Judges 3:12-31
Prayer: Father, I ask that You would be pleased to use this Word, Your sword, to kill our sin today. I pray that wherever sin continues to hold us captive, You would graciously put it to death. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
The Bible is not a book of sweet and pious aphorisms. This episode is one of those places that underlines this point: it’s earthy, violent, and crass. The Bible is the truest book because it tells the truth about our vile sin, and it tells the truth about the only way out of the shameful pits we have dug for ourselves.
Ehud is a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus: a little savior who points to our Great Savior.
The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD…” (Judges 3:12-31)
Summary of the Text
The cycle continues with the children of Israel again doing evil after Othniel dies, and God gave them into the hand of Eglon King of Moab for 18 years, who made an alliance with Ammon and Amalek and set up his rule at Jericho (Judges 3:12-14, cf. Dt. 34:3). When the people cried out to the Lord, He raised up a “savior,” Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite (which is a bit of a joke – and apparently there were lots of them, Judges 20:16), who plotted with the people to assassinate their oppressor (Judges 3:15-18). After giving his gift, he feigned to have some secret message for the king, who dismissed all of his servants (Judges 3:19-20). Ehud stabbed the fat king (described in gory detail), locked the doors to the inner chamber, and escaped through the porch (Judges 3:21-23). Eglon’s servants assumed he was using the facilities, but after a while, they opened the doors with a key and found their king dead on the ground (Judges 3:24-26). Ehud then called the men of Israel to war, and they slew ten thousand Moabites, and the land had rest for 80 years (Judges 3:27-30). After Ehud, God also raised up Shamgar, probably a Gentile convert, who delivered Israel from the Philistines (Judges 3:31).
Judges as Civil Magistrates
We will continue to unpack what “judges” are in the coming weeks, but it’s important to note that these were not just random folks who deputized themselves or merely charismatic leaders who had supernatural authorizations. Rather, these were part of the broad network of judges initially proposed by Jethro, Moses’ father in-law in Exodus 18: “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Ex. 18:21). Moses indicates that he followed this advice when he reviews it in Deuteronomy: “So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him” (Dt. 1:15-16). Interestingly, putting these two texts together, we learn that the people chose and Moses confirmed (cf. Acts 7:5-6). This whole structure establishes the rudimentary elements of a republic.
This is also related to the Spirit being upon the judges (e.g. Judges 3:10, 6:34, 11:29, etc.). In Numbers 11, the Spirit that was upon Moses came upon the 70 elders of the people, which may have been an additional high court of judges above the “captains of thousands.” Later, we see the Spirit coming upon Saul when he is anointed king (1 Sam. 10:10), and David prays that the Spirit will not leave him after he sinned with Bathsheba (Ps. 51:11). This is not the Spirit of salvation; it is the anointing Spirit of office (1 Sam. 16:13-14).
Protestant Resistance Theory
Some Christians have a hard time with this episode not merely because it is very earthy and crass, but also because they are troubled by Ehud’s deception and assassination of a king. Didn’t David refuse to strike God’s anointed? Isn’t deception a breach of the 9th Commandment?
The Christian tradition has studied these questions for many centuries, and we really do need to study them again because America was founded on explicitly biblical grounds of resistance to tyranny and we are increasingly in need of applying those principles again.
First off, the Bible teaches that lying/deception is an act of war, which is why it is ordinarily forbidden (Eph. 4:25). But in war, lying and deception are part of the plan (ambushes, camouflage, etc.) (e.g. Ex. 1:15-21, Josh. 2:4).
Second, while Jesus clearly teaches that individuals are not allowed to take personal vengeance on enemies (Mt. 5:38-39), the Bible also teaches that civil magistrates are God’s servants for taking vengeance on evil-doers (Rom. 13:4). Therefore, this includes accountability between magistrates, and the right and duty of lesser magistrates to interpose on behalf of the people if some magistrates are abusing their power.
Martin Bucer wrote in 1530, “If a superior falls to extortion or causes any other kind of external injury, [lesser magistrates] must attempt to remove him by force of arms.” John Calvin, Phillip Mornay, the Magdeberg Confession, the Scottish Covenantors, and many colonial American pastors agreed.
In this case, Ehud was not a random guy with a vendetta; he was an authorized magistrate of the people. The King of Moab did not have a lawful right to rule over that land or to oppress God’s people. Therefore, Ehud was justified in assassinating Eglon and leading the Israelites in war against them.
Conclusion: From Shame to Laughter
This story is clearly meant to be funny. A really fat king gets stabbed, and he’s so fat that his belly rolls close over the dagger and as he dies loses all bowel control. The assassin escapes while the fat king’s servants wait outside the door smelling the stench, growing increasingly embarrassed. When the nations rage and plot against the Lord and against His Anointed, God sits in Heaven and laughs (Ps. 2:4). And this story invites us to laugh with Him. One way to think about turning back to evil is to stop laughing at it (cf. Judges 4:1).
But this is also a very vivid picture of what it looks like to be enslaved to sin. It’s shameful; it’s foul; it’s unclean. Your sin is a fat king that sucks the life out of you and oppresses you.
It doesn’t seem like an accident that Ehud turns around at “Gilgal” near the Jordan River, and that is where he gathers the army to fight (Judges 3:19, 28). Gilgal is the where the men of Israel were circumcised just before the battle of Jericho, and there God had removed the shame of Egypt (Josh. 5:9). Eglon had made the destroyed Canaanite city (Jericho) his new capital, and it must have been a great embarrassment to Israel. So Ehud led Israel back to the Jordan where God had removed their shame and began the conquest anew.
Of course, the Jordan is where Jesus our Great Judge and Savior was baptized and anointed with the Spirit to deliver us from all the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. In His death, He became our sin and shame, in order to destroy it all – so that our sin and shame might be crucified in Him. This is our Gilgal – the place where our shame was taken away. Look at the cross. See the shame. See your shame. And then see Jesus “despising the shame,” and laugh.
This is the most “left-handed” assassination in the history of the world. And with all our shame dead on His cross and buried in His grave forever, we are clothed in His righteousness to join Him in the conquest of the world (Rev. 19:11ff). This is how God turns all our sorrow to laughter. Prayer: Father, please do whatever it takes to set us free from our sins. We know our nation is enslaved to its lusts, and we are not immune. We are a nation fat with envy and shame, malice and murder. Come set us free. Strike down our idols and turn us back to Yourself. We cry out for this in Jesus’ name, who taught us to pray…
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