God Works Through the Humble

Introduction

For this sermon I had to do something I rarely do. I disagreed with my sermon and had to throw out much of what I did. Now for some these moments would be frightening, but I find a bit a comfort in them. The story that we are covering today, the story of Ehud is one that I deeply loved since I was a kid. I thought it was funny, ironic, and had action. I also wanted to be like Ehud. So my original sermon was this:

There was one movie we all saw that was really heavy at parts, and we all cried, and we all left the theatre happy. This movie was about a new family. They had a nice home in a nice community. They were so excited about what the future held. Then one day the wife was murdered. All that was left of this family was the dad and the child. The dad was not equipped to take care of the child, but he did everything he could. Then one day the child was kidnapped. So the dad did everything he could to track down his child. He did things nobody ever thought he could, went lengths nobody even thought possible, and one day he finally found his child. It was a true underdog movie.

The movie was Finding Nemo. That was one of the few movies everyone liked. We like it when the least likely character becomes the hero. When I think of some of my favourite books and movies they are like that. Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits save the day. Or Harry Potter lived in the cupboard underneath the stairs on number 4 privot drive. Or Taran in the Prydain Chronicles was just a pig farmer. Or in the movie Miracle when the American Olympic hockey team beat the Russian hockey team. Just kidding, I don’t think I have seen that movie.

The story of Ehud in the book of Judges is one of those stories. God uses an underdog to save His people. I am not going to cover every single Judge in the book of Judges, so I encourage you to read along. We did skip the first Judge, Othniel. Think of a Judge as a ruler, and whenever a judge ruled there was peace.

-I am not going to cover every single Judge in the book of Judges, so I encourage you to read along. We did skip the first Judge, Othniel.

Ehud comes from humble origins, and like any true underdog story, Ehud is the most likely savior of the day and God works through him to bring salvation to Israel. In the same way, when we are humble and rely on God, God will do the same thing.

-Think of a Judge as a ruler, and whenever a judge ruled there was peace.

But as I studied and reflected on this text for the sermon, Ehud isn’t that great. It is still a marvelous story, and God still does amazing things through Ehud, but Ehud is not the person that we follow. There is only one truly humble person that relied on God in all things, and that is Christ.

There are some judges where it doesn’t surprise you that they are Judges, and then there are some Judges where it is a complete surprise. Ehud is one of those surprise Judges. He is the least likely Judge to save the day. Similar to Nemo’s dad, he is the least equipped to cross the ocean to find his son, but he does. Ehud is the least equipped to fight a massive army and to free the people of Israel from the Moabite rulers.

I want to change the title of my sermon, that “God works through the humble, which is Christ.” Our favourite earthly heroes can never hold a candle to Christ. Today is Reformation Sunday, so as a result Martin Luther is often brought up. For good reason, he started the German Reformation which influenced all of these other reformations in other countries. Luther translated the Bible into German for the first time so your average person can read it, and solidified the German language. And he brought about great social and theological reforms. Luther is a good friend, and I was always in love with his works. But I remember the first time I read his anti-semitic comments. He said things like Jews are the number one public enemy. I was so deflated that a hero of mine could be so horrible. Or another Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli who was incredibly violent and died in a fight. Or John Calvin who had major issues with anger. Or much later on, my hero Karl Barth had major issues with boundaries.

-Ehud is one of those surprise Judges.

But here’s the thing, Ehud is not really the best example to follow. Even though he is an underdog from humble origins, he still makes major mistakes, sins in major ways, and relies on his own strength more than God’s strength. Even so, God still worked through Ehud, even if he was frail.

I think that is one thing we need to get used to. Even our favourite earthly heroes have major sins. Sins that let us down. Growing up in the States, we had to learn a lot about the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was someone we all venerated, and for good reason. He has humble origins, and was given the greatest task of bring a divided country together. For the longest time, I thought he was near perfect. Then one day I heard a story of Lincoln that almost destroyed me. One day a group of black American leaders had a meeting with Lincoln. It was near the end of the civil war, and Lincoln was thinking about the ways to reconstruct the country after the way ended. One idea that he thought of was to give black people a chance to leave the States and to go back to Africa. When the black leaders heard this idea, they responded that they were born here, this is the only country they have known, this was their home. And Lincoln responded that the problem was that he did not really like them.

There are people in which we admire and love, but they are fallen humans. The way we admire people from the past and in Scripture is the way they reflect Christ, and how God is still gracious in ways in which they do not reflect Christ. That was a reminder this week. As we learn about Ehud, we are looking for the ways in which Ehud does reflect Christ, and the ways God still works through Ehud even in his fallenness, and how Christ is the truly humble person that brings salvation to us all.

First time I heard that story, I was deflated.

Evil in the Sight of the Lord

The New International Version Chapter 3

12 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and because they did this evil the LORD gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. 13 Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. u 14 The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

-The cycle begins again. They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

-As a result, the Lord strengthened the king of Moab and they defeated Israel.

-They took possession of Jericho (This is the city of Palms)

-People served Eglon for 18 years, and they cried out to the Lord.

-The difficulties of this concept of God strengthening the enemy and causing pain and violence, but also the comfort.

Help?

The New International Version Chapter 3

15 Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

-God answers to the cries of His people. This is not the first time that the Lord has listened to the cries of the people. This happened in Egypt. God always hears the cries of his people. I do find it interesting that it took so long for the people to cry out to God.

-As a result of cries for help, God sent a deliverer, but this deliverer is not the person we expect.

-He was from the tribe of Benjamin, other tribes were more powerful and well-known then Benjamin.

-Left-handed. This is an interesting detail. Every scholar wishes more information was given. Was this person just left-handed? Or was their right hand injured? Or was there a disability so that Ehud was unable to use the right hand? I am going to go with one of the latter two, I will give reasons for that later on.

-Ehud took a tribute to Eglon. We do not know how often a tribute had to be sent, but this common practice. This tribute was probably food. Especially since they were a bunch of farmers. And for another reason of which I will state later on.

The Plan

The New International Version Chapter 3

16 Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. 18 After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it.

-Ehud made a sword, both edges are sharp. It was about 14 inches in length, had a handle, but probably no cross hilt.

-Ehud made a sword, both edges are sharp. It was about 14 inches in length, had a handle, but probably no cross hilt.

-He bound it to his inner right thigh. Reason for this detail. Warriors were mostly right handed, thus if they were sneaking in a sword it would be on their left thigh. I am guessing that Ehud probably guessed he wouldn’t be searched for weapons, and if he was, they wouldn’t check the right thigh.

-He brought the tribute to Eglon, who was very fat. The reason for this detail, Eglon lead the army to defeat Israel to begin with, but because of the tributes of food for 18 years, he just consumed the work of the people Israel.

-Remember idolatry is a main theme of the book. When we serve idols, they just take and take, Eglon is representing this.

-After the tribute is presented, the people who brought the tribute leave

The New International Version Chapter 3

19 But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

-Ehud makes it to a landmark in Gilgal, some sort of stone monument, then he turned around.

The New International Version Chapter 3

The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left.

-He told the king he has a secret message for him, the king tells everyone to leave. He does not suspect Ehud to do anything because he is handicapped.

The New International Version Chapter 3

20 Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace d and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. 23 Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.” 25 They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

-message from God? We need to be careful with this.

-Because of the smell, it gave Ehud the time he needed to leave before others found out.

The New International Version Chapter 3

26 While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 27 When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

28 “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the LORD has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. 29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. 30 That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

-The people of Israel probably would not have followed him if he did not do this act first.

-They struck down the Moabites.

-They had rest and peace for a very long time.

The Reflection of Christ

-The human way of thinking- evil power, limited resources to take it out, so if someone is able to deceive everyone and assassinate an unarmed and unprepared leader, sounds great. But that is human wisdom and ingenuity.

-Did Christ do that? Christ did not deceive anyone, because he was truth incarnate.

English Standard Version Chapter 23

35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Christ brought defeat through humbly being defeated. It was complete utter trust in God. It was always telling the truth. It was being gracious and truthful to the end. Even when the weight of the crucifixion was on his shoulders, he offered forgiveness.

Timothy Keller said,

“All of the Judges from Ehud onward point us to Christ. Unlike them, he did not use deception (Ehud), need assistance (Deborah/Barak, or display selfish ambition (Gideon)…or sexual weakness (Samson). In fact, he was every way flawless....Jesus was an outsider, someone the world could not believe was either God’s chosen ruler or his rescuer. Jesus is still more of an unlikely and inside-out deliverer. He delivered his people not through great triumph, but through crushing defeat. In these historical narratives, then, God is showing the world that his salvation will not come in a hollywood way at all. It will come from an outsider born in a manger....”

I am in the middle of my yearly re-reading of the Lord of the Rings. Through the entire book you see Frodo as a hero, but he fails.

One of the greatest lessons we can learn in life that we are not the heros, Christ is. Wasn’t that the core of the Reformation? We bring nothing to the table, but God provides it all.