Judges 3:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

NIV: Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

NASB: Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.

CSB: Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.

NLT: Then Ehud closed and locked the doors of the room and escaped down the latrine.

KJV: Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

NKJV: Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

In modern English slang, someone who is emotionless, capable, and ruthless in what they do is referred to as "an assassin." In this notably graphic episode from Scripture, Ehud fits such a description in every possible way. He has just killed the king of Moab, in the king's own palace, using a hidden, handmade stabbing weapon (Judges 3:16–21). Ehud's strike buried the entire forearm-length weapon into the king's stomach, resulting in a messy, graphic, and fatal injury (Judges 3:22).

With level-headed calm, it seems, Ehud now walks out of the room, closing and locking the doors behind him. The king's attendants were ordered to leave; no one is there to know what has happened. Presumably, Ehud simply walks away from the palace before anyone even suspects the king, Eglon, is dead. This calm exit is all the more effective because the attendants assume their king wants to be left alone. They delay a long time before unlocking the doors to find his corpse (Judges 3:24–25).

Instead of starting off by leading Israel's armies into battle, this deliverer raised up by God (Judges 2:16) walked into the enemy king's palace and killed him outright. Ehud's bravery takes the form of both deception and bold action.

There is a battle still to come, however, and Ehud will be leading that charge (Judges 3:26–29).

Judges 3:12–30 describes another phase of sin, judgment, and deliverance in Israel. The people again provoke God's anger, so He strengthens Eglon, the king of Moab, to defeat and enslave them. After eighteen years, He raises up Ehud as the deliverer. In an infamously graphic assassination, Ehud kills Eglon in his palace in Jericho, then leads an army of Ephraim fighters to take the fords of the Jordan River. Having cut off the Moabites' escape route, the Israelites wipe out the Moabite army, leading to eighty years of peace.

God leaves several Canaanite nations in and around the Promised Land to test Israel's reliance on Him. Some live among the people, others are part of unconquered territories. The Israelites immediately ignore God's commands and begin serving other gods. First, the Lord subjects them to Mesopotamia. After eight years, the first judge, Othniel, leads them to victory and peace. Israel again rebels and is conquered by Moab for 18 years. Ehud's brutal assassination of the Moabite king sparks another period of freedom and peace. In a single brief statement, the obscure Shamgar is celebrated for his victory.

After Israel's failure to complete their mission, as described in chapters 1 and 2, chapter 3 begins by describing the idolatrous nations God left intact to test Israel. In the first of many such cycles, the people sin, are conquered, then are rescued by a "judge." This chapter describes the victories of Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. Chapter 4 mentions the first of the truly famous names among the judges, describing the careers of Deborah and Barak. This is followed in chapter 6, which introduces Gideon.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).