A series on the
Judges of Israel
– Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin
(Click on the
link below to read the verses.)
Judges 3:12-30
[The book of
Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following
their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles
of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising
up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some
of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]
"Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive!
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
Look, up in the sky! It's
a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPERMAN!!!
This was the introduction for every episode of the
TV series “Adventures of Superman”. What made it more amazing was that Superman
in real life was a mild mannered reporter who wore glasses. But, when Clark
Kent heard about a crisis, he stepped into a telephone booth and emerged as
Superman ready for action!
The story from this passage in Judges opens with
Israel doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord gave Eglon,
king of Moab, control over Israel. As a result, Israel was oppressed by Eglon
for eighteen years.
Because of this, the Israelites cried out to God for
help. So the Lord raised a rescuer by the name of Ehud, a left-handed man. In
the meantime, the Israelites sent Ehud, along with others, to take their annual
tribute to Eglon.
However, what the Israelites didn’t know was that
Ehud had his own plans. He had made a double edged dagger which he strategically
strapped to his right thigh hiding it under his clothes.
He then fled the city going to the hill country of Ephraim
where Ehud sounded a call to arms for Israelites to follow him in fighting the
Moabites. They killed ten thousand of their able-bodied warriors. Consequently,
Moab was subject to Israel for eighty years.
Like Clark Kent, Ehud was just a “regular Joe”. In
fact, in that culture being left handed was considered a weakness. Therefore, Eglon
would not have expected an attack from his left hand. But God had raised up a
deliverer by using Ehud’s weakness to show the Lord’s strength.
Paul wrote about this paradox of strength through
weakness in his second letter to the Corinthian believers.
When you think about it, what Ehud did was pretty
remarkable. He acted decisively without anybody to back him up. He was
motivated because God had raised him up as Israel’s deliverer. And even though
being left handed was considered a liability, he turned it into an asset.
As you can see one person, even a “regular Joe”, can
make a difference.
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