Judges 3 · The Lantern

Nations Left to Test Israel

And these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them — all who had not known all the wars of Canaan,

only so that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war — only those who had not known such things before:

the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, and the Sidonian, and the Hivite living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance of Hamath.

And they were there to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of the LORD, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

And the sons of Israel lived in the midst of the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite;

and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons; and they served their gods.

Othniel

And the sons of Israel did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

And the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up a savior for the sons of Israel, and he saved them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

And the spirit of the LORD was on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

And the sons of Israel again did the evil in the eyes of the LORD; and the LORD made Eglon king of Moab strong against Israel, because they had done the evil in the eyes of the LORD.

And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they took possession of the city of palms.

And the sons of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

And the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a savior: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a man bound in his right hand. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon king of Moab.

For these "eighteen years" of servitude also passed, and it is not recounted that "they cried out to the Lord" or were converted from their wickedness, but after eighteen years it is again said that: "the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a Savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the son of Gemini, a man ambidextrous." Behold what manner of man thi…

What did you mean by saying, two thousand fall at the side? Naturally, when the right hand is designated and the left is not, the side is named in place of the left hand.

These are the persons, then, who are referred to in holy Scripture as amphoterodexioi—that is, as ambidextrous. Ehud, "who used either hand as if it were his right hand," is described as such in the book of Judges.

And Ehud made himself a sword — and it had two mouths — a cubit in length; and he strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh.

And he brought the tribute near to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

And it was, when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute;

but he himself turned back from the carved stones that are by Gilgal, and said, “A secret word I have for you, O king.” And he said, “Silence!” — and all who stood attending him went out from him.

And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber; and Ehud said, “A word of God I have for you.” And he rose from the seat.

And Ehud reached with his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

And even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade — for he did not draw the sword out of his belly — and it came out behind.

And Ehud went out to the porch, and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

When he had gone out, the servants came; and they looked, and look — the doors of the roof chamber were locked. And they said, “Surely he is covering his feet in the cool inner chamber.”

And they waited until they were ashamed; and look — he was not opening the doors of the roof chamber. So they took the key and opened them; and look — their lord was fallen to the ground, dead.

And Ehud escaped while they delayed; and he passed the carved stones and escaped to Seirah.

And it was, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, with him before them.

And he said to them, “Pursue after me, for the LORD has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” And they went down after him, and captured the fords of the Jordan against Moab, and did not let a man cross.

And they struck Moab at that time — about ten thousand men, every stout man and every man of valor; and not a man escaped.

And Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years.

Shamgar