Jueces 3:26

26 Mientras los sirvientes esperaban, Aod escapó y pasó por los ídolos de piedra rumbo a Seirat.

Jueces 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.

Jueces 3:26 In-Context

24 Aod ya se había ido cuando los sirvientes del rey regresaron y encontraron cerradas las puertas de la habitación de la planta alta. Pensaron que tal vez el rey estaba usando la letrina dentro del cuarto,

25 así que esperaron. Pero al ver que el rey tardaba mucho en salir, se preocuparon y buscaron una llave. Cuando abrieron las puertas, encontraron a su amo muerto en el suelo.

26 Mientras los sirvientes esperaban, Aod escapó y pasó por los ídolos de piedra rumbo a Seirat.

27 Cuando llegó a la zona montañosa de Efraín, llamó a tomar las armas. Después encabezó un grupo de israelitas colina abajo.

28 «Síganme —les dijo—, porque el Señor
les ha dado la victoria sobre Moab, su enemigo». Así que los israelitas lo siguieron y tomaron control de los vados del río Jordán que cruzan hacia Moab, y no dejaron que nadie pasara.