Let’s talk about Ehud, Israel’s first elite Assassin
Something interesting happened early on in the book of Judges.
This is the story of Ehud, the second guy listed in the book and Israel’s first elite assassin. This dude was pulling S.H.I.E.L.D level moves long before its agents even converged.
He was left-handed and was Judge of Israel right after Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother; cool family, that one.
One figure of speech you must start to appreciate as you advance from The Torah to such books as Joshua and Judges is hyperbole.
Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point or show emphasis. It is often employed as a literary device to emphasize and intensify meaning. It has a way of making images much more vivid in one’s imagination.
The biblical authors wanted to impress meaning through vivid imagery, seeing as much of the old testament was ancient lore that would be passed on through oral tradition from generation to generation. Think about it, if you were describing a war scene or a war story, how best would you impress the larger-than-life perspective needed to truly appreciate the scenes upon your listeners?
Exaggeration! Or hyperbole.
Expressions like “they razed them to the ground” and “they left none alive” helped the biblical listeners of old conceptualize the stories better and without them, the biblical stories would read very much like a very boring journal of common experiences. This is why despite some tribes being described as “razed to the ground,” further reading shows the same tribes enticing Israel into prostitution.
It was simply the manner which stories were told at the time.
What did the use of hyperbole have to do with Ehud, Israel’s first elite assassin?
Everything!
Let us take a look at the story.
Judges 3:15–22
‘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. Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man.
After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. 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.”
The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left. Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.”
As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. 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. ‘
When you consider that hyperbole was such a fixture in the language, you start to feel sorry for Eglon, the king of Moab whom Ehud killed.
They would not even let the king be assassinated in peace, his fatness just had to feature somehow.
I find that incredibly funny.
It is important to note that what was done to Eglon’s character could have been achieved with just about any exaggerated feature of his, and that fatness did not have a special place in history as inherently bad or good. The biblical authors were only trying to make the Eglon’s character as vivid as possible!
My favorite part of the story?
Ehud’s disappearing act!
After slaughtering the king, he locked the doors from inside and under the cover of a few stone images, he slipped away and blew the war trumpet in Ephraim. His Israelite brothers joined him and thus the Israelites secured victory over Moab and peace in their lands for another eighty years.
Appreciating the literary design of Old Testament stories helps us with proper contextualization. When we understand the smaller stories in context, the meaning of the overarching narrative becomes much more vivid.
I hope this helps whenever you read the books of the Old Testament.
Our next character is Samson. I had to do this entry on Ehud so that I could properly focus on studying Samson’s character, so that might take a while, or maybe not.
Who or what are you studying on? Share with me in the comments!
I hope that in the future, I get to share more of the things that stood out to me from studying my bible and getting to know my God. I invite you to this same community of God-knowers who have faith in and believe the testimony of the man Jesus Christ who was God in the flesh, who died for your sins and was resurrected for the justification of anyone who believes this good news; that it pleased God to punish Jesus for your sins and resurrect him as you, so that the urge to sin against God is no longer irresistible to anyone who believes.
If you need a bit more context, you can start from here
https://www.youtube.com/live/BoeaFTvC5HM?si=ghO8PL9ApPwbGSlG
Love and cheers.
