The Book of Judges (5 cont.)
(Chapter 3 cont.)

        We are particularly told that the weapon Ehud carried was a 
dagger he had made himself (verse 16).  It was carried 'under his 
raiment', and the Hebrew word used indicates a long flowing 
robe which was worn only by the leader of the tribe.  On arriving 
back at the palace, the king and his courtiers were still in the 
reception hall.  Ehud asks for an audience, and is bidden to 
Eglon's presence.  His words in verse 19 are:  'I have a secret 
errand unto thee, O king'.  Having just received a vast amount 
of tribute, Eglon was in the right mood to find out what it was, 
which was only natural.  Further, he probably reasoned that Ehud 
had some secret to betray and his reply is 'keep silence'.  In 
other words Eglon stopped him from saying any more in the 
presence of his court, intimating that he would grant Ehud a 
private interview.

        We read 'All that stood by him' withdrew, courtiers always 
standing in the presence of an eastern king.  Eglon took Ehud into 
his private 'parlour of cooling', literally.  If you consider this 
unwise of the king for security reasons, you must take into 
account that Israel had now been vanquished for eighteen years, 
and there had been no sign all this time of any rebellion.  To all 
intents this people had been reduced to serfs.  They were crushed 
in spirit and suppressed by a ruthless army.  In these conditions 
security measures had long since become slack.

        So the door was shut, the attendants retired, and the two were 
left together, the king seated on his throne, Ehud standing before 
him.  Having received permission to speak, Ehud's words were, 
'I have a message from God unto thee' (verse 20).  The word 
God here is 'Elohim', the Creator.  It was a message from the 
Creator to His creature, not Jehovah (the Covenant God) to His 
servant.  It is interesting to read in this verse that having heard 
those words Eglon, this heathen king, stood up.  He arose from 
his throne.  Though a king, though rich and powerful, though 
tyrannizing over the people of this God, though a gross unwieldy 
man that could not easily get out of his throne, that emblem of his 
authority; though in private with no audience to observe him, he 
stood up to hear what God had to say to him.

        This gesture undoubtedly simplified Ehud's divine 
commission.  With his left hand he drew his dagger, and God's 
message was delivered not to Eglon's ear, but to his heart.  
Without even a cry this enemy of Israel fell.  Verse 23 reads: 
'Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of 
the parlour upon him, and locked them'.  This is not the usual 
word used for a porch.  There must have been a vestibule which 
led into the ante-room where the ministers and members of the 
court awaited the king's pleasure, though they evidently did not 
see him lock the door.  Ehud must have walked the length of the 
room without arousing any suspicion, and so made his escape.

        The king's men finding the door locked, assumed him to be 
sleeping, and knew they would only incur wrath upon their heads 
should they disturb him.  So it must have been quite a time before 
they eventually unlocked the door and found Eglon not asleep but 
dead.  When the pandemonium had died down they would decide 
that Ehud must be found, and no doubt grim reprisals would be 
taken upon the Jews in Jericho.

        Meanwhile Ehud escaped to Seirath, which means 'into the 
bush'.  This would be among the forests and hills of Ephraim, 
the hill country which was often the fastness of freedom for the 
Israelites up to the days of David.  It was not his intention, 
however, to lie low.  He realized that action should be taken at 
once, and the place he went to was the mountain of Ephraim, as 
verse 27 records.  It could well be either Mount Ebal or Gerizim 
that Ehud made for, for here was the place hallowed for all time 
by Joshua after their triumphant victories at Jericho and Ai.  It 
will be remembered he assembled the whole nation here, and built 
an altar unto the Lord God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the 
Lord commanded.  On those stones he wrote a copy of the Law, 
and afterwards he read all the words of the Law, the blessings 
and the cursings, in the presence of the whole congregation of 
Israel.

        Possibly at this spot Ehud blew a trumpet, or as the Hebrew 
reads, 'he trumpeted with a horn'.  Doubtless this was a signal 
that set in motion the gathering together of the warriors out of all 
the tribes of Israel.  Their weapons they had had to hide would be 
brought out from the hiding places where they had carefully been 
stored.  When the host had assembled, Ehud wasted no time: 
'Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the 
Moabites into your hand' (verse 28).  Evidently these men of 
Israel recognized that Ehud was not only a leader to be trusted, 
but that he had the Spirit of the Lord upon him.  Without any 
murmurings or doubts, they followed him to a man, and we go on 
to read:

        'And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan 
toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over'.

        Strategically this was of prime importance.  By securing the 
fords, Ehud cut off both their escape route and their supply route.  
He bottled them up and prevented assistance coming to their aid.  
The vehement rapidity of this action must have achieved the 
maximum element of surprise.  In the ensuing battle, not a man of 
Moab escaped, so the country was cleared of their oppressors, 
and Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel and the 
land had rest fourscore years.  What a picture this is of the 
triumph over Satan and those forces that will be gathered 
together to destroy Israel before the Lord returns to save His 
people, and to give them rest for a thousand years!

        Ehud was indeed a man who remained faithful to God when 
all around him had forsaken and were outwardly disobeying His 
commands, and refusing to accept the blessings He freely 
showered upon them.  Our faith must be strengthened as we think 
about the faithfulness of this man.

        'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might'.
        
N.J.DREDGE

* The reader is referred to the author's exposition of Matthew's 
Gospel in The Berean Expositor Vol. 52, pp. 129-130, where this is 
dealt with.