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Jdg_3:18-30
One of this body of left-handed Benjaminites was Ehud, the second judge of Israel. He seems to have been a man of consequence in his tribe before he rose to this distinction, for he was the person appointed on one occasion to command the party which bore the tributes of Israel to king Eglon, at the city of Palm-trees. It is well to note that this city of Palm-trees, with the whole plain of Jericho, was in the lot of Benjamin, and that tribe must therefore have been more particularly than the others, aggrieved by the Moabitish oppression. They paid tribute like the other tribes; but, beside, they had the immediate presence of the conquering power among them, reigning in part of their territory, and were therefore continually subject to the annoyances, insults, and special exactions which the presence of an occupying soldiery, and of a greedy and insolent court, never fails in the East to impose upon a conquered country. It is in the course of nature, therefore, that the Benjaminites should have been the first to move against this oppression, and that the deliverer should have been a chief man of this tribe. The animus of personal hatred, which was thus engendered, also helps to account for the unscrupulous measure which Ehud adopted in giving the first blow to the oppressor.
Having delivered his present in the way which we yesterday described, Ehud withdrew, and accompanied his men so far as the “quarries that were by Gilgal,” on the way homeward. There is, perhaps, some point intended in this mention of the “quarries.” The verb, from which the word so translated comes, means “to cut out,” or “to carve as a sculptor,” and hence some have supposed that it was a place of graven images, which the Moabites had set up in the sacred land; and connecting this with the fact that Gilgal had long been the place of the Hebrew encampment, when they first entered the land, and where the twelve memorial stones, taken out of the bed of the Jordan had been placed, it has been deduced that the Moabitish idols had been set up in a spot thus memorable, and in some degree hallowed, in studied contempt of the religion and worship of the Israelites. The more the reader considers the peculiar estimation in which, from historical and religious associations, this spot was regarded by the Israelites—and the more he studies the peculiar modes in which the ancient heathen expressed their triumph over a fallen foe, and over his gods, the more reason there may be to see some probability in this seemingly fanciful conclusion. Recollecting how the Philistines triumphed by sending the ark of the Lord to the temple of their Dagon, nothing can be more likely than that if the Moabites regarded the place as a sacred one of the Hebrews, and looked upon the stones as religions monuments of theirs, they would inflict upon their own insult of setting up their own idols in this very spot.
The ensuing actions of Ehud may therefore appear to have been stimulated, or his wavering purpose strengthened, by the view of this profanation. We at least know that, on arriving at this place, he turned again, and went immediately into the presence of the king. Having been there just before, on an errand so agreeable to the king and those about him, he would find easy access, on pretence of having some forgotten part of his mission to discharge. Such, indeed, was Ehud’s pretence. He had, he said, “a secret errand” to deliver. On this the king commanded his attendants to withdraw, and he remained alone with the avenger. Ehud appeared to be unarmed. It was probably a rule that no one, and especially no Israelite, should appear armed in the presence of the king; but this man had a long two-edged dagger girded upon his right thigh, under his raiment. Such weapons were usually worn of course upon the left thigh, to be drawn by the right hand; but Ehud being left-handed, was enabled to wear it for efficient use upon a part of his person where its presence would not be suspected. He was aware of the danger of giving an alarm; and his anxiety therefore was, as Josephus alleges, to find the opportunity of giving one fatal stroke, that the king might perish without cry or struggle. This could not be achieved while Eglon remained seated; therefore, drawing near at the same time, and to make him rise, he said, “I have a message from God unto thee.” On this the king, heathen as he was, rose to receive such a message with becoming respect, and that instant the dagger of Ehud was buried in his bowels. So terrible was the stroke, that the haft went in after the blade, and could not be withdrawn. Leaving it there, Ehud “went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them.”
It had previously been noticed, that the king was “sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone.” The term “summer parlor,” scarcely conveys the full sense of the original. The marginal reading, “parlor of cooling,” is nearer. Of the two words employed, one denotes that the room was an upper chamber, and the other, that it was constructed for the purpose of coolness—a provision that must have been very needful in the almost torrid climate of the plain of Jericho. The fact is interesting, merely as a point of antiquities—that measures were in this early age found for promoting coolness in certain parts of the house during the heats of summer. Taking into account the peculiarly warm climate of the plain of Jericho, we may conceive that the provision made was probably such as we find in the corresponding climates of the valley of the Nile and the plains of the Tigris and Euphrates. These methods were two-fold.
There is first, then, in most good houses, a chamber in the upper part of the house, often thrown considerably apart from the general mass of building in order to secure the principal object of its appropriation. This is, that at the end opposite the entrance, there shall be a large oriel or projecting window, occupying the entire end of the room, thrown forward and overlooking the most open situation that call be commanded, whether it be a street, a river, or a garden. The recess formed by the window is raised a foot or so above the general level of the room, and is fitted with cushions, where the master of the house reposes during the heat of the day, refreshed by the air which is admitted through the fine lattice work of wood, which is so close as to exclude the glaring light and heat, as well as to prevent the interior from being seen from without, while the person within can command a perfect view through the interstices. There can be no question about the antiquity of such arrangements, for such a window, thus latticed, is expressly mentioned in Jdg_5:28, where Sisera’s mother and her ladies are watching through the lattice for the return of his chariot. All the arrangements of this room are adapted to promote coolness, and to form a pleasant and refreshing retreat during the heat of the day. These sitting apartments are sometimes seen thrown quite across the street, joining the houses on either side, forming a pleasing variety to the architecture, particularly when seen, as they often are, half shaded by the leaves of the palm tree that overshadows them from the court within.
Another mode of promoting coolness in this and other rooms is by means of the mulquf, or wind conductor. This is a construction rising above the roof, and open to the wind, so that a constant stream of cool air passes down into the apartments below. In the region of the Tigris these constructions, always open to the prevailing winds of the locality, are substantially built with bricks covered with plaster, and present the appearance of low towers or chimneys; but in the region of the Nile they form a kind of shed or dome, consisting of a strong frame-work, to which several planks of wood are nailed, according to the height and breadth proposed; and if required of cheaper materials, the place of planks is supplied by reeds or mats, covered with stucco, and protected and supported by wooden rafters. That this arrangement is by no means of modern date, that it is, at least, as ancient as the time of Eglon, is shown by its being distinctly exhibited in the ancient tomb-paintings, wherein the early domestic arrangements of the Egyptians are exhibited. Indeed, the ancient inhabitants of Egypt seem to have had this arrangement in greater perfection than the modern, as their wind conductors, like those of Chaldea at the present time, were adapted to catch the wind from different directions, whereas those now in use are open only to the north-west.
The retiredness of these “cool parlors;” and the use to which they were appropriated, is shown by the fact that the servants of Eglon, although aware that Ehud had departed, and surprised at the time which had elapsed without their being called, did not venture to intrude upon their master’s privacy. They supposed that he was taking his afternoon’s sleep; but when at length the unusual lapse of time roused their alarm, and they opened the door with a key, on finding it locked, they found their master dead on the floor—long since dead—with the dagger of Ehud in his bowels. The consternation this deed inspired was not lessened, when they soon found Israel in arms. Ehud, escaping to the mountains, had blown the trumpet of revolt, crying, “Follow after me; for the Lord hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” Following him they hastened to seize the fords of the Jordan, so that when the Moabites awoke from the stupor which the loss of their king inspired, they found themselves hemmed in by eager enemies, without a leader, and the retreat to their own country cut off. Under these circumstances they seem to have been too much dispirited to make any vigorous stand; and they were slain by thousands—not one of them escaped—and Israel once more was free.
Such deeds as that of Ehud, when, as in his case, they have no other object than patriotism, have won the praise of men in the case of Brutus, and others. We cannot praise it, or sympathize with it, attended as it was by circumstances of barbarity and deceit. Some allowance may be made for the views different from ours, but into which human nature is still prone to relapse, of the obligations or rights of patriotic enthusiasm. But since space does not allow us to discuss the subject fully, we can only say that God has often in the history of the world, as in the case of Jehu, made the wrath and cruelty of man to praise him, and to accomplish his decreed purposes.