Ehud

E′hud, of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the ’Judges’ of Israel, or rather of that part of Israel which he delivered from the dominion of the Moabites by the assassination of their king Eglon. These were the tribes beyond the Jordan, and the southern tribes on this side the river. Ehud obtained access to Eglon as the bearer of tribute from the subjugated tribes, and being left-handed, or rather ambidextrous, he was enabled to use with a sure and fatal aim a dagger concealed under a part of his dress, where it was unsuspected, because it would there have been useless to a person employing his right hand. The Israelites continued to enjoy for eighty years the independence obtained through this deed of Ehud (Jdg 3:15-30).

A Benjamite, who delivered Israel from the Moabites, by first slaying Eglon their king, and then raising an army and defeating his people. He judged Israel with honor for many years, Jdg 3:12-31 ; 4:1.\par

E’hud. (union).

1. Ehud, son of Bilhah, and great-grandson of Benjamin, the patriarch. 1Ch 7:10; 1Ch 8:6.

2. Ehud, son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, Jdg 3:15, the second judge of the Israelites. (B.C. About 1370). In the Bible, he is not called a judge, but a deliverer, (l.c).: so Othniel, Jdg 3:9, and all the Judges. Neh 9:27.

As a Benjamite, he was specially chosen to destroy Eglon, who had established himself in Jericho, which was included in the boundaries of that tribe. He was very strong, and left-handed. See Eglon.

(See EGLON.) An hereditary name in Benjamin (1Ch 7:10; 1Ch 8:6). The second of the judges was son of Gera, also an hereditary name in Benjamin (Gen 46:21; 2Sa 16:5; 1Ch 8:3). Israel’s "deliverer," under God, from the Moabite Eglon who had crossed the Jordan westward, and seized Jericho, in Ehud’s tribe, Benjamin (Jdg 3:9; Jdg 3:12-30; Neh 9:27, "saviors".) He could use his left hand as readily as his right hand (Jdg 20:16). "He made him" a dagger; for, as under the Philistines (1Sa 13:19) so now under Moab the making of iron weapons publicly was forbidden. He girt on" his right thigh" where its presence would never be suspected, the left being the sword side and where to his left hand it would be most convenient. He may have been one of the 600 left-handed slingers who escaped to the Rock Rimmon just thirteen years before.

(Hebrews Ehud’, אֵהוּד, union), the name of two or three Benjamites, and apparently hereditary in that tribe, like Gera (q.v.).

1. (Sept. ῎Ωδ v.r. Α᾿ώδ; Vulg. Ahod.) A descendant of Benjamin, progenitor of one of the clans of Geba that removed to Manahath (1Ch 13:10). The name is there written אֵהוּד, Echud’, either for אֵהוּדas above, or altogether erroneously for אֵחַי, Echi. i.e. EHI SEE EHI (q.v.), the grandson of Benjamin, which appears in the parallel list of Gen 46:21, and as a son of Belah according to the Sept. version of that passage. He seems to be the same as AHI-RAM, אֲחַירָם, in the list in Num 26:38, and, if so; Ahiram is probably the right name, as the family were called Ahiramites. In 1Ch 8:1, the same person seems to be called אֵחְרִח, AHARAH, and perhaps also אֲחוֹחִ, AHOAH, in 1Ch 8:4 (Sept. Α᾿χιά, and in Cod. Vatic. Α᾿χιράν), אֲחַיָּה (Α᾿χιά), Ahiah, 1Ch 8:7, and אִחֵר (Α᾿ᾠρ), Aher, 1Ch 7:12. SEE SHAHARAIM. These fluctuations in the orthography seem to indicate that the original copies were partly effaced by time or injury. SEE BECHER;SEE CHRONICLES.

2. (Sept. Α᾿μείδ v. r. Α᾿ώθ; Vulg. Aod.) The third named of the seven sons of Bilhan, the son of Jediael, and grandson of the patriarch Jacob (1Ch 7:10). B.C. post 1856.

3. (Sept. Α᾿ώδ; Vulg. Aod; Josephus ᾿Ηούδης.) The son of Gera (there were three others of this name, Gen 46:21; 2Sa 16:5; 2 Samuel 1Ch 8:3), of the tribe of Benjamin (Jdg 3:16, marg. "son of Jemini," but vid. Gesenius, Lex. sub v. בַּנְיָמַין), the second judge of the Israelites, or, rather, of that part of Israel which he delivered from the dominion of the Moabites by the assassination of their king Eglon. These were the tribes beyond the Jordan, and the southern tribes on this side the river. In the Bible he is not called a judge, but a deliverer (i.e.); so Othniel (Jdg 3:9), and all the judges (Neh 9:27). As a Benjamite he was specially chosen to destroy Eglon, who had established himself in Jericho, which was included in the boundaries of that tribe. SEE EGLON. In Josephus he appears as a young man (νεανίας). He was very strong, and left-handed. So A.V.; but the more literal rendering is, as in the margin, "shut of his right hand." The words are differently rendered: 1. left- handed, and unable to use his right; 2. using his left hand as readily as his right. For 1. Targum, Josephus, Syr. (impotem), Arab. (aridum), and Jewish writers generally; Cajet., Buxtorf, Parkh., Gesen. (impeditus): derivation of אַטֵר from אָטִר, the latter only in Psa 69:16, where it = to shut. For 2. Sept. (ἀμφιδέξιος), Vulg. (qui utraque manu pro dextran utebatur), Corn. a Lap., Bonfrer., Patrick (comp. περιδέξιος, Hom. II. 21:163; Hipp. Aph. 7, 43); Jdg 20:16, sole recurrence of the phrase, applied to 700 Benjamites, the picked men of the army, who were not likely to be chosen for a physical defect. As regards Psa 69:16, it is urged that אָטִרmay = corono = aperio; hence אַטֵר= apertus = expeditus, q.d. expedita dextra; or if "clausus," clausus dextr = cinctus dextra = περιδέξιος, ambidexter (vid. Poli Syn.). The feint of drawing the dagger from the right thigh (Jdg 3:21) is consistent with either opinion. SEE AMBIDEXTER.

Ehud obtained access to Eglon as the bearer of tribute from the subjugated tribes, and being left-handed, or, rather, ambidextrous, he was enabled to use with a sure and fatal aim a dagger concealed under a part of his dress, where it was unsuspected, because it would there have been useless to a person employing his right hand. The circumstances attending this tragical event are somewhat differently given in Judges and in Josephus (see Winkler, Unters. Schurer Schriftst. 1:45 sq.; Redslob, in the Studien v. Krit. 9:912 sq.; Ewald, Isr. Gesch. 2:375 sq.). That Ehud had the entree of the palace is implied in Jdg 3:19), but more distinctly stated in Josephus. In Judges the Israelites send a present by Ehud (Jdg 3:15); in Josephus. Ehud wins his favor by repeated presents of his own. Josephus represents this intimacy as having been of long continuance; but in Judges we find no mention of intimacy, and only one occasion of a present being made, viz., that which immediately preceded the death of Eglon. In Judges we have two scenes, the offering of the present and the death scene, which are separated by the temporary withdrawal of Ehud (Jdg 3:18-19); in Josephus there is but one scene. The present is offered, the attendants are dismissed, and the king enters into friendly conversation (ὁμιλίαν) with Ehud. In Judges the place seems to change from the reception-room into the "summer-parlor," where Ehud found him upon his return (comp. Jdg 3:18; Jdg 3:20). In Josephus the entire action takes place in the summer-parlor (δωμάτιον). In Judges the king exposes himself to the dagger by rising apparently in respect for the divine message which Ehud professed to communicate (Patrick, ad loc.); in Josephus it is a dream which Ehud pretends to reveal, and the king, in delighted anticipation, springs up from his throne. The obesity of Eglon, and the consequent impossibility of recovering the dagger, are not mentioned by Josephus (vid. Jdg 3:17, fat, ἀστεῖος, Sept.; but "crassus," Vulg., and so Gesenius, Lex.). The "quarries that were by Gilgal," to which Ehud retired in the interval between the two interviews (Jdg 3:19), are rendered in the margin better, as in Deu 7:25, "graven images" (Patrick, ad loc.; comp. Gesen. Heb. Lex. s.v. פְּסַילַים). SEE EGLON.

After this desperate achievement Ehud repaired to Seirah (improp. Seirath; see Gesen. Lex. s.v.), in the mountains of Ephraim (3:26, 27), or Mount Ephraim (Jos 19:50). To this wild central region, commanding, as it did, the plains east and west, he summoned the Israelites by sound of horn (a national custom according to Josephus; A.V. "a trumpet"). Descending from the hills they fell upon the Moabites, dismayed and demoralized by the death of their king (Josephus, not Judges). The greater number were killed at once, but 10,000 men made for the Jordan with the view of crossing into their own country. The Israelites, however, had already seized the fords, and not one of the unhappy fugitives escaped. As a reward for his conduct Ehud was appointed judge (Josephus, not Judges). The Israelites continued to enjoy for eighty years (B.C. 1509-1430) the independence obtained through this deed of Ehud (Jdg 3:15-30). SEE JUDGES.

Ehud (ç’hud), union. 1. The second judge or judicial ruler of the Hebrews, who assassinated Eglon, and delivered them from the oppression which they had suffered for eighteen years under the Moabites. He was a Benjamite, strong, and left-handed. Jdg 3:12-30; Jdg 4:1. 2. A descendant of Benjamin. 1Ch 7:10; 1Ch 8:6.

[E’hud]

1. Son of Bilhan, a Benjamite. 1Ch 7:10; 1Ch 8:6.

2. Son of Gera, a Benjamite. He slew Eglon king of Moab, and, according to Josephus, which is confirmed in scripture, he became judge of Israel. Jdg 3:15-26; Jdg 4:1.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., Charles J. Mendelsohn, George A. Barton

—Biblical Data:

Second judge of Israel; a Benjamite, the son of Gera. Concealing under his garment a two-edged sword, he carried a present to Eglon, the Moabite king who had held Israel in subjection for eighteen years. After delivering it he requested a private audience, which was granted. Being left-handed, Ehud was able to draw his weapon without suspicion, and he plunged it through the body of the king, who was too surprised and too corpulent to resist. Ehud made his escape to Seirath, and gathering an Israelitish army, slew the whole Moabite forces numbering 10,000 men (Judges iii. 14-30). See Eglon.

J. Jr. C. J. M.—Critical View:

The story of Ehud was taken from one of the oldest sources of the Book of Judges, into which it had possibly been put after having passed from mouth to mouth as a folk-tale. The beginning of the tale has been displaced by the pragmatic introduction of the author of Judges (compare Moore, Commentary on Judges, pp. 89 et seq.; "Judges," in "S. B. O. T." pp. 6 et seq.; and Budde, "Die Bücher Richter und Samuel," etc., p. 28). The author of Judges has taken the narrative of a local incident and transformed it into a deliverance of all Israel. The story is not quite homogeneous, but is not so composite as Winckler ("Untersuchungen zur Altorientalischen Geschichte," pp. 55 et seq.) believed. Recent critics accept Ehud as a historical character. In addition to references above, compare Budde, ib. pp. 98 et seq.

EHUD.—1. The deliverer of Israel from Eglon, king of Moab (Jdg 3:12-30). The story of how Ehud slew Eglon bears upon it the stamp of genuineness; according to it, Ehud was the bearer of a present from the children of Israel to their conqueror, the king of Moab. On being left alone with the king, Ehud plunges his sword into the body of Eglon, and makes good his escape into the hill-country of Ephraim. Israel is thus delivered from the Moabite supremacy. 2. Son of Bilhan, a Benjamite (1Ch 7:10; cf. 1Ch 8:6).

W. O. E. Oesterley.

ē´hud (אהוּד, ’ēhūdh, “united,” “strong”): A Benjamite, son of Gera, deliverer of Israel from oppression by Moab (Jdg 3:15-30). Gaining access alone to the presence of King Eglon under pretense of a secret errand connected with the payment of Israel’s tribute, Ehud, a left-handed man, drew the sword he had concealed upon his right side, and thrust the king through. He locked the doors of the upper chamber after him, made his escape, and with the Israelites overcame Moab at the fords of the Jordan, slaying some 10,000. Ehud’s name occurs again in the Benjamite genealogy (1Ch 7:10).