“But when the people of Israel cried out to Adonai, Adonai raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, from the tribe of Binyamin, a left-handed man. The people of Israel appointed him to take their tribute to ‘Eglon the king of Mo’av.”-Judges 3:15
So the generation that Othniel ruled ended – lasting a good 40 years.
But Israel fell into sin once again causing the Lord to respond by sending Eglon the king of Moab to oppress them.
That’s right, the Lord was strengthening Israel’s enemies against her here.
And thus begins the 2nd cycle of the Judges.
At this time, the kingdom of Moab was allied with Ammon and Amalek.
If you recall, these are two other nations that had a long history of persecuting Israel.
Divinely emboldened by the God of Israel , we’re told Eglon went on to attack the city of Date-Palms.
There’s a bit of debate as to the exact location of this city.
Some scholars will insist this area is Jericho while others will say it was located farther downwards (to the south).
Either way, we do know this place played an important strategic role for Israel from both a military and economic perspective.
God gave Eglon divine power to conquer all the Hebrews living in this area for a good 18 years until Israel couldn’t take it any longer.
Israel cried out for help and the Lord responded by choosing a new Judge to rescue them named Ehud.
Ehud hailed from the tribe of Benjamin.
This tells us that out of all the tribes, it was the Benjaminites who bore the brunt of the persecution from Eglon.
And by the way, this is also evidence that all this chaos taking place was happening in the southern tip of the tribal territories.
Now let’s talk a little bit about this Ehud dude who we’re told was the son of Gera (meaning he came from the clan of Gera, not a literal biological son).
What’s interesting is the Scripture goes out of its way to tell us Ehud was a left-handed man.
Apparently, that appeared to be a rather common characteristic among the members of the Tribe of Benjamin.
However, what’s even more interesting is that the original Hebrew doesn’t say Ehud was a left-handed guy.
Instead it says his right hand was “bound up”.
This is fascinating because in the Scriptures, the right side is always considered to be the strongest and best side.
You’ll also notice it’s the right hand that’s always used to perform a blessing over others.
And a king’s royal staff was always carried in his right hand.
So ingrained was this notion the right side was better than the left that a left-handed person was considered handicapped.
That’s right.
A left-handed person was pitied by others.
Which leads us to an awesome take-away here.
The Lord choosing a left-handed person to do His Will was Him demonstrating that He can use even the least of us to accomplish His purposes.
That’s why the Scripture goes out of its way to mention Ehud was left-handed in the first place.
And the irony doesn’t there.
Because do you know what Benyamin (it ain’t Benjamin in Hebrew, the letter J doesn’t exist in Hebrew) actually means in Hebrew?
Prepare for your mind to be blown here.
Literally, it means “Son of my Right Hand”.
And later on, we’re gonna see this so-called left-handed “disability” work in Ehud’s favor.
Man, I just love how the Lord operates.
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