A Left-Handed Gospel
Introduction: The Tyranny of the Obvious
The book of Judges is a book of cycles, a brutal merry-go-round of sin. The pattern is stamped onto every story: Israel does evil, God raises up an oppressor to discipline them, Israel cries out in their misery, and God, in His scandalous grace, raises up a deliverer. Then the land has rest until the people, fat and forgetful, do evil again. This is not just the history of ancient Israel; it is the biography of every Christian heart. We are prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love. And when we do, we find ourselves paying tribute to some petty tyrant, some bloated Eglon of a sin.
Our modern sensibilities are often offended by a story like this. It is bloody, visceral, and contains a political assassination, complete with scatological details. We want our Bible stories to be neat, tidy, and suitable for felt boards. But God is not neat and tidy. Redemption is a messy business because sin is a messy business. This story is a divine comedy, a piece of inspired political satire that is as profound as it is earthy. God is not above laughing at His enemies. He who sits in the heavens laughs, and He invites us to laugh with Him at the downfall of a proud, corpulent tyrant who thought himself a god.
The world looks for deliverance in the obvious places, in strength, in charisma, in the polished resume of the right-handed man. But God's ways are not our ways. He consistently chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chooses the foolish things to shame the wise. In this particular instance of His eternal pattern, He chooses a left-handed man from the tribe of the "son of the right hand" to deliver a message of divine judgment right into the gut of His enemy. This is not just a story about Moabite oppression; it is a picture of the gospel itself, a left-handed gospel for a world that expects something else entirely.
The Text
Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. So the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by his hand to Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. Then he brought the tribute near to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And it happened when he had finished bringing the tribute near, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. But he himself turned back from the graven images which were at Gilgal and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." And he said, "Keep silence." And all who stood by him left him. But Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And he arose from his seat. Then Ehud sent forth his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over theblade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out. Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. Now he went out, and his servants came in and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, "He is surely relieving himself in the cool room." Then they waited until they were ashamed; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead. Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the graven images and escaped to Seirah. And it happened when he had 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, and he was in front of them. Then he said to them, "Pursue them, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands." So they went down after him and captured the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross. And they struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years.
(Judges 3:12-30 LSB)
The Sovereignty of the Rod (vv. 12-14)
We begin with the dreary and predictable reality of sin.
"Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel..." (Judges 3:12)
The word "again" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Sin is not creative. It is a tedious, repetitive cycle of rebellion. And notice the immediate consequence. God does not sit idly by. He acts. But how does He act? He "strengthened Eglon." This is the doctrine of divine providence in its raw form. God is not the author of sin, but He is the sovereign ruler over it. Eglon is not some rogue agent who caught God by surprise. He is a rod in the hand of Yahweh, a tool of discipline for a wayward people. If you belong to God, He will not let you get away with your sin. He will love you enough to chasten you, and sometimes He uses a pagan king to do it.
Eglon, whose name means something like "little calf," gathers his pagan allies and takes "the city of the palm trees," which is Jericho. This is a profound spiritual statement. Jericho was the first great victory of the conquest, a city that fell not by military might but by faith and obedience. For Israel to lose Jericho is for them to see their spiritual inheritance reversed. Sin always takes you backward. It hands the keys to your greatest victories back to the enemy.
God's Oddball Deliverer (vv. 15-20)
After eighteen years of servitude, the people finally cry out. Their cry is one of pain, not necessarily deep repentance, but God in His mercy hears them.
"Then the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man." (Judges 3:15 LSB)
God's answer is a man, and a very peculiar man at that. He is from the tribe of Benjamin, which means "son of my right hand." But Ehud is a left-handed man. This is a divine irony, a walking contradiction. The Hebrew can also be translated "a man restricted in his right hand." Whether he was a natural southpaw or had a disability, the point is the same. He was not the conventional hero. He was God's unconventional choice. God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Ehud's supposed disadvantage will become his greatest strategic asset.
Ehud crafts a short, two-edged sword and straps it to his right thigh, hidden under his cloak. Any competent guard would frisk a man's left thigh, the natural place for a right-handed man to carry a weapon. But nobody would think to check the right thigh of a man who leads with his left. He is using the world's prejudice and assumptions against them.
He goes to deliver Israel's tribute, a sign of their submission. He presents himself as a loyal subject. But after the formal business is done, he sends his attendants away and turns back from the "graven images which were at Gilgal." Gilgal was a holy place for Israel, a place of covenant memorial. It was now defiled by idols. Ehud's mission of political deliverance begins with a rejection of religious compromise. He is not just killing a king; he is striking a blow against the idolatry that led to the oppression in the first place.
He approaches the king with cunning words: "I have a secret message for you, O king." And then, more pointedly, "I have a message from God for you." The proud and indolent king, intrigued, dismisses his guards. Out of a feigned piety, "he arose from his seat" to honor a word from "God." He literally stands to receive his own death sentence. Pride always positions a man for a fall.
A Message Delivered (vv. 21-25)
What follows is one of the most graphic scenes in all of Scripture.
"Then Ehud sent forth his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade... and the refuse came out." (Judges 3:21-22 LSB)
This is not sanitized violence. It is gritty and grotesque. The text emphasizes that Eglon was a "very fat man." His own decadent flesh, the physical manifestation of his gluttony and oppressive reign, becomes his shroud. It swallows the sword, handle and all. The judgment is total. The humiliation is absolute, as the tyrant dies in his own filth on his private toilet. This is what the holy God of Israel thinks of arrogant, pagan pride. He turns their glory into a stinking mess.
Ehud's cleverness continues. He locks the doors from the inside and escapes. The servants arrive and, seeing the locked doors, make a delicate assumption: "He is surely relieving himself." Their courtly etiquette, their unwillingness to disturb the king's privacy, becomes the instrument of their own undoing and Ehud's escape. They wait "until they were ashamed," a wonderful Hebrew idiom for waiting an embarrassingly long time. While they dither in politeness, God's deliverer is making his getaway. God uses the foolish protocols of the wicked to bring about their ruin.
Victory and Rest (vv. 26-30)
Ehud does not rest in his personal victory. He uses it as a catalyst to rally God's people.
"And it happened when he had arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim... 'Pursue them, for Yahweh has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.'" (Judges 3:27-28 LSB)
A leader must lead. Ehud blows the shofar, the call to arms. And notice his theology. He does not say, "Follow me, for I have killed the king!" He says, "Yahweh has given your enemies into your hands." He gives all the glory to God. His act of faith was the prelude, the down payment, on the victory God was giving to the whole nation. True faith is never merely private; it calls others to join in the work of God.
They seize the fords of the Jordan, a masterful military tactic that cuts off the Moabite army from their homeland. They are trapped. Ten thousand Moabites, described as "robust and valiant men," are struck down. The fat king's strongmen are no match for a delivered people led by a deliverer sent from God.
The result is decisive: "So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was quiet for eighty years." This is the longest period of peace recorded in the book of Judges. Decisive, faithful, and courageous action, undertaken in God's name, brings lasting rest.
The Gospel in the Gut
This is a fantastic story, but it is more than that. It is a picture, a type, of a greater deliverance. We too were in bondage to a bloated tyrant. Our enemy, the devil, is a fat king, gorged on the tribute of our sin and rebellion. Sin itself is an Eglon, promising pleasure but delivering only slavery and filth. And death is the ultimate oppressor.
Into this oppression, God did not send a conventional hero. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate left-handed deliverer. He came from the royal tribe, but in the most unexpected way, born in a stable, a carpenter from a backwater town. His strength was hidden in weakness. His glory was veiled in humility. The world, expecting a right-handed warrior, did not recognize Him.
Jesus came with a "secret message from God," the gospel. To the proud, it was a stumbling block. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And on the cross, He took the sharp, two-edged sword of God's judgment into His own body. The cross was a bloody, messy, humiliating affair. He plunged into the very belly of the beast, into death itself, and defeated our enemy from the inside out. He endured the filth of our sin and the shame of the curse to secure our deliverance.
And having won the victory, He has ascended and blown the trumpet of the gospel throughout the world. He calls us, His people, to rise up. He does not say, "Fight for your victory." He says, "Fight from my victory." He says, "Yahweh has given your enemies into your hands." The decisive battle has been won. Our task is to mop up. Our task is to seize the fords, to cut off the retreat of sin in our lives, our families, and our communities.
The victory Ehud won brought eighty years of rest. The victory Christ won secures an eternal rest, a Sabbath peace for the people of God that will one day fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea. So take up the message from God. Do not be ashamed of its grit or its blood. It is a left-handed gospel for a right-handed world, and it is the only message that can kill the tyrant and set the captives free.