Ehud: The Most Interesting Judge You’ve Never Heard Of

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Updated May 19, 2022

One of the most exciting stories in the Bible has faded into obscurity. Likely due to some of its graphic content, we don’t see this one often taught in Sunday school or preached in a sermon on Sunday.

After the Israelites had entered the Promised Land, they succumbed to idols and the practices of the world around them, and the countries which bordered theirs. Because of this, God placed rulers known as judges in the land (hence why an entire book of the Bible bears the name Judges, to show the accounts of these people). One such judge was the left-handed man Ehud, who turned out to be rather good with a weapon in his hands.

In this article, we’ll dive into the nature of the rule of the judges, more about the man of Ehud, and why we should care about both subjects as Christians today.

Who Was Ehud?

Ehud only gets eighteen verses, but boy, does he make them count (Judges 3:12-30).

Scripture doesn’t give us many details about him, other than that he hails from the tribe of Benjamin. God appoints him as the second judge of Israel, after Israel does evil and ends up taken over by Eglon, the fat king of Moab. The Bible also mentions that Ehud is left-handed. This plays an important role in the story.

Although the Bible doesn’t tell us whether most people used their right hand, we don’t find any other mentions of someone preferring their left hand in the Bible. The Biblical Archaeology Society suggests the recessive trait of left handedness came specifically from the tribe of Benjamin. This, of course, would make sense then why Ehud has this trait.

But we can hazard a guess, based on what happens in the narrative, that not too many people in the ancient world used their left hands dominantly.

Let's take a look at the Bible story:

Judges 3:12-20: "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 rosefrom 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."

Why Did Israel Need Judges?

For those of us who have read past Judges in the Old Testament, we know that Israel eventually has kings rule over them. So why did God implement judges? Why didn’t he start with kings first?

First, God recognized Israel’s sinful nature. Without a proper ruler in place, they would have succumbed to anarchy like they had back when Moses had gone to retrieve the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32). This meant he needed to put someone with authority over Israel to guide them back to the path of righteousness.

Second, as Chuck Swindoll explains, whenever God puts a judge in place, Israel has gotten itself into a pickle and has ended up oppressed by one of their neighbors (Moabites, Philistines, etc.). The judge would overthrow whatever foreign ruler had taken over Israel and restore the nation.

In Scripture we often see judges, prophets, and others work in a cyclical nature. Once the judge disappeared, Israel’s restoration would end and they’d revert back to their sinful ways until another judge appeared on the scene to rescue them from whoever’s clutches the nation ended up in.

Third, God doesn’t jump to kingship right away for a reason. We get hints of why when Israel demands a king in 1 Samuel 8, and ends up with the less-than-perfect King Saul. Every other nation had a king. Israel wanted to jump in on the fad.

But kings who didn’t follow after God’s own heart had tyrannical tendencies, and God makes this clear. As we witness in the Old Testament narrative, the kings of Israel end up causing far more damage than any other ruler could. They split the kingdom, fight wars constantly, and end up getting themselves taken into a seventy-year captivity in Assyria and Babylon.

Nevertheless, God recognized the need for Israel to have a ruler to guide them back to the right way of living. Enter the judges.

What Happens in the Story of Ehud?

Ehud straps an eighteen-inch sword to his right side (where a left-handed person would grab a sword) and goes to the king of Moab, Eglon, to deliver a “secret message” and present tribute.

After guards likely checked his left side (where right-handed people would grab a sword) for weapons, he strides confidently into the palace with a weapon hidden underneath his clothing.

Once he convinces the king to get them secluded in the private upper room of the palace to hear the secret message, he stabs King Eglon with the sword. King Eglon is so large that his fat absorbs the hilt, and he dies.

Unfortunately for Eglon, he chose the inner room, which was synonymous with a restroom. So while Ehud makes his daring escape, after locking the doors to the room, the servants awkwardly wait outside for the king to finish relieving himself.

After some time of determining the king has spent far too long in the bathroom, they unlock the doors to check on the king … only to find he had died.

The Israelites take back their city and strike down tens of thousands of Moabites, thanks to Ehud.

What Can We Learn from Ehud?

This seems like a strange story to glean a life lesson from, other than don’t lock yourself in the bathroom with an assassin. But we can actually learn a great deal from this left-handed judge.

First, God can use abilities and traits others might see as inferior or out of the norm. Although today we’d argue that being left-handed is not an inferior trait, most of history did not hold the same view.

Nevertheless, because Ehud preferred his left hand, the guards who checked him didn’t even think to look for a weapon on the side where he hid it. Because of this, he successfully carried out the assassination of the king.

Second, we learn that sin has consequences. Every time Israel fell prey to foreign worship practices, they ended up oppressed by a foreign power. In the case of Ehud’s story, they wound up under the rule of the Moabites.

Still, God heard their cries and sent salvation in the form of a left-handed judge.

Finally, we can actually learn a lesson from Eglon too: be careful about pride and confidence. Eglon dropped his guard and let Ehud into his inner room upstairs to hear a “secret message,” from a stranger he’d never encountered before. This led to his downfall and a rather gory death.

A great ruler has humility and exercises discernment. This we can learn as a warning from the large king of Moab.

Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.