Ehud

AI summary: Ehud matters because the cross references present him as the unexpected instrument of Israel's liberation after long subjection. His left-handedness, concealed weapon, and audacious strike against Eglon give the narrative a sharply personal form of deliverance, which is then followed by broader military victory. The story is vivid, but its theological point is clear: God raises unlikely agents to rescue his people. Taken together, the material presents Ehud as a cunning and effective judge whose courage brings long rest to the land.¹

The son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 3:15). After the death of Othniel the people again fell into idolatry, and Eglon, the king of Moab, uniting his bands with those of the Ammonites and the Amalekites, crossed the Jordan and took the city of Jericho, and for eighteen years held that whole district in subjection, exacting from it an annual tribute. At length Ehud, by a stratagem, put Eglon to death with a two-edged dagger a cubit long, and routed the Moabites at the fords of the Jordan, putting 10,000 of them to death. Thenceforward the land, at least Benjamin, enjoyed rest “for fourscore years” (Judg. 3:12-30). (See QUARRIES [2].) But in the south-west the Philistines reduced the Israelites to great straits (Judg. 5:6). From this oppression Shamgar was raised up to be their deliverer. ³