Judges 3:12

Deceit, Assassination, and Deliverance

3:12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

Judges 3:15

3:15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ³  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ⁴  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ⁵ 

Judges 3:28

3:28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!” ⁶  They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River ⁷  opposite Moab, ⁸  and did not let anyone cross.

Judges 11:17

11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us ⁹  to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. ¹⁰  Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. ¹¹  So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord” (also later in this verse).

² tn Heb “strengthened Eglon…against Israel.”

³ tn Heb “the Lord.” This has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.

⁵ tn Heb “The Israelites sent by his hand an offering to Eglon, king of Moab.”

⁵ tn Heb “for the Lord has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” The verb form (a Hebrew perfect, indicating completed action from the standpoint of the speaker) emphasizes the certainty of the event. Though it had not yet taken place, the Lord speaks of it as a “done deal.”

⁶ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for clarity.

⁷ tn Or “against Moab,” that is, so as to prevent the Moabites from crossing.

⁷ tn Heb “me.” (Collective Israel is the speaker.)

⁸ tn Heb “did not listen.”

⁹ tn Heb “Also to the king of Moab he sent, but he was unwilling.”