Judges 3:12–25 (ESV)

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. He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

The Septuagint translates verse 15 as saying that Ehud was ambidextrous.

“I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous.” — Yogi Berra

The Hebrew literally says that Ehud’s right hand was bound. So, this passage sounds close to a real example of Yogi’s quip

In context, it seems that his right hand (or side) was somewhat disabled, or at least looked like that, which explains why Eglon dismissed all of his attendants despite Ehud’s presence. He looked harmless.

That provided the perfect opportunity for Ehud to kill the king.

It’s possible that Ehud having a weak right hand was a ruse. Given that he spent the time to make a custom sword for a deceptive purpose, such advanced trickery wouldn’t be surprising.

Origin and St. Jerome make much of the idea that Ehud was ambidextrous. Origin sees great symbolism in Ehud’s “two right hands” (“ambi dextrous” in Latin) representing righteousness, and also in the sword—which he compares to the word of the gospel in Ephesians.

the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, — Ephesians 6:17b (ESV)

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.