Judges 3:12-30

Ehud, the Benjamite. D's setting of the story of Ehud is apparent in Judges 3:12 a and Judges 3:30. The story itself is a genuine folk-tale, handed down from century to century before being committed to writing. One can readily imagine with what zest it was told in the tribe of Benjamin, where the left-handed Ehud was a popular hero. On the moral question raised by his conduct, the facts at our disposal do not enable us to pronounce with confidence. To our minds Ehud is not very attractive either as a man or as a patriot

Judges 3:12. The Edomites were in possession of the country to the E. of the Dead Sea, with the Arnon (pp. 32f.) as their northern border (Judges 11:18). They had kings before the Israelites (Genesis 36:31), a people with whom their feud was chronic. The name of the king who figures in this story Eglon, meaning calf speaks of primitive bucolic simplicity.

Judges 3:13. Here, as elsewhere (2 Chronicles 20:1; Psalms 83:6 f.), Ammon is the ally of Moab. His territory was to the NE. of the country of Moab. The Amalekites were nomads in the N. and NE. of the Sinaitic Peninsula. At Jericho, the city of palm-trees, which the Edomites contrived to seize, there still wave a few isolated palms. Recent excavations have laid bare its famous walls (Joshua 6:5; Joshua 6:20).

Judges 3:15. Ehud is called the son of Gera, but Gera is probably the clan to which he belonged; cf. Shimei ben Gera (2 Samuel 16:5). He was a man left-handed, lit. restricted as to his right hand, like many others of his tribe (Judges 20:16). This peculiarity has a bearing on what is to follow, as it was turned to advantage in his daring plot for the overthrow of the oppressor. The present of which he was the bearer was only euphemistically so called, being really the tribute which subjects had to pay to their overlord.

Judges 3:16. The right thigh was the natural place for the sword of a left-handed man, while the guards, if their suspicions were aroused, would feel for a concealed weapon in the usual place at the left side. Ehud's dirk was 13 in. long. The word translated cubit is found only here, and, according to the Rabbis, means the length from the elbow to the knuckles of the clenched fist (Gr. πυγμή). This detail also has its connexion with the narrative which follows.

Judges 3:18 f. The people that bare the present were the Israelite carriers of the tribute. For quarries we should read graven images, rudely sculptured stones. These were connected with the sanctuary of Gilgal, a proper name which itself probably means circle of sacred stones, such as is called in the West a cromlech.

Judges 3:19. Ehud persuades the king's servants to take in to their master the message, I have a secret communication to thee, O king. The punctual payment of the tribute had disarmed suspicion; the secret communication suggested something revealed in a dream or by an oracle; and the king, favourably impressed, gives his servants the order Keep silence, meaning Leave me in privacy.

Judges 3:20. The king was sitting in his summer-parlour, his cool roof-chamber. The Arabs still give this room its old name (- alî yah). While Ehud, left alone with the king, repeats that he has a message he now dares to call it a message from God his mind is bent upon other things, and his hand is feeling for his hidden dagger. The king's rising, out of respect for the messenger of God, gives Ehud his chance. With one fierce thrust he plunges his dagger, haft and all, into the king's body.

Judges 3:22. The ugly words at the end may be deleted as a dittograph, being similar to Judges 3:23 a.

Judges 3:23. The word for porch is found only here, and the translation is a guess; staircase and vestibule have also been suggested. The doors were the two leaves or wings of the door. A grammatical error suggests that and locked them is a later addition.

Judges 3:24. Finding the door locked, the servants thought their master was covering his feet a Heb. euphemism and waited till they began to be ashamed, surprised and confused.

Judges 3:25. The Eastern door-key, which is probably the same to-day as in the time of Ehud, is described by Lane, Modern Egyptians 5 Judges 3:19 f.

Judges 3:28. We might read and crossed (the Jordan) near the sculptured stones. The site of Seirah is unknown, but it was evidently in the highlands of Ephraim.

Judges 3:27. After come we have to understand thither. The hill country, was the whole backbone of Palestine from the Great Plain to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Judges 3:28. Ehud and his followers seized the fords of Jordan those nearest the Dead Sea, beside Gilgal and cut off the retreat of the Moabites who were on the western side. The numbers slain are not to be taken as rigidly accurate.