Dakota Community Church
March 11, 2012
Judges – Week Three
Ehud
In the Book of Judges you will recall there is a repeated cycle throughout the entire book – a cycle of sin, bondage, repentance, and devotion, followed by sin and bondage again.
Israel would follow the Lord when there was a leader who reminded them of the ways in which they should walk, but with his death they again wandered off into idolatry.
Last Week we saw:
Othniel
Now we will look at the left-handed Judge:
Ehud
Judges 3:12-30
Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.[Jericho] 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. 16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it. 19 At the idols near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.”
The king said, “Quiet!” And all his attendants left him.
20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.” 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.
26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.
28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and, taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.
Judges is a very graphic book and any people don’t really like it for that reason. It seems to go into unnecessary detail at times - and this is one of those times.
As I have already said the book covers an extremely chaotic period in Israel’s history yet we see the Kingdom of God moving forward in spite of everything!
Israel has fallen into sin again. And so God judges them by allowing Eglon, king of Moab, to have power over them.
For eighteen years they bring “tribute” to King Eglon.
For eighteen years they bring produce and agricultural goods, they bring their harvests, their fruit, and their meat to Eglon, king of Moab.
The Israelites are headed away from God again and things are headed in the wrong direction for them again as they go.
Jericho is given back to the Canaanites - Jericho!
Israel’s conqueror is Eglon and he is big!
(How big is he? - He’s so big that when he sits around the house he sits around the house! bud-ump-bump) Seriously though, Eglon is big! He’s overweight! He’s a big fat king! Picture him on his throne. There he sits with all of his blubber. He’s got perfect control over the land, and every year the Israelites bring him their produce - and Eglon gets fatter - while they suffer hunger!
He’s gorging himself on the produce of the promised land. He’s rolling in it, indulging himself in it.
Eighteen years of this go by; think about that for a minute - no one under 25 can remember things any other way.
Finally Israel repents, and following the cycle of sin to a “T”...
They cry out to the LORD for deliverance and God raises up “Ehud, a left handed man, the Son of Gera, the Benjamite,”
Ehud comes from the tribe of ‘Benjamin.’ - the smallest tribe.
He’s left handed. In those days if you were left handed you were considered different, abnormal, deficient, broken or something.
Benjamin means, “Son of my right hand.” So God chooses “son of my right hand” who is left handed to bring deliverance!
To the story:
Israel sends its yearly tribute to King Eglon, a whole train of food is shipped to Moab.
Ehud goes along. He hides his sword in his right side where no one normally checks.
The Israelites bring the food. They begin to return home and at Gilgal, at the border, Ehud decides to go back. And once back in Moab, Ehud says to Eglon, “I have a message from God for you.” Fat Eglon gets up; he suspects nothing. While he gets up Ehud draws his sword and … well, you know the rest of the story. The sword’s handle literally gets lost in his blubber. And he drops. Ehud quietly leaves.
By the time Eglon’s servants figure out what has happened, Ehud is long gone!
Ehud blows a trumpet, calls together an army--so that by day’s end Moab is subject to Israel, and Israel has peace for 80 years.
God’s amazing resourceful grace for very turbulent times.
This story is very craftily put together. Hebrew scholars have noted that this story is made up of a number of different “brackets” that all kind of correspond with each other.
The beginning, for example, corresponds exactly with the end. In the beginning “Israel” is made subject to Moab. In the end “Moab” is made subject to Israel.
There’s a whole series of these brackets in the story--each one corresponding to it’s opposite: Ehud enters Eglon’s palace; Ehud exits Eglon’s palace.
There is a whole sense of these brackets until we get to the very centre of the story.
You can basically divide the story right into two pieces. In the first half everything goes one way, and then in the second half everything goes the opposite way.
Everything hinges on the centre of the story.
The sword.
It’s the stabbing of King Eglon, everything pivots on this! Israel is subject to Moab, Ehud slays Eglon, Moab is subject to Israel.
Everything points to that bloody event that takes place in the very middle.
Why does our text even include this? Why does the Holy Spirit find it necessary to tell such a bloody story in Scripture? Why does it do so in such graphic terms? Why doesn’t our text just say, “And Ehud slew Eglon” and leave it at that? Why the graphic details?
What is actually ruling Israel at this time? What is the problem?
It’s Eglon’s big fat…stomach! Eglon’s gluttony! It’s his greed! It’s his desires, his covetousness. That’s the heart of the problem, if that is what is causing so much grief in Israel, then that is what needs to be attacked!
This is the story: Israel is subject to King Eglon, Ehud stabs the heart of the problem, Israel is set free from Eglon.
Why does the Holy Spirit include the bloody details of Ehud’s stabbing of King Eglon?
It’s because sin is our big fat hungry ugly problem and God is not scared or intimidated by it!
God attacks sin at the centre! He goes to the heart of the problem! Sometimes it’s messy but in the end it brings his kingdom.
Today God continues to wield a sword to deliver His people!
The preaching of the gospel—what is that? It’s a sword! It’s the sword of the Spirit. It’s a double edged sword says Scripture.
Ehud had--a double edged sword and God wields a double edged sword to this day.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
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