C. The second Judge: Ehud
1. (Judges 3:12-14) The cycle continues: Israel sins and is sold into servitude
Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
The sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD: This is the final part of the pattern of the era of Judges. Even after their deliverance, Israel rebels again, and God judges them as doing evil. It is significant to note that one and often two generations pass after the primary victory of a Judge. It is the NEW generation who, after the death of the Judge, did not experience war or participate in battle causes the next cycle of sin, oppression, punishment, raising up a new Judge and deliverance to begin again.
Verse 12 does not tell us precisely what the evil was that this new generation of Israel committed. We can guess that idolatry was at its core because invariably idolatry played a starring role in all of Israel's apostasies. Apostatizing does not mean that the people necessarily renounced God. Rather, they broke faith with Him by mixing the worship of other gods with the worship of Him.
Something that needs to change in the hearts and minds of modern Believers is that our behavior plays a key role in how the LORD perceives and deals with us. We often meet as a congregation and just love to talk about "the world" as though we actually shun it or have successfully avoided being tainted by it. Yet, for other than what is inside us, our outward appearance, behavior and choices are often times nearly indistinguishable from the unsaved world. We tend to go to the same movies, watch the same TV programs, have the same jobs, act the same way when someone cuts us off in traffic, etc. And we expect our fellowships to operate in the same fashion as secular governments or organizations.
It is when Israel became indistinguishable from the Canaanites in their appearance, behavior, choices and worship that God became angry and acted. It did not matter that internally they were His redeemed. As mush as we may wish it otherwise, God watches and evaluates what we DO because He is the one who has given us redemption. He already knows who is redeemed and who is not. He does not have to observe our behavior to find that out. How must God perceive us that unless we TELL someone we are Christians, no one might ever suspect it? Our Christian bumper sticker are there to tell others of our faith because by our behavior and lifestyles, that is about the only way anyone might ever know.
Israel during the time of the Judges merely wanted what we all typically want--to blend in, not seem odd or out of step and certainly not be criticized or ridiculed and told we are ignorant and full of hate because we do not go along with what everyone else wants.
Eglon the king of Moab: In response to Israel's apostasy, the LORD divinely energizes a new oppressor, Eglon king of Moab. Like every kingdom, Moab had its allies. In this case, it was Ammon and Amalek.
The city of palm trees: Eglon attacked and took the city of palm trees (which some say was Jericho while others contend it was a place just a little but farther south of Jericho). This was an important city both politically and economically for Israel. Eglon brought this area of Israel under subjugation and after taking the city of palm trees would rule them for 18 years.
2. (Judges 3:15) God raises up a deliverer for Israel: Ehud
But when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamin, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
The LORD raises up a deliverer: The LORD chooses a man and separates him to be His servant for the purpose of delivering Israel from their oppressors. His name is Ehud.
Ehud: Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin and the tribe of Benjamin is under the most pressure by Eglon. This is a similar pattern to God choosing Othniel from the tribe of Judah because Judah was under the most pressure from Cushan-rishathaim. Like Othniel's oppressor, this trouble is also occurring in the southern end of the tribal territories.
A left-handed man: It is prominently mentioned that Ehud is left-handed, a trait that was apparently rather common among the tribal members of Benjamin but often not present in the other eleven tribes. Interestingly, it does NOT say in the Hebrew that Ehud was let-handed. Rather, it says that he was "bound up on the right". In the Bible era, the right side of anything was seen as the "correct" side, the strong side and the best side. The right hand was used for blessing. The royal scepter was always held in the right hand because it denoted power and authority. So, for people in that time period, a person who was left-handed was considered as having a defective right hand. Not being strong and coordinated in one's right hand meant that the person had a disability. In that era, a left-handed person to be used by God was another example of the LORD using the person with the least human ability to do His divine will, which is why Ehud was mentioned as being a lefty.
It is rather ironic that Benjamin had so many people genetically predisposed to being left-handed. The name Benjamin means "son of my RIGHT hand". This so-called disability would prove to be quite helpful for Ehud.
The sons of Israel sent tribute by him: One of the main goals of one nation conquering another nation was to gain tribute, ties and wealth from the conquered people. The tribute could be anything from animals to produce to precious metals. Whatever that particular people had that the ruler prized would be the tribute.
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