GOD’S LEFT HAND – Judges 3:12-30

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 25, 2015 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group; March 25, 2015 from Judges 3:12-30

Theme: Our sovereign God is able to bring about His good purposes for His people through seemingly-dishonorable circumstances.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

We come to one of the stories in Judges—one of many—that would never end up on anyone’s list of favorite passages. The story of the judge Ehud is more than simply R-rated for violence; it’s problematic to some people’s theology of God. How is it that a holy God can use such unholy circumstances in order to bring about His perfect purposes?

This, of course, was the great problem that the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk dealt with. He cried out to God because God’s people were living so wickedly. “O LORD,” he said, “how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?” (Habakkuk 1:2). God’s answer, however, was even more shocking. God would raise up the ungodly and brutal Chaldeans to punish them. That mystified Habakkuk even more than why it was that God allowed His people to go on sinning! “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness,” he then asked; “Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” (v. 13). God went on to explain that though He would use the evil Chaldeans to punish His people, He would then punish the Chaldeans.

We might title this a study of “God’s Left Hand”—not simply because the “left hand” is a key part of the story, but also because it seems to characterize the way God works in an opposite manner than we would ordinarily think. In terribly dirty times, such as the times of the Judges—and perhaps even such as our own—the sovereign God is not above getting His hands into the dirt for the good of His people. He Himself, of course, never sins; but He can twist and turn seemingly dishonorable circumstances for the good of His people. Rather than cause us to doubt His integrity, this should comfort us with His power. Note how He did this through . . .

I. THE STRENGTHENING OF A WICKED OPPRESSOR (vv. 12-14).

A. We’re told, “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD” (v. 12a)—even after the good victory He had provided for them through Othniel (see verses 7-11). Their new situation, then, was just: “So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD” (v. 12b). Eglon not only oppressed the people of Israel as king of Moab, but he also gathered other enemies of Israel against her in order to “strike” her; taking possession of key water accesses (v. 13).

B. As we read on, we find that this man Eglon was “a very fat man”. And so, when we’re told that the children of Israel “served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years” (v. 14)—and even bringing tribute to him (v. 18)—we can’t help but wonder if the oppression was made all the more humiliating by Eglon fattening himself as the people of Israel languished. But it’s important to remember that this was their just punishment for having yet again turned away from God.

II. THE RAISING OF A DECEITFUL DELIVERER (vv. 15-21).

A. God is very merciful; and He responded to the cries of His people. In fact, we should see verse 15 as key to this passage; “But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera . . .” (v. 15a). We’re told, however, something quite remarkable about this man. He was a “Benjamite, a left-handed man” (v. 15b). This must have been something characteristic of the men of the tribe of Benjamin. We’re told later in Judges that among the men of the army of Benjamin were “seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss” (Judges 20:16). In fact, many may have been ambidextrous; because we’re told in 1 Chronicles 12:2, that King David drew to himself men from Benjamin (King Saul’s tribe) who were “armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows with the bow”. More remarkable still is that this man Ehud was the man responsible for bringing the tribute of the people of Israel to Eglon.

B. We’re told that Ehud made a dagger for himself (v. 16). Because we’re told later that it slipped in to its victim completely, it may have been without a handle—and therefore very easy to conceal. He had it fastened it to his right thigh when he delivered the tribute to the fat oppressor Eglon. After formally delivering the tribute, it appears that he went just so far on his way back to his people when he stopped, sent his aids on without him, and “himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal” (v. 19). These may have been idolatrous images set up by the Moabites that—for Ehud—became ‘the last straw’ that inspired him to take final action. He came to Eglon—as if he had a special message; and when they were alone, he said, “I have a message from God for you” (v. 20). Though there was a sense in which that might have been true, it had an element of deceit attached to it. The message was basically, “You’re time is up.” How God could use a deceitful assassin to slay an oppressor is just as mysterious to us as how He could use a wicked oppressor to punish His people. But God is sovereign; and He is able to turn the dark methods of dark people in dark times to His righteous ends in ways that are greater than we can understand.

III. THE IRONY OF AN UNDIGNIFIED END (vv. 22-25).

A. Ehud reached his left hand to take the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into Eglon’s belly. We’re told that the man’s fat closed up over the blade in such a way as that it could not be withdrawn. We’re told that Eglon’s entrails came out; making greedy Eglon—made fat by his eighteen years of oppression—to pop like an enormous over-ripe grape. Ehud—having made sure that Eglon ‘got the point’—quietly closed the doors of the upper room where they met from the inside, and escaped through the porch.

B. The wording of this text is intended to convey a sense of ironic surprise to the things that happened next. As if that wasn’t undignified enough, Eglon’s servants came afterwards and “to their surprise” found the doors locked. As if things weren’t undignified enough, they thought that he must be “covering his feet” in the cool chamber (a euphemistic way of saying that they thought he was revealing himself). And they waited. And they waited. They waited until it was embarrassing; and they god the key and opened the door. And again—the ironic surprise—there was their master, “fallen dead on the floor” (v. 25)—amidst his spilled-out innards. A Jewish person who had suffered under the cruel oppression of want and humiliation for eighteen years would find it hard not to be stunned by God’s sense of irony.

IV. THE LONG PEACE THROUGH A GREAT SLAUGHTER (vv. 26-30).

A. Moab was suddenly in a state of crisis. Their king was dead—and grotesquely so! But by the time that the discovery had been made, Ehud was long gone. Having gone past those cursed stone images again, he went on to where his own people could be rallied; and he led them to cast off the shackles of their oppression. He told the Israelites that had gathered to him, “Follow me, for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand” (v. 28). They seized the “fords of the Jordan” (that is, the shallow portions of the river that could easily be crossed), and prevented anyone from crossing over—so that no Moabite could escape from their hands, or come to the Moabite’s rescue. Then, they killed a staggering 10,000 men of Moab; “all stout men of valor; not a man escaped” (v. 29).

B. We’re told, “Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years” (v 30). That would mean two generations-worth of rest. But note that it was rest for the land (see also v. 11)—not necessarily repentance for the people. This deliverance was dirty work in dirty times! But it reminds us that God’s hand isn’t hindered by the times. Sometimes He uses the left hand.