Judges 3:18

18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent the people who carried the tribute on their way.

Judges 3:18 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:18

And when he had made an end to offer the present
Had delivered the several things contained in it, and very probably made a speech to the king in the name of the people of Israel from whom he brought it:

he sent away the people that bare the present;
not the servants of Eglon that introduced him, as if they assisted in bringing in the present to the king; for over them he could not have so much power as to dismiss them at pleasure; but the children of Israel that came along with him, and carried the present for him: these he dismissed, not in the presence of the king of Moab, but after he had taken his leave of him, and when he had gone on some way in his return home; and this he did for the greater secrecy of his design, and that he might when he had finished it the more easily escape alone, and be without any concern for or care of the safety of others.

Judges 3:18 In-Context

16 Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length; and he fastened it on his right thigh under his clothes.
17 Then he presented the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent the people who carried the tribute on their way.
19 But he himself turned back at the sculptured stones near Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." So the king said, "Silence!" and all his attendants went out from his presence.
20 Ehud came to him, while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and said, "I have a message from God for you." So he rose from his seat.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.