Judges 3:22

22 and drove in also the haft after the blade, and the fat closed in upon the blade, for he drew not out the dagger from his belly.

Judges 3:22 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:22

And the haft went in, after the blade
The handle of the dagger, as well as the blade; so strong and violent was the thrust, he determining to do his business effectually;

and the fat closed upon the blade;
being an excessive fat man, the wound made by the dagger closed up at once upon it, through the fat:

so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly;
being not able to take hold of the haft or handle, that having slipped in through the fat after the blade, so that he was obliged to leave it in him:

and the dirt came out;
the margin of our Bibles is, "it came out at the fundament"; that is, the dagger did, the thrust being so strong and vehement; but that is not so likely, the dagger being so short, and Eglon a very fat man. The Targum is,

``his food went out;''

which was in his bowels; but as the wound was closed up through fat, and the dagger stuck fast in it, it could not come out that way: rather therefore this is to he understood of his excrements, and of their coming out at the usual place, it being common for persons that die a violent death, and indeed others, to purge upon it; some, as Kimchi observes, interpret it of the place where the guards were, the guard room, through which Ehud went out, but that is expressed in another word in ( Judges 3:23 ) ; the Syriac and Arabic versions read, "he went out in haste", that is, Ehud.

Judges 3:22 In-Context

20 And Aod went in to him; and he sat in his own upper summer chamber quite alone; and Aod said, I have a message from God to thee, O king: and Eglom rose up from his throne near him.

21 And it came to pass as he arose, that Aod stretched forth his left hand, and took the dagger off his right thigh, and plunged it into his belly;

22 and drove in also the haft after the blade, and the fat closed in upon the blade, for he drew not out the dagger from his belly.

23 And Aod went out to the porch, and passed out by the appointed , and shut the doors of the chamber upon him, and locked .

24 And he went out: and Eglom's servants came, and saw, and behold, the doors of the upper chamber locked; and they said, Does he not uncover his feet in the summer-chamber?