word and we thank you for your grace displayed so clearly in the history of Israel. We thank you, Father, for the fact that you hear the cries of distress. You hear the cries of your people. They're groaning. and you raise it up, deliver us for them.
We thank you that in this new covenant setting you hear us when we cry out, you hear us in our distress and the Spirit intercedes for us and groans and says things. communicates things that we don't even know at times we need. How we thank you for your loving kindness and your mercy. How we thank you for that deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who does break the power of reigning sin. That one who frees us from oppression and that one who secures for us salvation.
We just pray now that you would go with us and watch over us in the rest of this week. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.