Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · Judges Chapter 3

But when the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, He set them free through the Benjaminite Ehud, whom He raised up as their deliverer. Ehud was “the son of Gera.” This probably means that he was a descendant of Gera, since Gera himself, according to 1 Chronicles 8:3, was a son of Bela the son of Benjamin, and therefore was a grandson of Benjamin; and Shimei the contemporary of David, a man belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, is also called a son of Gera in 2 Samuel 16:5; 2 Samuel 19:17. At the same time, it is possible that the name Gera does not refer to the same person in these different passages, but that the name was repeated again and again in the same family. “ A man shut with regard to his right hand, ” i.e., hindered in the use of his right hand, not necessarily crippled, but in all probability disabled through want of use from his youth upwards. That the expression does not mean crippled, is confirmed by the fact that it is used again in connection with the 700 brave slingers in the army of the Benjaminites in Judges 20:16, and it certainly cannot be supposed that they were all actual cripples. So much is certain, however, that it does not mean ἀμφοτεροδέξιος , qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur (lxx, Vulg.), since אטר signifies clausit (shut) in Psalms 69:16. It is merely with reference to what follows that this peculiarity is so distinctly mentioned. - The Israelites sent a present by him to king Eglon. בידו does not mean in, but through, his hand, i.e., through his intervention, for others were actually employed to carry the present (Judges 3:18), so that Ehud merely superintended the matter. Minchah, a gift or present, is no doubt a euphemism for tribute, as in 2 Samuel 8:2, 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Kings 5:1.

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Ehud availed himself of the opportunity to approach the king of the Moabites and put him to death, and thus to shake off the yoke of the Moabites from his nation. To this end he provided himself with a sword, which had two edges ( פּיות from פּה , like שׂיו , Deuteronomy 22:1, from שׂה ), a cubit long ( גּמר , ἁπ. λεγ. , signified primarily a staff, here a cubit, according to the Syriac and Arabic; not “a span,” σπιθαμή , lxx), and “ did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.”

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Provided with this weapon, he brought the present to king Eglon, who - as is also mentioned as a preparation for what follows - was a very fat man.

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As soon as the deed was accomplished, Ehud went out into the porch or front hall, shut the door of the room behind him ( בּעדו , not behind himself, but literally round him, i.e., Eglon; cf. Genesis 7:16; 2 Kings 4:4) and bolted it (this is only added as a more precise explanation of the previous verb).

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Thus they smote at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all fat and powerful men, i.e., the whole army of the enemy in Jericho and on this side of the Jordan, not letting a man escape. The expression “at that time” seems to imply that they did not destroy this number in one single engagement, but during the whole course of the war.

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Thus Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for eighty years.

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