It is easy in life to get in your head what something should be like or look like to such an extent that if it comes to you in a different form you miss it. This is no doubt the case with many who wind up marrying someone they have been friends with for years, looking here and there to find that person coming from some far away place (I, in my own experience, had to go to Scotland to have someone point out to me that I should be pursuing Lili). But pre-formed expectations can often leave you blind to a clear reality in your mind.

I think that many of us may be in danger of having that kind of thing happen in this text. When asked about the Bible we rightly think of God’s salvation and picture it in terms of his love and sacrifice to make us his own, and (again) that is a right thought. However, what has happened in many occasions is that we get such a singular picture of what salvation looks like that we are tempted to look at a book like Judges with stories like the one we will look at this morning and think they do not belong. After all, what does a left-handed warrior killing an overweight king have to do with the reality that God loves his people and sent his Son to die for them? And how does the act that the Israelites slaughter a group of people work with the call of Christ to love our neighbors foremost by sharing the gospel with them?

The answer is that this story and the events therein have much to do with those central realities in Scripture. Yet my fear is that our expectations of what form God’s love and salvation should take are such that we miss the clear and beautiful picture that is in our text this morning. Therefore, this morning I want us to understand this story as it happened, but then I want us to see what truths this story points us to so that we might honor Christ in our lives.

This story is admittedly a bit hard to stomach at times and would probably receive an R-rating were it made into a movie. It begins in much the same way that the text from last week did. Verse 12 says, “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Whereas last week we saw a bit of explanation on how exactly Israel was sinning, this week it’s as if the author just wants to move right on and get to another aspect of the story. However, fitting the paradigm we saw last week, the Lord hands the people over into the hands of an enemy ruler, and they serve him for eighteen years. Then the people cried and the Lord and verse 15 says, “And the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.”

And it is this event of deliverance that makes up the rest of the verses in this section. It’s as if the author takes this story and lifts up, pulls out, and highlights this aspect of the cycle that we will see repeated again and again. And it’s quite a humorous and disgusting picture.

Our main character is Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, which is humorous in itself since Benjamin means “son of my right hand” and Ehud is left-handed. But the rest of the story far eclipses this detail in its humor, excitement, and, well, disgust. Ehud strategizes quite well how to deliver the Israelites from oppression. His ultimate goal is to destroy the entire army, but he understands that in order to do this he must first dispose of their leader. Therefore, he crafts for himself a special dagger that is short enough to hide on his thigh and double-edge so that it could simply be driven into someone. So, he puts the sword on his thigh and goes with a group to present a tribute to the king. After the tribute is paid and they are leaving, Ehud dismisses his colleagues, allowing them to go on without him so that he can return to face the king alone. As he arrives he is probably searched for any weapons on him. However, even in biblical times most people were right handed, so they probably just looked for a weapon on his left leg, and seeing none there allowed him to encounter the king. The king’s name was Eglon, which is similar to the word for bull, cow, or calf, and the author mentions that he is quite fat. Therefore, you get a picture of one who is like a fattened calf ready for the slaughter, and that is quite an accurate picture. For Ehud is intending to kill him.

As Ehud sees the king, he tells him that he has a secret message for the king. The king, then, anxious to hear dismisses all his bodyguards and leaves himself alone with Ehud. Ehud then approaches the king and tells him that the message is from God. Quite possibly he even whispers it because the king who had been sitting now stands and possibly even draws himself close to Ehud. Therefore, Ehud reaches with his left hand, grabs the sword from his right thigh, and jabs the sword into his belly. And because the king is so fat Ehud’s sword (handle and all) are completely enclosed in the fat, so Ehud lets it go. After all, there is no need to take the time to search for one’s weapon in the fat of a dead king when you need to escape from possible pursuers. Then, as the king dies, his bowels relax and empty themselves right there. This is actually quite a break for Ehud.

For now Ehud must form his escape. Thus, he first locks the door from the inside which serves to do two things. First, it buys him time, for the soldiers would first have to get a key before they could open the door. And, second, it gives the appearance that the king is seeking out a private moment. Thus, as the men approach, find the doors locked and the bad smell, they assume the king is relieving himself. In fact, they wait so long before opening the door that Ehud has plenty of time to escape.

As Ehud, then, returns to the people he sounds the trumpet and calls out, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand (v. 28). Then the section ends, “So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years” (vv. 28-30).

This story would have been to Israel, so it seems a two-fold reminder. First, it would have been a reminder of God’s faithfulness, deliverance, and triumph. They would have read this story and smiled in remembering how God had delivered them. And they would have been right, for it is clear as verse 15 says, “The Lord raised up for them a deliverer.”

However, second, it would have been a reminder of personal tragedy. For, verse 31 reminds them that this was something the Lord continually did, delivering them, and chapter 4 begins with a reminder that they continually did evil and sought after other gods.

But what is our use for this story? Is there any? Is this a story that we should admit is disgusting, makes us uncomfortable, and is okay to dismiss so that we can focus on the real needful and important truths communicated in the Bible? The answer is absolutely not! And, the only reason we might even consider that this text could possibly to be dismissed is because we misunderstand the deliverance the Lord has brought us through Jesus Christ and what our redemption has meant.

For ever since Adam sinned we live in a world where death reigns. When Paul writes that “death reigned” from Adam he was not simply being poetic. He did not simply want to say that death existed but then said to himself, “Well, how can I make that sound better than just saying it ‘existed’? Oh, I got it, I could say that it reigned.” No, he’s not careless with his words here. He’s making a specific point. Since sin, death has reigned; it has ruled. We live in a world where sin holds us captive, Satan is called the ruler and god of the age, and death is said to reign. There is an enemy which holds us captive – a threefold enemy: Satan, sin, and death. And if we are going to be delivered from sin, Satan, and death the evil king must be slain.

This is seen throughout the Old Testament. In Isaiah 27, as we read of Jacob taking root and the whole world being filled with fruit so that God’s people come to worship him in Jerusalem, it begins with the words, “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.” In fact, when Mary hears that she is going to have the Christ child and recites a song, she does not say, “Oh, how sweet is this!? God’s given me a baby who will be divine. What a precious little child. Oh God is so sweet.” No, she says, “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones” (Luke 1:51-52). This is a song of war. This is what redemption meant to them. Redemption was rightly thought of as deliverance. The enemy needed to be slaughtered. Sin, Satan, and death needed to be destroyed, the enemy needed to be crushed.

This is what Jesus did through his death, burial, and resurrection. As much as it was a kind act of love, it was a loving act of war. Our redemption is wrapped up in the slaughter of that which poses itself as an enemy to God and his purposes. His enemy is Satan, sin, and death. Yet they are dealt a fatal blow through the death and resurrection. Again, this is why Hebrews 2:14 reads, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.”

And we live in a world where we are reminded daily that death is the authority, that death reigns. Jesus raises from the dead, triumphing over it, and declares to his followers, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This is a statement of victory. This is a statement of an assault. The great commission is possibly pictured no more perfectly then in this scene where Ehud returns to tell the Israelites that the fatal blow to the enemy leader has been dealt, victory belongs to God’s people, and calls them forth in a war where victory is guaranteed.

That is the scene of Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus has triumphed over death in a world ruled by death and where we are held captive by death, and he has called the troops to war. The enemy is Satan, sin, and death, and the sword we wield is not a physical sword but the sword of the Spirit, the Word of our Lord. And we are to go forth, to proclaim in a world held captive by death, that the power of the age to come is invading this age of death. We are to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, that “God is now acting among men to deliver them from the bondage to Satan”,¹ sin, and death. And Christ has proclaimed that the gates of hell will not prevail. Death will ultimately be overcome.

Just as Ehud, after defeating the king, led the Israelites to defeat the army, so Christ having crushed Satan says to his people through Paul in Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” And one day even death itself will be defeated. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:22-26, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Our king has defeated the enemy who holds us captive and has called us to engage in warfare. And, he leads us into warfare against Satan, sin, and death as we proclaim his word and watch Satan, sin, and death’s captives delivered by Christ's life-giving power. Therefore, let us go forth.

This week one of our dear friends died. His name was Gary Buchanan. I told his son at the visitation the other night that I thought Gary might have been the kindest man I have ever had the privilege of knowing. From there we talked about how Gary was absent from the body that lay there in the casket but that he was present with the Lord. We talked about how his fight with cancer was now over so that he had to fight no more. But as I walked away I thought, “We still see the reign of sin and death. We still live in a day when we see death reigning.” For because of the reign of sin and death, this family had to watch this man deteriorate over the past year. They had to watch cancer eat away at his mind and eventually take his life. This wife will have to live the rest of her life without her husband and his children without their father. And I hate that. But I also reminded myself that death will be conquered. For even as right now we are going to war with the sword of the Spirit, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom that brings life to those captured in the reign of death, so one day death will know its ultimate end. It will be thrown into the lake of fire. For the King who has all authority and true reign over all things will return and speak, and his mere word will cause our dead bodies to rise to life that we might live with him and never die. That is our victory. And until then, let us proclaim that gospel truth. Let us go forth in war, armed with the Word of God against the enemy of Satan, sin, and death, knowing that victory is ours, that the gates of hell will not prevail in this war, and that God will bring life to many so as to demonstrate in this age his power over death in the age to come. Lord, open many doors and many hearts as we go forth – Onward Christian soldiers! Amen.

¹ G.E.Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 47.

DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY - DELIVERANCE OF GOD'S PEOPLE