Shofetim 3:26

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the pesilim, and escaped unto Seirah.

Shofetim 3:26 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:26

And Ehud escaped while they tarried
While the servants of the king of Moab tarried waiting for the opening of the doors of the parlour, this gave him time enough to make his escape, so as to be out of the reach of pursuers; or else the sense is, that even when they had opened the doors, and found the king dead, while they were in confusion at it, not knowing what to ascribe it to, the dagger being enclosed in the wound, and perhaps but little blood, if any, issued out, being closed up with fat, and so had no suspicion of his being killed by Ehud; but rather supposing it to be an accidental fall from his seat, and might call in the physicians to examine him, and use their skill, if there were any hopes of recovery; all which prolonged time, and facilitated the escape of Ehud:

and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirath;
he got beyond the quarries, which were by Gilgal, which shows that it could not be at Jericho where the king of Moab was, as Josephus thinks, but either in his own country beyond Jordan, though no mention is made of Ehud's crossing Jordan, or however some place nearer the fords of Jordan; since Gilgal, from whence he returned, and whither he came again after he had killed the king of Moab, lay on that side of Jericho which was towards Jordan; and this Seirath he escaped to was in or near the mountain of Ephraim, as appears from ( Judges 3:27 ) :, but of it we have no account elsewhere; but it is thought by some learned men ^F12 to be the place where Seth's pillars stood, and they to be the engravings here spoken of, which we translate "quarries": the words of Josephus ^F13 are, that the posterity of Seth, who very much studied astronomy, having heard that Adam foretold the destruction of the universe at one time by fire, and at another by water, erected two pillars, one of stone, and the other of brick, on which they inscribed their inventions (in astronomy), that they might be preserved, and which remain to this day in the land of Siriad; but this account of Josephus seems to be taken from a fabulous relation of Manetho, the Egyptian, and is abundantly confuted by Dr. Stillingfleet ^F14. Jarchi interprets this of Seirath, a thick wood or forest, the trees of which grew as thick as the hair on a man's head, and so a proper place to escape to, and hide in: it may be it was the woody part of the mount Ephraim, see ( Joshua 17:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Marsham. Chronicon, p. 39. Vossius de 70 Interpret. p. 271.
F13 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 3.
F14 Origines Sacrae, l. 1. c. 2.

Shofetim 3:26 In-Context

24 When he was gone out, his avadim came; and when they saw that, hinei, the daletot of the aliyyah were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet [i.e. relieves himself] in the chedar hamekerah (inner cool room).

25 And they tarried till bosh (embarrassed); and, hinei, he opened not the daletot of the aliyyah; therefore they took a mafte’ach (key), and unlocked them; and, hinei, their adon was fallen on the floor dead.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the pesilim, and escaped unto Seirah.

27 And it came to pass, when he arrived, that he blew a shofar in the har Ephrayim, and the Bnei Yisroel went down with him from the har, and he before them.

28 And he said unto them, Follow after me; for Hashem hath delivered your enemies Moav into your yad. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Yarden toward Moav, and allowed not an ish to pass over.