Israel fell into sin and into the hands of Eglon, King of Moab.
• The Moabites forged alliances the Ammonites and Amalekites, two of Israel’s arch-enemies, and together they came against Israel.
• They captured the City of Palms, which is Jericho. That’s the first city and victory for Israel in this land, but now taken back by the Canaanites.
God disciplined His people by making them live in subjection to Moab.
• When we turn our face from God, this is what we can expect. We are on our own.
• God disciplines to remind us who is really in control. When we act like we don’t need God anymore, He has ways of reminding us that we need him all the time.
If Israel had not done evil in the eyes of the Lord (3:12), they would have peace in their land (3:11). But they did evil and were oppressed for 18 years!
• The suffering finally took its toll on the people and they cried out to God.
• God responded (last week sermon - God always responds, delivers and wins) and raised up Ehud, son of Gera from the tribe of Benjamin.
The Bible highlighted to us that this man was left-handed.
• The text made references to this a few times. His hiding the dagger on the right side, that he used his left hand to draw the sword out at the critical moment (3:21)
When I first joined the seminary, one of the first thing we do during the orientation was to take a Spiritual Knowledge quiz. All kinds of questions, but I remember this – Who is the left-handed judge?
They were multiple-choice questions, so I guessed. Do not know if I guessed correctly.
What struck me then was, what is this? There is so many important spiritual truth in the Bible and you are asked, who is the left-handed judge?
The word LEFT-HANDED in the original language is IMPEDED-HAND-RIGHT SIDE.
• The author wasn’t telling us that he is left-handed (the way we usually understand it today). He is not referring to his dominant hand.
• Rather he was telling us that Ehud could only use his left hand - his right is disabled in some way. In a sense, he was handicapped.
Ehud would have been an unlikely candidate considering his disability.
• Yet the author wants us to know that he was used of God to accomplish a great feat.
• His apparent weakness becomes a strength. His disability actually becomes the centrepiece in this assassination plot.
Ehud was able to conceal a weapon on his right side where the King’s guards would not have expected to find a threat.
• Warriors in the ancient world are trained to wield their sword using their right hand, with the scabbard on the left. The guards would not have searched his right side.
• The King was unguarded too, especially seeing that Ehud’s right hand was free.
God Use Us Not INSPITE of Our Weakness But BECAUSE of Them
• God helps us when we serve Him. Our focus is on Him, and not in our disabilities or even our abilities.
• Ehud’s weakness turned out to be an advantage, a strength.
1 Cor 1:26-30 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.
• God has a history of rising up “weak” people to accomplish His purposes.
• Moses says he cannot speak well, slow of speech and tongue (Exo 4:10), and he was asked to confront Pharaoh.
• David was a shepherd boy, untrained and inexperienced, when he was led to fight Goliath.
• For the many servants of God called, little was said about their abilities.
Joni Erickson, paralysed from the neck down, and Nick Vujicic (vo yeh sick), born with no limbs. Both were so depressed and suicidal at one point in their lives.
• Yet they are now both exceptionally used by God to touch the lives of countless people. In fact, they can minister in ways that many normal people cannot.
• God uses their “disabilities”. There is no handicap with God.
Even for a man born blind, Jesus says “this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:3) The blind man may be ignorant of that!
• Imagine this. Even for a man born blind, God can still use him for His purpose.
• Jesus healed the blind man. God’s greatness and glory is displayed!
Note what Jesus says next - John 9:4 “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”
• The disciples were talking about this blind man: “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”
• People like to TALK like this, right? What is the theological meaning, or sociological meaning of this, or the philosophical (philo soft fi cal) understanding of his suffering…
Jesus says, GET TO WORK. As long as it is day, do the work of Him who sent you.
• “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” (9:3) All this talk is getting nowhere. It’s fruitless chatter.
• Minister to the needs of these people and let the people experience the love and power of God in their situations.
God is not limited by our disabilities. His work is hampered by our disobedience.
• Don’t focus too much on our abilities or disabilities. Look to the God who calls us to do His work, and meet the needs of the people.
• To Ehud, someone got to do the job. Echo Isaiah’s words, “Here I am, send me!”
Look at Ehud’s plan and preparation for the task. It was dangerous but necessary, and he was determined to do it well.
• He made a half-metre long double-edged sword, one that is short enough to hide under his thigh, and long enough to strike a fatal wound.
• He devised a PLAN - how to get in and how to get out.
They are to gain access to the King without suspicion by sending a commission of Israelites to deliver the tribute. The King likely expected this payment of wealth and goods from his Jewish subjects.
After seeing the place close-up, Ehud pretends to leave but returns with a secret message from God for the King. The King feels proud that God had a special message for him, so he dismiss all of his guards and servants so he could receive this ‘secret’ message. Ehud approaches him, the King stands up and Ehud pulls the dagger with his left hand and plunges it into the belly of the obese King.
Eglon was so fat that he could not defend himself. His flesh covered the whole dagger, handle and all, until the blade came out of his back.
King of Moab fell back on his seat and Ehud fled. To buy time for his escape, he closed and locked the doors to the private chamber, and delayed the discovery of the corpse.
By the time the servants came in and found their King dead, Ehud had blown the trumpet and got the Israelites out for battle.
• They eventually defeated the Moabites and reclaimed Jericho.
Ehud’s action inspired his people. His cry was: "Follow me, for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands." (Jud 3:28)
• Ehud had done a great deal, from the preparation to the planning, to the execution of the plan. We see his commitment pre-assassination (making the sword and coming up with a plan) and post-assassination (rallying the people for war).
• And yet he says, THE LORD HAS GIVEN Moab, your enemy, into your hands! He recognises God’s role in all of these. He gives God all the credit!
A woodpecker was pecking on a tree. In the middle of his pecking, a bolt of lightning struck the tree, splitting it right down the middle.
The woodpecker backed off, surveyed the situation, and flew away. He returned with 9 other woodpeckers and declared, "Look! There it is, gentlemen. Right there. That's what I did." He thought that his pecking brought down the tree!
It was actually an act of God!
Don’t let that happen to us. Ehud recognizes and acknowledges God in all of this.
• Paul says in 2 Cor 3:5 “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”
• It’s all about God. It is never about our abilities or disabilities. But we’ve got to do something.
Chuck Close is one of the great portrait artists in America. If you take a glance at his work, you would think that you are looking at a photograph. It’s that real.
But Chuck Close actually suffers from prosopagnosia, a condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces. He can create a masterpiece with your face, but he can’t remember it. With such a condition, no one expects him to paint faces. That is his disability.
Yet the opposite happened. It motivated him. He says, “Everything in my art is driven by my disability.”
His greatest weakness has become the source of his greatest strength.
We don’t have a weakness like Close, but we all deal with weakness in one shape or form. We feel inadequate and lousy about ourselves in some areas.
• But always remember, God has called you and me. God has given us something that we can offer.
• We have the opportunity and platform to show His greatness and strength. We can glorify Him in a way that our own abilities and strength alone cannot.
Trust Him and serve Him with all that we’ve got.
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Ehud helped to deliver his people from the oppression of their enemies.
• Today we have a great Deliverer in Jesus Christ, who through His sacrifice on the cross, and freed us from the oppression of sin.
• The cross was the weapon that God used to stab the devil. Jesus rose on the third day, and gained victory over sin and death.
• Put your trust in Jesus Christ. Stop living in the cycles of sin. He can give us perfect peace, not for 80 years but for eternity!
