The Left-Handed Saviour

What’s With a Left-Handed Savior?

Judges 3:12-30

Mother’s Day - Moms learn to love their children, no matter how differently they are wired - and moms definitely recognize the difference between their little boys and little girls …

What are little boys made of - as the children’s rhyme puts it?

“Snips and snails and puppy-dog’s tails … that’s what little boys are made of.”

“Sugar and spice and everything nice … that’s what little girls are made of.”

Our passage this morning takes us to a story that the boys will find entertaining, while the girls may find it distasteful - gross even. It’s the kind of story that boys would watch if it was in Hollywood movie form … but it’s not a story that you would ever see on the Hallmark Channel.

Let me tell you right up front, we are going to be reading and talking about some things that are anything but sugar and spice and everything nice … much more along the lines of snips and snails. But as we get ready to go through this story, let me tell you right now, I’m not going to apologize for it. Boys you can go ahead and laugh - at the appropriate places. Others can go ahead and be disgusted .... but don’t stop there. Don’t stop there.

You may hear me read this and find this passage to be less than spiritually nourishing. Man, this passage isn’t even civilized! “What is this story even doing in the Bible?! Can’t we just jump to the New Testament and talk about Jesus?”

This is a test for some of you. If you believe that ALL of Scripture is God-breathed - and useful for training in righteousness - then that includes Judges 3. And if you expect anyone to believe you when you say you believe this is GOD’S Word - from cover to cover … then you better be prepared to tell them how the story of Ehud and Eglon can feed the soul. You better know how to take THIS story and use it to point people to Jesus Christ.

And do you know what? I love this story. I love it on so many levels. The intrigue, the drama, the humor … but most of all, I love it because it points us to the Savior and is one more reminder of the uniqueness of Christianity - that God rescues us, not when we manage to clean ourselves up for church on Sunday … it means that God is there, from Monday to Sunday ... working salvation and rescue for us in all of the messiness and filth of life - HERE, in the real world that we live in. This text points us to Christ. And we’ll get there. But right now, let’s start at the beginning of this story.

1 THE CYCLE OF DISOBEDIENCE CONTINUES, 12-15a

The moment your eyes run across the words of verse 12 and - if you have been reading the book of Judges, so far - you say, “Oh no, here we go again.”

The cycle repeated over and over again - that dominates this book, always begins here: “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD ...”.

We already have figured out that, when God’s people do evil in the sight of the LORD … things do not turn out well. If abandoning God is the first step in the cycle, do you remember step 2?

Step 2 is DISCIPLINE ...

This is a loving Father, who disciplines His wayward children.

In the first cycle, last week, when the Israelites turn their back on the LORD - “FORGET Him” … Their God, who is Sovereign over the universe, brings Cushan-Rishathaim - the ‘Doubly Wicked’, king of Mesopotamia, brings him hundreds and hundreds of miles - to be God’s ‘Rod of Discipline.’

This time, He stays local and brings the Moabites, who are Israel’s next door neighbours.

God brings Eglon, the king of Moab, who recruits the Ammonites and the Amalekites (other regular thorns in Israel’s side), gets them on board and takes possession of the City of Palms (That is Jericho. The walls may be crumbled, but there’s a city there. The very first city in the Promised Land that God gave to His people - now He’s given it to a foreigner)

And not only do God’s people lose Jericho, but now this chosen people serve Eglon for EIGHTEEN YEARS.

Eighteen years ago was 2002 - Some of you were barely alive then … think of all that’s happened in your life in 18 years - and imagine all of that time spent under the boot of a foreign power - demanding you hand over the fruit of your hard work - - - or else.

This is the land of Promise - flowing with milk and honey -a gift FROM the God of Heaven, for His people Israel - this was supposed to be a place of blessing and peace and abundance … but every year, after the sweat of planting, and tending to and harvesting the crop, a tribute has to be taken to Moab and presented to King Eglon.

You remember how the cycle in Judges goes - - After Abandonment and Discipline, the THIRD step is … THE CRY: the People Cry out. The suffering builds and builds and builds and the people go on serving and serving their cruel taskmasters until they can bear it no longer - - and then they cry out.

And the fourth step in the cycle is God’s Deliverance. Oh, the compassion and love that God has for His people.

Verse 15, “… the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite ...”

What happens when the people have suffered under God’s discipline for a time? The pain of their suffering takes them to the breaking point and … they cry out. And when they finally get there - - The LORD responds with compassion - - He raises up a deliverer. This time it is a man named Ehud.

Ehud is a surprising choice - - Notice the one thing that we are told about him: v. 15, “(he is) a left-handed man.”

Now, to all you left-handed people out there, on behalf of all of us who were born right-handed, let me just say right now, ‘sorry’. Left-handers get a raw deal. There are social justice warriors that fight for almost every other visible minority - - so how do we get away with treating lefties so poorly. I remember my Grandma telling me that when she was a girl in school - back in the one-room school house, if anyone tried writing with their left hand - as she did, because she was left-handed - the teacher would come along with a ruler and whack them over the knuckles. After all, we can’t let children grow up with THAT handicap.

I was putting on my hockey gear for the 500th time once, when I noticed on my elbow pads - the word ‘Gauche’ - - and on the right one, it said, ‘Droit’ - when someone is agile, we say that the person is ‘adroit’, but when someone is ‘gauche’ - we mean that they are awkward, unsightly. Apparently, in French anyways, we also mean that the person is left-handed.

And you know the word sinister. You know what that word means - evil, with dark intentions. Well, you may not know this - that sinister is also Latin for the left hand. Someone with skill and ability is dexterous – right handed in Latin.

In Ehud’s day, being left handed was considered a defect. Actually,verse 15 in the Hebrew doesn’t say, ‘left-handed’. Literally translated, it says Ehud was ‘hindered in his right hand.’ That’s your sword-carrying hand. So, this guy has a handicapped fighting hand and HE is going to rescue Israel?! Whoever heard of such a deliverer?

2. THE DELIVERANCE DESCRIBED vv. 15b-29

The beginning of the rescue story does not look much like deliverance at all. Let’s pick up v. 15 halfway through: “The people of Israel sent tribute by (Ehud) to Eglon the king of Moab.

What kind of rescue is this? The first thing Ehud does in leadership is to lead a party of Israelites who have gathered up the hard earned fruit of their toil - the labor and sweat of the nation for a whole year of farming . . . and hand it over to Eglon. So what we have here, is the deliverer sent to rescue God’s people taking the tribute to the foreign tyrant. This sounds more like appeasement than rescue. Ehud is nothing more than a courier carrying the grain to the man whose very presence in Jericho is a reminder that this people is NOT free.

In fact, the people of Israel at this point, probably have no idea that Ehud is their deliverer. I mean, he’s left-handed - he can’t even wield a sword properly. That could actually be the reason that Ehud is leading the delivery to the Moabites - this left-handed man would be seen as no threat.

But Ehud sees an opportunity.

Verse 16 tells us that he makes a sword - not the regular sized sword with a curved blade, that you strap to the outside of your clothes and dangles at your side, down past your knee … this is a straight, double edged sword, smaller - 18 inches - more like a dagger. Then, Ehud takes the finished product and straps it to his right thigh, UNDERNEATH his clothes. File that away in your memory bank for a minute because the next thing Ehud does is to go tothe Moabite king.

Now, if Ehud’s description is a little surprising for us – how much more surprising is the way the Bible describes Eglon – v. 17, “Eglon King of Moab, was a big guy - - more specifically – Eglon was a VERY . . . FAT man.” (Can you picture Jabba the Hut right now? Maybe not quite that fat, but you get the idea. More about that later).

The members of the team from Israel lay their offerings down at the feet of this foreign monster. Then they turn for home.

So, where is the deliverance? Still nothing.

At the idols of Gilgal – Ehud turns back, while the rest of the men and donkeys continue on towards home. Now he is all alone in hostile territory - - - And this is where things get interesting:

Verse 19 - back to King Eglon he goes: “I have a SECRET message for you, O King.”

That’s important -

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That’s important – The Hebrew word that our Bibles translate ‘message’ here, is rbd - and it means ‘word’ or ‘message’ OR – but it also means ‘thing’. Ehud is really telling the truth – “I have a secret ‘dabar’ for you”. The King thinks ‘a secret message! O boy – everybody loves a secret message.’ Ehud means “I have a secret ‘thing’ for you”. What he doesn’t say is – “It’s a double-edged sword strapped to my thigh”.

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Now, throughout this story, Eglon and his men don’t show themselves to be men with a whole lot of smarts. Ehud is Eglon’s enemy – a man whose people Eglon is crushing. He comes to the king claiming to have a secret message – and Eglon is not a little suspicious?!

Eglon is excited to hear the message: “Silence!” he shouts. He wants to hear – and obligingly– the servants walk right out of the room.

Now the king sits alone – in the cool comfort of his summer room, on the roof of his palace. Ehud approaches – he speaks again: “I have a ‘message’ - - there’s the word ‘dabar’ again: “I have a THING from God for you.” “A message from God – Now Eglon is so excited that the heavy man of Moab struggles to lift his portly frame from his chair and stand up.

Now with the king alone and vulnerable – Ehud seizes the moment by seizing the hidden weapon with his left hand – and with one swift, sweeping motion, draws out the sword and thrusts it into Eglon’s more than ample belly. He drives the blade so far in that the whole thing: blade AND handle, all gets buried into the corpulent king. The fat closes in over top.

The last part of v. 22 is a Hebrew word that occurs only here in the OT. The NIV translates it: came out of his back – referring to the sword. To be honest, I think the translators are trying to be polite – The ESV has it better here, when it says “and the dung came out.” Most other versions translated in some similar way – ‘dirt, entrails, bowels’ pointing to the effect the sword had on the king’s body. The sword punctures Eglon’s belly, explodes his sphincter muscle and the contents of his bowel spill all over the floor. You can imagine the nasty smell that permeates the room.

This is not nice stuff – so it isn’t surprising that some people try to spiritualize it - - “This must be metaphor: ‘Ehud stabbed Eglon with the sword of the LORD’ - - HE stabbed the king with a Bible.”

I’m sure Eglon wishes that were the case. But no, Eglon got Ehud’s point (If you know what I mean).

With the servants still outside the room – Ehud locks the doors of the room from the inside, climbs out down the latrine hole, down to the street below ... and makes a run for home.

Meanwhile, the king’s servants are waiting. Time passes – “How long does it take to share a secret message?” the servants ask. They approach the doors to the king’s room, but they are locked. And as soon as they catch a whiff of the smell emanating from inside the room - - one pipes up – “He must be relieving himself” - - The others immediately nod. And so they wait - - and wait - - and wait. You can picture the glances going back and forth, the snickering they try to stifle. The servants wait and wait and wait some more - until the point of embarrassment. Do you see what is happening here? Every moment longer that the servants wait - - is more time Ehud has to escape.

Finally, they say, “This is ridiculous - NOBODY takes this long - doesn’t matter how big you are.” One of the bodyguards takes out the keys, opens the door and their mouths drop at the sight - there is their king Eglon, lying on the floor, in his own filth. DEAD. O, how the mighty have fallen.

Verse 26 tells us that the delay in time has allowed Ehud to get all the way back to Seirah, summon the men of Israel with a trumpet blast and promise the LORD’s deliverance.

v. 27, at the end, “. . . and he was their leader.”

Verse 28, “And he said to them, ‘Follow after me, for the LORD has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand’.”

Ehud has just planned and carried out a massively daring plan - almost a suicide mission. Think of all the different details that had to fall into place precisely at the right time, or the plan would have fallen apart and Ehud would have been a dead man.

When he comes back to the palace after starting his journey home, the security detail has to let Ehud in and give him another audience with the king. Then the king has to be interested in Ehud’s ‘secret’. The bodyguards need to be dismissed and he needs to be given a private audience with the king. And, after the deed was done - Ehud would have to buy enough time to escape, before the guards found out and came after him.

This is almost a suicide mission. So, in verse 28, when he says, ‘… The LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand ...” (and did you notice he says that before they’ve even begun to battle Eglon’s soldiers?) .... Ehud can have such confidence that the battle will be successful - because the LORD has already shown that He is working out deliverance for His people.

The left-handed Ehud, leads the people of the LORD into battle. The men of Israel come down with him, he gets them past the Moabites to the Jordan River, which is the border between Israel and Moab. They cut off the fords of the Jordan, which is the only escape route back to Moab .... verse 28, “(they) … seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. .... (29 And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites.”

… “not a single man escaped.” God has raised up a deliver who has rescued His people after 18 years of suffering.

3. THE DELIVERANCE ACCOMPLISHED, v. 30

The passage ends with a reminder that this is God’s rescue: “And the land had rest for eighty years”. God has answered the cry of His people and not just for one, but for 2 generations the land will know the rest God intended for it in the first place. He wants you to know rest, Christian.

Some of you may have been thoroughly disgusted by this story. Is this nothing more than adolescent potty-humor - punctuated by some gratuitous violence?! Isn’t this more Hollywood than Holy God stuff?

So, what is this story doing in Holy Scripture? And making fun at an overweight king? I want to make sure that you understand why this story is here and why it is important. An important clue comes in the description of Eglon – as a very fat man. It is much more than a statement about his appetite.

In v. 13, Eglon takes the City of Palms and for 18 years, the Israelites serve HIM and the rest of Moab. Service to him means that the Israelites are forced to bring him ‘tribute’. It’s not an accident that this tribute is not gold or silver or diamonds .... it’s grain. The Hebrew word that’s translated ‘tribute’ here, occurs 98 times in Leviticus and Numbers and it always refers not just to grain, but to a ‘grain offering’ - intended to be offered in worship to the One, True God. But here is Israel, the People of God … and they are taking the grain offerings that belong to God … and delivering them to the King of Moab. The name ‘Eglon’ means ‘Little Calf’ … and this calf is not only NOT little anymore - but he’s become very fat from the back-breaking servitude of the Israelites. Don’t miss the symbolism here - how theologically fitting that it is this king’s very fat, illegitimately gained, that swallows up the sword and holds it in - making sure he dies.

And it’s not just Eglon that is fat – v. 29 tells us that Israel’s men kill 10,000 Moabites – our English translations say they are “strong, able bodied men”, and they are strong, but the Hebrew word being translated ‘able-bodied’ here, is the SAME word describing Eglon – which can mean ‘able-bodied’, but it can also mean ‘fat’. The narrator is using this word on purpose, for its double-meaning. These are strong and ‘able-bodied’ soldiers - but they’ve also made themselves illegitimately FAT - because they’ve spent too much time bellying up to the buffet table that is filled with the suffering of God’s people.

So what? God rescues His people from painful slavery in Egypt and brings them to the land He had promised them – a land of freedom and bounty – This is a great land. Why God even shows his power to conquer for his people when He makes the walls of the city of Jericho tumble to the ground. But now what has happened? The people choose to abandon God – follow the Baal’s – the gods of money and sex and power. God disciplines . The city of Jericho itself has been lost and the people of Israel are suffering in slavery again – INSIDE THE PROMISED LAND!

… While Eglon is getting fatter and fatter from the sweat of the Israelites back-breaking labor – while the Israelites are starving in their own land. Do you see what that means for us? Do you see how this is a picture, not just of ancient Israel … but also a picture of your life and mine?

The story of Eglon is history – yes! But, it is also a picture of what sin does! Last week we looked at how seductive sin is - - It comes in beautiful wrapping and says, “No, no, no - - Don’t give up your God. Keep Him for those times of need - - but here – during the day to day grind of life you need to take care of yourself – Just offer a little something to the Baal’s (the gods of money and sex and power). Today’s passage reminds us that sin promises to help us find freedom and fulfillment in life - - but it always, always, always turns out to be an Eglon - - A cruel and greedy dictator that gets fat off of our suffering and toil.

In fact the Bible often personalizes sin. Romans 6 – 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, 2 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? And sin is never satisfied – always wants more v. 19 you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to what? … to more lawlessness …

A couple of weeks ago, a stranger came to the door of the church. He looked a quite rough, but harmless, so I asked him how I could help him. He had a water bottle in his hand and he just wanted it filled up. Well, that’s no problem at all. So I took his bottle to the kitchen, filled it for him, gave it back and he was very appreciative. I didn’t think another thing about it. But when I was ready to leave the office for the day, I noticed a car parked in the very back corner of the parking lot - so, when I was ready to leave, I went back there to take a look … and there, hunched over in his seat, was the guy with the water bottle - He was passed out with not one, but two needles in his lap had not one but two needles in his lap and he was passed out. He came to, pretty quick, and immediately started his car … he didn’t want to be engaged in conversation. He needs the Lord, but he wasn’t interested in talking. I said, “You can’t drive” … and he said, “I’m fine … I’ve got to go”.

No time to think - - Eglon is calling for more tribute and they are desperate to find the next high.

There is nothing, NOTHING more painful for a parent than to watch a child wander down the pathway of destruction - running to find freedom and independence and digging deeper and deeper into misery as they serve the gods of this world with chains around ankles rattling as they they spend themselves in the service of a greedy slave-driver. What Eglon are you serving? If loving and delighting in Jesus Christ is not the most important thing in your life … then you are bowing down to an Eglon.

The Bible tells us, when we come to the end of our lives, sin pays us our wages for a lifetime of service. For the wages of sin is death.

So what will we do? How can we be free - - All have sinned, Romans tells us – so how can we be free?

We cry out to be delivered – to be rescued –

We cry out for deliverance – only to find that God has ALREADY raised up the One, deliverer powerful enough to rescue us from sin. God says to Eglon, and to sin - - “You will not rule my people forever! I will let you get away with your fatness at my peoples’ expense for so long - - But the day is coming when I will show you to be the fool you are.”

That is what God has declared about every person and force that arrogantly sets itself up against God and His People.

And so God raises up Jesus - - Son of God and Son of Man. But people take one look at him, just as we would at Ehud and say: “What kind of Savior is that?” Left-handed Ehud can’t even shake your hand properly.”

Jesus is a Jewish peasant, stripped naked and pounded to a Roman cross? God the Sovereign - All powerful King of the universe … As Isaiah prophecied about him (Isaiah 53): “4 Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed.

Ehud points us to the greater deliverer, Jesus Christ - - the ultimate, all sufficient, one-handed Savior .. and the question for you is, “Have you been healed by His finished work?”

In his book, “Jesus Among Secular Gods”, Ravi Zacharias shares a Transcript from a Mother’s Day video, posted on YouTube a few years back. The video is of two daughters who alternate holding up index cards in order to tell the story of their mother’s love:

I’m Chloe, And I’m Annie

We want to tell you a story about our mom. Our mom and dad got married in 1991.

In 1992, I (Chloe) was born, A few years later, in 1994, I (Annie) was born.

We lived in a happy home with lots of love and laughter,

And a mom who loved us more than the world.

But there was an accident in 1999 that changed everything.

We were on vacation with my grandparents,

And we were going to rent a log cabin.

It was beautiful and overlooked a huge cliff.

We were so excited!

At the time, I was seven. I was five, And our brother was three.

When we pulled into the driveway of the house,

My parents and grandparents got out of the car to sign paperwork in the doorway.

My sister, brother and I stayed in the car and watched from the window.

Even though my mom had her keys with her, the car somehow knocked out of gear,

And started rolling ...

Toward the cliff.

As soon as my mom saw what was happening, She did the unthinkable.

She ran in front of the SUV, determined to stop it.

We remember the look on her face right before she went under, and we remember feeling the bump as we ran over her body.

That bump saved our lives.

It slowed the car down just enough for my grandpa to run up beside it

And pull the emergency break, RIGHT BEFORE we went over the cliff.

The weight of the SUV on my mother’s body should have killed her,

But by some miracle of miracles, It didn’t.

But it did break her back.

She is paralyzed from the waist down,

And she will never walk again.

But she says she wouldn’t change it for the world because her three kids are alive and with her.

She hasn’t let her wheelchair stop her from anything.

She has been at every piano recital, every tennis tournament, And it is the voice at the end of the phone when I’m away at college.

She is our rock. And our best friend.

She is the most amazing mother in the world.

She taught us from a young age that when people stare at us because of her wheelchair,

We should hold our head up high … and JUST STARE BACK.

That is what she has done with life.

Life gave her a tough hand of cards, But she arranged them into something beautiful.

Yes, she SAVED our lives in the accident in 1999, But she SAVES them over and over again, each and every day.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. We love you more than words"

“A mother … in a wheelchair?!”

“A left-handed deliverer?!”

“A Crucified Savior?!”

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.