Judges 3:12-31 // Ehud: The Left Handed Assassin

Judges 3:12-31. Reading this just now I realised for the first time that although “Israel sinned” it was the “city of palm trees” (Jericho) that was captured by the Moabite coalition. Although the army of Israel, sent to defend Jericho was defeated, it was probably not a full-size national army, especially since Israel was not a centralised state. The eighteen years that the children of Israel served Moab, would have been years that the Israelites in Jericho and the surrounding regions served Moab. This would have been troubling for Israel, since they were accustomed to defeating their enemies, but it was not the national disaster that I used to visualise. God can be in seemingly small things, for blessing or its lack. This also suggests that the years recorded here potentially overlap with other lists of years in Judges. The eighty, or fourscore, years of rest of the land may have simply been peace in that eastern part of Israel, since this peace is in the context of Moab. It is also interesting that Ehud was in charge of bringing the tribute to Eglon of Moab, tribute from his occupied region, he delivered it near a quarry, and he had people to help him carry it, I never noticed these details before. Ehud’s dagger went un-noticed because he was left-handed and it was not on his left thigh as would be expected for a weapon. Ehud was from the regions of Jericho, or he would not have been able to deliver the tribute and get close to Eglon, but when he fled from Gilgal where he met Eglon, he went to Ephraim, the chief state of Israel, to get military aid. If Ehud had met Eglon in Moab he would not have been able to escape, but he met him in Gilgal, a city close to Jericho, whose people allied with Israel during the conquest under Joshua, and he was able to escape through sympathetic territory. Ephraim was only a short distance north, and this was where the Israelite army would assemble. While the Moabites were confused with their strong ruler dead, the hastily assembled Israelite army, probably consisting mostly of Ephraimites, rushed past the Moabite garrison of Jericho and took the fords of Jordan, preventing reinforcements for the Moabite garrison and throwing them into a panic. As the Moabites tried to flee back to Moab, they were ambushed by the Israelites at the fords, and killed. The Moabites would not cause trouble for that region for many years to come, eighty perhaps. Ehud died after this, and Shamgar took his place. Shamgar had a role in fighting the Philistines, who were a threat in the west, not the same place as Ehud, but he does not seem to have done much for the rest of Israel, as will be seen.