How Effective Was Ehud In Freeing God’s People?!?!
[By Phillip Chatot]

Throughout the Bible, we read about God using all kinds of people to accomplish His will and achieve victory in the battles against the enemies of the Hebrews. One particular person is Ehud. And we read about him in Judges 3:12-30. One of the key themes about the Book of Judges is that the Israelites were always in a cycle of repeated rebellion against God. The Israelites drifted away from God and worshiped idols and NOT GOD. Because of their rebellion they were enslaved and oppressed by Moab.  The Moabites were led by their king, King Eglon, who is described as a very fat man. The Moabites oppressed the Israelites for eight years.

After a long time, Israel cried out to God for help and repented of their sins. God heard the cries of the people and sent a deliver to them.  Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. Some would say a physical handicap? This was important because most of the soldiers were right-handed and kept their knives on their left sides making it easy to draw their weapons out with the right hand.                                                                                                               

Ehud and a small group came to King Eglon with a tribute of money and food for the king. Ehud later returned to the king alone and asked to speak with the king in private, claiming he wanted to deliver a message from God. King Eglon was curious and unafraid of Ehud because he was searched beforehand by his guards and was unarmed. When King Eglon’s servants left the room, Ehud quickly withdrew his hidden knife and stabbed it into the king’s stomach. King Eglon was a very fat man and the blade sank all the way into the king and disappeared. Ehud then locked the doors from the inside and escaped out though the porch.

Then Ehud led the Israelites and defeated the Moabites, killing 10,000 mighty men of valor and not one Moabite man escaped. “So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years” (Judges 3:30, NKJV).

What we learn from Ehud’s story is that God hears the cries of his people and is able to rescue them in times of need. Ehud’s story also shows us that God doesn’t discriminate when choosing a deliverer of his people; Ehud was left-handed, a trait that was considered a disability by some, yet God used him to free His people.