Judge Ehud​—Resourceful and Valiant for Jehovah’s Cause

NOT without good reason do the Scriptures liken the people of God to sheep. Sheep need to be led, to be protected and fed. When the people of Israel first became Jehovah’s nation, God provided a shepherd for them in Moses, who led, protected and fed them for forty years. After Moses’ death Joshua carried on.

After the death of Joshua and the older men of his day the Israelites kept falling away from the pure worship of Jehovah, for which reason He let them become oppressed by the pagan nations surrounding them until they came to their senses. Because of such conditions, there arose the need of shepherds to serve as “judges” and “saviors,” even as we read: “When Jehovah did raise up judges for them, Jehovah proved to be with the judge, and he saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Jehovah would feel regret over their groaning because of their oppressors.”​—Judg. 2:18; Neh. 9:27.

Ehud was the second of these judges, but the first of whom we have a comparatively detailed account. He is generally remembered by those familiar with their Bibles as the left-handed Benjamite who killed one of Israel’s oppressors by a ruse and freed his people from that one’s yoke. However, there is far more to be said in favor of Ehud than that.

Ehud apparently administered justice in Israel for a long period of time, during which he kept his nation both faithful and loyal to Jehovah God and free from war. As the inspired Record reads: “Moab came to be subdued on that day under Israel’s hand; and the land had no further disturbance for eighty years. Then the sons of Israel again began to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes now that Ehud was dead.”​—Judg. 3:30; 4:1.

It was when “the sons of Israel went doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes” that “Jehovah let Eglon the king of Moab grow strong against Israel.” Eglon, by means of an alliance with Ammon and Amalek, was able to subdue the Israelites, after which he oppressed them for eighteen years.​—Judg. 3:12-14.

Then the “sons of Israel began to call to Jehovah for aid” and so “Jehovah raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man.” (Judg. 3:15) While the Hebrew word for left-handed here simply means unable to make natural use of the right hand, from the Scriptural record it is apparent that Ehud was skillful with his left hand. Of the tribe of Benjamin we read that on one occasion there were among them “seven hundred chosen men left-handed. Every one of these was a slinger of stones to a hairbreadth and would not miss.” The Septuagint says they were ambidextrous. Later other Benjamites who were noted for being ambidextrous are mentioned as being in David’s army. They were said to be “using the right hand and using the left hand with stones or with arrows in the bow.”​—Judg. 20:16; 1 Chron. 12:2.

EHUD’S STRATEGY

Jehovah God, having raised up Ehud for the purpose of delivering his people, would put His spirit upon him. It no doubt quickened his mind as well as strengthened his heart for the work God had for him to do. For one thing, it gave him insight to see that he could strike a decisive blow for the freedom of his people Israel simply by doing away with King Eglon himself; and also how he could go about doing this successfully and make his escape.

First of all, he needed a weapon especially suited for his purpose. And so he made himself one, a sharp two-edged sword or dirk a cubit or eighteen inches long. Such a weapon he could easily hide on his side under the folds of his long flowing garment, which was what men wore in his day. There it would not arouse suspicions, and yet from there he could quickly draw it with his skillful left hand.

Important also to the success of his strategy was for Ehud to choose the right time and occasion. He chose the time when Israel was due to bring tribute to King Eglon, and Ehud saw to it that he headed the delegation bringing it. Most likely the delegation was quite large, as it was customary to bring the tribute in the form of produce of the land. Of course, receiving this tribute put King Eglon in good spirits and made him quite favorably disposed toward Ehud.

After presenting the tribute, Ehud and those with him started back; and upon reaching the quarries, or graven images, at Gilgal, he sent the rest on their way, while he returned to King Eglon. For the business he now had at hand others would prove to be an encumbrance, for not only might they arouse suspicion but escape would be more difficult for a group than for just one man.​—Judg. 3:18, 19.

By saying that he had a secret message for King Eglon, Ehud succeeded in getting a private audience with the king “as he was sitting in his cool roof chamber that he had to himself.” Curious to know what it was, King Eglon ordered all his attendants from his presence. Then Ehud said to him, “A word of God I have for you.” Whether out of respect for such a message or because of expecting a valuable gift, King Eglon, who was very fat, ponderously arose. Then, quick as a flash, before King Eglon could utter a sound, Ehud with his left hand pulled his sword from his side and plunged it deep into Eglon’s belly. Apparently the sword did not have a crosspiece between the blade and the handle, for the record tells us: “And the handle kept going in also after the blade so that the fat closed in over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the fecal matter began to come out,” as King Eglon fell heavily onto the floor.​—Judg. 3:20-22.

Thinking quickly, Ehud first locked the doors of the king’s roof chamber before escaping through a ventilating passage. This delayed discovery of Eglon’s death and so gave Ehud more time to flee before an alarm could be sounded. The king’s attendants, noting that the doors were locked, thought that their king was easing nature and patiently waited so as not to embarrass him. After waiting as long as they dared they finally unlocked the doors to find out what was wrong with their king, and something wrong they did find​—their king lying dead on the floor with a mess all around him! What consternation that must have caused!​—Judg. 3:23-25.

While Ehud had carefully planned it all, and it had worked out as he had planned, it took no little courage for him to embark on such a mission. No fear of man could he dare betray, even though King Eglon had oppressed Israel for eighteen years. He also knew that he could not be certain of finding the king alone by himself and that it would be a question of how far he would escape until an alarm was sent out after him. Some condemn Ehud’s strategy, but they forget that God was using him as a savior for Israel. How many Israelites had King Eglon killed in subjugating them with the help of Ammon and Amalek? Besides, had he not oppressed Israel for eighteen years, with no justification on his part except that with the help of allies he had been able to do it?

MOAB DEFEATED​—ISRAEL FREED

Continuing his successful strategy, Ehud took advantage of the consternation and confusion caused to the Moabites by the sudden death of their king and so rallied an army of Israel to his side by blowing a horn in the mountainous region of Ephraim, adjoining his land of Benjamin. Indicative of his reliance upon Jehovah are the words he said to his army: “Follow me, because Jehovah has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand.” By mustering his forces while the Moabites were in confusion because of the death of their king, he was able to seize the initiative. Then, to block the retreat of the occupational forces of Moab, he had part of his army seize the fords of the Jordan, which maneuver at the same time prevented any help from coming from Moab. As a result 10,000 robust and valiant Moabites were slain.​—Judg. 3:26-29.

After that, as already noted, Israel entered upon a long period of peace and worship of Jehovah. And while Ehud is not mentioned again in the Scriptures, he without doubt is presented to us as an example of faith, being included among those who “through faith defeated kingdoms . . . became valiant in war, routed the armies of foreigners.​—Heb. 11:33, 34.

The inspired record of Ehud finds a parallel in our day and in the near future. How so? In that, Ehud-like, Jesus Christ in modern times has freed his people from bondage to the oppressive world empire of false religion. And even as Ehud and his army destroyed Eglon’s army, so at Armageddon Jesus Christ and his heavenly forces will destroy all the oppressors of God’s people on earth, bringing in peace and establishing the pure worship of Jehovah throughout the earth for a long, long time, in fact, forever.​—Rev. 16:14, 16; 2 Pet. 3:13.

From another standpoint Jehovah’s people on earth might themselves be likened to Ehud. They are not revolutionaries. Instead of fleshly weapons they use spiritual ones, such as the “sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word,” to carry on a warfare as fine soldiers of Jesus Christ. By means of such spiritual weapons they are able to kill the enslaving power that the enemies of God’s people have had over lovers of righteousness and thus bring them spiritual freedom. All who are engaged in the spiritual warfare should be concerned to prove themselves as resourceful and as valiant as was Ehud, so that success might crown their efforts.​—Eph. 6:17; 2 Cor. 10:3, 4; 2 Tim. 2:3.