A Strange Salvation
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
This Sunday we come to one of the strangest stories in the book of Judges. It has political intrigue, deception, violence… and even some potty humor (middle school boys will love this!). At the center of it all is Ehud, an unlikely and complicated man whom God raises up to deliver Israel from oppression.
Stories like this can be difficult for us to read. We may be tempted either to turn their characters into heroes we should imitate or to distance ourselves from them altogether. But Judges invites us to do neither. Instead, it tells the honest story of a God who remains faithful to his people and continues to work through deeply imperfect human beings. Again and again, God brings deliverance in surprising ways, even as each deliverer leaves us longing for something more.
As you prepare for worship this Sunday, read Judges 3:12–30 slowly. Pay attention to what surprises you, troubles you, or even makes you laugh. And consider: What does this strange story teach us about where true deliverance comes from? What kind of Deliverer do we ultimately need?
Questions for Reflection and Discussion:
What strikes you most about the story of Ehud? What surprises, troubles, confuses, or even makes you laugh? What do you think the storyteller wants us to notice?
Judges 3:15 says that when Israel cried out, “the LORD raised up for them a deliverer.” What does this story reveal about God’s faithfulness to people who have repeatedly been unfaithful to him?
Ehud is both God’s chosen instrument and a complicated, morally ambiguous person. How does that challenge the way we sometimes think about the people God uses? What is the difference between God using someone and God endorsing everything that person does?
Eglon appears powerful and secure, yet the story ultimately makes his power look almost ridiculous. What kinds of power, success, or security are we tempted to treat as ultimate today? How does faith in God's providence free us from being intimidated or captivated by them?
Ehud delivers Israel, and the land has peace for eighty years … but eventually the cycle begins again. What does the temporary nature of Ehud’s deliverance reveal about the deeper problem facing Israel, and the deeper problem within us?
How is Jesus both like and profoundly unlike Ehud? What does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection teach us about God’s surprising way of overcoming evil, and about the kind of people God is forming us to become?
Judges 3:12-30
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. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
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. Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.
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.” 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.
While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. 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.
“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. At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.