RD 12.

2. Ehud, 3: 12-30

And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the 13. LORD. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and smote Israel, 14. and they possessed the city of palm trees. And the

children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eigh15. teen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a saviour, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and the children of Israel sent a present by J 16. him unto Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made

establishment of their headquarters at Jericho (v. 13) would not have been difficult. How complete the suzerainty of Moab was over Israel is of course unknown. It may have been quite slight and limited to a small district.

12. Eglon. Is not mentioned elsewhere. Moab. The country east of the Dead Sea.

13. Ammon. Kindred of the Moabites with territory adjoining that of Moab on the north and east. Amalek. See on 1:16. Neither Ammon nor Amalek appear in the continuation of the story. The city of palm trees. I.e. Jericho (see 1:16). 15. Ehud. A family or clan name of Benjamin in 1 Chron. 8:6. Arabic clans are sometimes named from heroes. Gera. A son or grandson of Benjamin, i.e. one of the leading clans or divisions of the tribe (Gen. 46: 21; 1 Chron. 8: 3, 7). Shimei, who cursed David, belonged to this clan (2 Sam. 16:5). Lefthanded. Thus seemingly were warriors of Benjamin generally (20: 16; 1 Chron. 12: 2). A present. The Hebrew word denotes a contribution of tribute probably in products of the country since bearers brought it (v. 18).

him a sword which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right 17. thigh. And he offered the present unto Eglon king 18. of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end of offering the present, he sent 19. away the people that bare the present. But he himself turned back from the quarries, that were by

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Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all that stood 20. by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting by himself alone in his 2 summer

1 Or, graven images.

2 Heb. upper chamber of cooling.

16. Of a cubit length. The word translated cubit is gomed, found only here, a measure of uncertain length, probably of twelve or thirteen inches. Under his raiment upon his right thigh. An unsuspected place of concealment since the weapons were regularly carried on the left side; but Ehud was left-handed. 17. A very fat man. The mention of this fact here anticipates the part it plays in the story.

18. The present. See v. 15. The people. A considerable retinue of bearers evidently accompanied him.

19. He himself turned back. From the retinue, with which he had gone some distance. Quarries. A word of uncertain meaning. Probably carved stones of some nature are intended, possibly the cromlech or circle of stones thought to be indicated in the name Gilgal and identified by some as the stones ascribed by tradition as set up by Joshua. Gilgal. See 2: 1. I have a secret errand unto thee. The message sent by Ehud to the king given in the form of a direct statement. His own entrance is described in the following verse. The ruse was that he had a divine communication (v. 20) which could only be conveyed in private. It worked perfectly. The king commanded his attendants to retire and granted Ehud a private audience.

20. The audience. And he was sitting, etc. His complete isolation is emphasized, and the place of the interview, the roof

parlour. And Ehud said, I have a message from God 21. unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his 22. right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: and the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, for he drew not the sword out of his belly; 23. and it came out behind. Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon 24. him, and locked them. Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked; and they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 25. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; there

1 Or, he went out into the antechamber.

or upper story chamber, is given. These descriptive touches heighten the picture and explain the escape.

22. The man was so fat, the weapon, two-edged, so sharp, and the thrust so strong that the handle followed the blade and the weapon was left in the wound. And it came out behind. I.e. the weapon passed through him. The sentence, however, is of very doubtful meaning. The marginal reading, He [Ehud] went out into the antechamber," has nothing to commend it. The most probable meaning is that the dirt (the feces) went out through the natural passage. This is said to be the effect of such a wound.

23, 24. Porch. The rendering of a word of unknown meaning. We only know that Ehud left the room and that he also locked the door (the door was double, of two leaves). Probably he went through the usual entrance, since the servants seem to have seen his departure. Surely he covereth his feet. A euphemism. Surely he relieveth himself in the cabinet of his summer chamber."

25. Till they were ashamed. I.e. in perplexity and confusion,

fore they took the key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 26. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirah. 27. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew

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a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill 28. country, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan 2 against the Moabites, and suffered not a man to pass 29. over. And they smote of Moab at that time about

till they could endure the suspense no longer. The key. An eastern lock or bolt, made of wood, may be closed by the hand, but requires a key to open it.

26. Quarries. See v. 19. Some have supposed that these stones were boundary marks between the territory of Moab and Israel. Seirah. The site of this place is unknown. It must have been somewhere in Mt. Ephraim.

V. 27 is a description of the muster, and vv. 28–29, a description of the action after the muster.

27. He blew a trumpet. I.e. sounded the alarm and thus summoned the warriors (cf. 6: 34; 1 Sam. 13: 3; Amos 3:6; Ezek. 33:3 ff.). Eglon's assassination put Israel in danger. Hill country of Ephraim. (2:9;4:5.) The portion of mountainous country from the neighborhood of Jerusalem northward to its termination at the plain of Esdraelon.

28. This verse is somewhat repetitious of the previous one. Some find, therefore, marks of a double narrative, but v. 27 may be taken descriptive of the muster, and v. 28 of the action immediately following. They . . . took the fords of Jordan. Thus cutting off the means of escape into the territory of Moab.

ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man RD 30. of valour; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

R 31.

3. Shamgar, 3:31

And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which smote of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also saved Israel.

29. Every lusty man, and every man of valour. I.e. all were stout and valiant men. Not one escaped; they slew them all. The land seems to have been garrisoned by Moabite soldiers.

30. Moab was subdued. The concluding Deuteronomic formula (cf. 8:28; 11:33). A conquest of the land of Moab is not to be inferred. Fourscore years. I.e. two generations, the longest period of peace mentioned in Judges.

The episode of Shamgar, v. 31, since no period of judgeship is assigned to him and since he is entirely ignored in 4: 1, appears like an afterthought in the Book of Judges, later not only than the Deuteronomic authorship, but later than the editorship which inserted the minor judges. The paragraph seems to have come from some one who repudiated Abimelech as a judge of Israel and added Shamgar to make the number twelve. The name of the judge was derived apparently from 5:6 (which see), even as that of Othniel, 3 : 9, was derived from the tradition given in 1: 13. The basis of the story of the slaughter of six hundred Philistines with an ox goad is unknown. The exploit is one similar to those of Samson (15: 14 ff.) and of David's heroes, especially Shammah, the son of Agee (2 Sam. 23:11 f.). It has even been conjectured that the similarity of the name of the latter to Shamgar suggested the assignment to him of a similar exploit. The introduction of the Philistines in this early period appears, however, out of place since the enemies of Israel then were the Canaanites (see chap. 4). The Philistines appear later near the reign of Saul.

31. An ox goad. The ox goad was a wooden stick with an iron point which might serve as a spear; but that six hundred were really slain with such a weapon is improbable.