Judges 3:15

But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... After being long oppressed, and groaning under their burdens, and brought to a sense of their sins, and humiliation for them, they asked

But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

A Benjamite, Heb. the son of Gemini, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, 19:17 . This tribe was next to him and doubtless most afflicted by him; and hence God raiseth a deliverer. Left-handed; which is here noted, partly as a mark of his courage, and strength, and activity; see ; and principally as a considerable circumstance in the following story, whereby he might more advantageously and unsuspectedly give the deadly blow.

Judges 3:15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.Ver. 15. A Benjamite, a man left-handed.] Scaeva fuit, and no less valiant than that Roman Scaeva, a soldier of Caesar’ s, who at the siege of Dyrrachium so long alone resisted Pompey’ s army till he had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in his shield, “ Densam portans in pectore sylvam." ” - Lucan. And no less famous in his way was Mr William Perkins, lame of his right hand, as Ehud, but yet so as that with a left-handed pen he stabbed the Eglon of Rome to the heart. Of him one writeth thus: - “ Dextera quantumvis fuerit tibi manca, docendi Pollebas mira dexteritate tamen. ”

(15) Ehud the son of Gera.—In Genesis 46:21 Gera is a son of Benjamin; in 1 Chronicles 8:3 he is a son of Bela, son of Benjamin. The name Gera was hereditary in the tribe of Benjamin (see 2 Samuel 19:18; 1 Chronicles 8:1-7), and the Jews so constantly omit steps in their genealogies that we can never be sure that “son” means more than “descendant.” Ehud seems to be another form of Abihud (1 Chronicles 8:1-8). St. Jerome explains it to mean “one who praises “or “is praised.” Josephus calls him a young man, and even “a youth” (neaniskos).A Benjamite.—“Ben-ha-jemξnξ,” as in Psalms 7:1. The word is generally written undivided, so that here the LXX., Vulgate, and Luther have “son of Jemini.” No doubt the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee rightly understood it to mean a Benjamite, but still there seems to be an intentional play on words, for “Ben-ha-jemξnξ” may also mean “a son of the right hand, who,” as the writer adds, “was helpless with his right hand” (Ben-ha-jemξnξ eesh ittκr jad-jemξnξ).Lefthanded—Marg., “Shut of his right hand.” Luther also renders it “links” but the LXX. and the Vulgate take it to mean “ambidextrous,” i.e., able to use his left hand as well as his right (LXX., amphoterodexion; Vulg., qui utrague manu pro dexterβ utebatur). Josephus says that he was “best skilled in using his left hand, in which was his whole strength” (Antt. v. 4, § 2). This rendering is merely an inference, from the fact that in Judges 20:15-16 (comp. 1 Chronicles 12:2) there are “700 chosen men left-handed.” (See the Note on that verse.) The Hebrew ittκr, however, is correctly rendered “shut” in the margin of our version (comp. Psalms 69:16, “lest the pit shut her mouth upon me “), and cannot possibly mean “ambidextrous.” No doubt Ehud, like other Benjamites, might have been trained to use the sling with the left hand, but it does not follow that he may not have had some accident which maimed the right hand; and if so it would avert all suspicion from him in his dreadful purpose. Ehud in that case was a Hebrew Sc�vola. Stobζus mentions some African tribes which, like the Benjamites, were “left-hand fighters” (aristeromachoi), and for the same cause an Egyptian tribe was known as the Euonymitae. The Greek Laius has the same meaning. By him.—Either because he was the chief of one of their houses (1 Chronicles 8:6), or perhaps because he had intimated to them his design. The narrative in Judges 20 falls chronologically in the days of Phinehas and, therefore, Ehud’s act occurred at a still earlier period after the conquest; for Ehud would hardly have been chosen for this honourable function after the terrible degradation and decimation of the tribe of Benjamin. Possibly Eglon’s invasion occurred soon after Joshua’s death. Sent a present.—The Hebrew word is minchah, here euphemistically used for “tribute,” as it is elsewhere.

Verse 15. Ehud the son of Gera - a man left handed] איש אטר יד ימינו ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use his left. The Septuagint render it ανδρααμφοτεροδεξιον, an ambidexter, a man who could use both hands alike. The Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur, a man who could use either hand as a right hand, or to whom right and left were equally ready. This is not the sense of the original, but it is the sense in which most interpreters understand it. It is well known that to be an ambidexter was in high repute among the ancients: Hector boasts of it: - Αυταρεγωνενοιδαμαχαςτ,ανδροκτασιαςτε· Οιδ' επιδεξια, οιδ' επ' αριστερανωμησαιβων Αζαλεην, τομοιεστιταλαυρινονπολεμιζειν. Iliad, lib. vii., ver. 237. "But am in arms well practiced; many a Greek Hath bled by me, and I can shift my shield From right to left; reserving to the last Force that suffices for severest toil." COWPER. Asteropaeus is also represented by Homer as an ambidexter, from which he derives great advantages in fight: - Ὡςφατ' απειλησας·ὁδ' ανεσχετοδιοςΑχιλλευς Πηλιαδαμελιην·ὁδ' ὁμαρτηδουρασιναμφις ἩρωςΑστεροπαιος, επειπεριδεξιοςηε. Iliad, lib. xxi., ver. 161. "So threatened he. Then raised Achilles high The Pelian ash: - and his two spears at once Alike, (a practised warrior,) with both hands Asteropaeus hurled." We are informed by Aristotle, that Plato recommended to all soldiers to acquire by study and exercise an equal facility of losing both hands. Speaking of Plato, he says: Καιτηνεντοιςπολεμικοισασκεσιν, ὁπωςαμφιδεξιοιγινωνταικατατηνμελετην, ὡςδεονμητηνμενχρησιμονειναιταινχεροιν, τηνδεαχρηστον. - De Repub., lib. ii., cap. 12. "He (Plato) also made a law concerning their warlike exercises, that they should acquire a habit of using both hands alike; as it is not fit that one of the hands should be useful and the other useless." In Judges 20:16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was אטר יד ימינו itter yad yemino, lame of his right hand, and yet slinging stones to a hair's breadth without missing: these are generally thought to be ambidexters. Sent a present unto Eglon] This is generally understood to be the tribute money which the king of Moab had imposed on the Israelites.

15. Ehud the son of Gera] Both names occur in the Benjamite genealogies, Genesis 46:21, 1 Chronicles 7:10; 1 Chronicles 8:3; 1 Chronicles 8:5; 1 Chronicles 8:7; it has been suggested that both belonged to clans and not to individuals. Gera was certainly a clan, 2 Samuel 16:5 (‘Shimei ben Gera’); but the Chronicler may have adopted (1 Chronicles 7:10) the name of Ehud merely from here, or the clan Ehud may have taken its name from the hero of this story. With the mention of Ehud the ancient narrative probably begins. a man lefthanded] lit. restricted as to his right hand, the word only again in Judges 20:16. This peculiarity has a bearing upon what follows: being left-handed he naturally fastened his sword on the right side instead of the left, and thus was able to conceal a weapon without rousing suspicion. a present] An euphemism for tribute (2 Samuel 8:2; 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Kings 4:21 etc.), which was paid in kind, and therefore had to be ‘carried1[29].’ [29] The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II (860–825 b.c.) in the Brit. Mus., Nimroud Central Saloon, No. 98, contains a sculptured relief of Israelites carrying tribute in the time of Jehu: an illustration of the obelisk is given in the Brit. Mus. Guide to Bab. and Assyr. Antiquities, Plate ii.

But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer - The very same words as are used at Judges 3:9. See, too, Judges 2:16, Judges 2:18, and Nehemiah 9:27.

15. Cried unto the Lord — History repeats itself, because like causes produce like effects. A second oppression calls forth a second cry.Left-handed — Heb, lamed (margin, shut) in the right hand.