Judges 3:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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.
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֮Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
cried
וַיִּזְעֲק֣וּvai.yiz.'a.Ku
H2199
to shriek (from anguish or danger) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָה֒Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
LORD
יְהוָ֨הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
up
וַיָּקֶם֩vai.ya.Kem
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
deliverer
מוֹשִׁ֗יעַmo.Shi.a'
H3467
properly · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
Ehud
אֵה֤וּד'e.Hud
H164
Ehud · proper noun, a man's name
son
בֶּןben-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Gera
גֵּרָא֙ge.Ra'
H1617
Gera · proper noun, a man's name
Benjamite
בֶּןben-
H1145
a Benjaminite · noun, gentilic masculine singular construct
man
אִ֥ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
lefthanded
אִטֵּ֖ר'i.Ter
H334
shut up · adjective, masculine singular absolute
him
יַדyad-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
children
בְנֵיve.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֤לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
sent
וַיִּשְׁלְח֨וּvai.yish.le.Chu
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
present
מִנְחָ֔הmin.Chah
H4503
a donation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Eglon
לְעֶגְל֖וֹןle.'eg.Lon
H5700
Eglon · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶ֥לֶךְMe.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Moab
מוֹאָֽבmo.'Av
H4124
Moab · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Judges 3:9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othn…
Psalms 78:34 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
Judges 20:16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
Isaiah 36:16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every on…
Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
1 Samuel 10:27 But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
1 Chronicles 12:2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s…
Psalms 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 3:12-30
Ehud is the next of the judges whose achievements are related in this history, and here is an account of his actions.
I. When Israel sins again God raises up a new oppressor, Jdg 3:12-14. It was an aggravation of their wickedness that they did evil again after they had smarted so long for their former iniquities, promised so fair when Othniel judged them, and received so much mercy from God in their deliverance. What, and after all this, again to break his commandments! Was the disease obstinate to all the methods of cure, both corrosives and lenitives? It seems it was. Perhaps they thought they might make the more bold with their old sins because they saw themselves in no danger from their…
Ehud the son of Gera--descended from Gera, one of Benjamin's sons (Gen 46:21).
left-handed--This peculiarity distinguished many in the Benjamite tribe (Jdg 20:16). But the original word is rendered in some versions "both-handed," a view countenanced by Ch1 12:2.
by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab--the yearly tribute, which, according to Eastern fashion, would be borne with ostentatious ceremony and offered (Jdg 3:18) by several messengers.
John Gill on 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 forgiveness of God, and deliverance from their bondage; for it is very probable they were until towards the close of those years stupid and hardened, and did not consider what was the reason of their being thus dealt with:
the Lord raised them up a deliverer; another saviour, one that he made use of as an instrument of their deliverance:
Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded; who is described by his parentage, a son of Gera, but who his father was is not known; by his tribe a Benjamite…
These are the persons, then, who are referred to in holy Scripture as amphoterodexioi—that is, as ambidextrous. Ehud, "who used either hand as if it were his right hand," is described as such in the book of Judges. We shall also be able to possess this quality in a spiritual way if by a good and correct use we put the things which are considered fortunate and right-handed and the things which are called unfortunate and left-handed on the right side, that whatever befalls may become for us, in the words of the apostle, "the arms of righteousness." For we see that our inner man consists in two parts or, as I might say, two hands. No holy person can be without what we call the left hand, but perfect virtue is discerned in the fact that by proper use he turns both into a right hand.
What did you mean by saying, two thousand fall at the side? Naturally, when the right hand is designated and the left is not, the side is named in place of the left hand. It would not be right, certainly, for the just man to have a left hand: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek," counsels the Lord, "turn to him the other also." Notice that he did not say, "the left also," for it is not the left cheek that is offered, but another right cheek. I shall express this very plainly, therefore, by saying that the just man has two right cheeks. The man, Ehud, for example, who is written of in the book of Judges, is said to have two right hands because he was a just man and killed that fat stupid king. "Though two thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand." There are very many who lie in wait at our right hand, not so many who plot against our left; [thus], a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand. Where there is greater combat, there is, of course, greater victory. Few lie in ambush at our side, but many at our right hand.
Let's observe how Ehud, whose name means "praise," discharged his leadership. History teaches us, in its writings about King Eglon, how this most wise Ehud with particular skill and, if I may say, cunning but praiseworthy deception, would kill the tyrant Eglon, whose name means "round" or "circular." It was necessary, then, to have the quality of judges of our people as was this Ehud, whose name means "praise," so to cut through all his rolling motion and circuit of evil ways and to destroy the king of the Moabites. But Moabite is translated as "flow" or "effusion." Who can the ruler or leader of this flowing and dissolute people be seen or understood to be, therefore, other than the word of that philosophy which adjudges pleasure to be the highest good, a philosophy which the word of the gospel, which has been compared to a sword, killed and destroyed? And this prophetic word would become enclosed within their belly and lowest stomach by means of the "ambidextrous" judge's arguments, to extinguish the Moabites by assertion of the truth, enclosing also every sense of perverse doctrine and dull understanding "which extols itself and rises against the spiritual knowledge of Christ," so that by acting thus and by doing battle with the word of God, each judge of the church may also become a praising Ehud, about whom the Lord would say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few, so I will set you over many."
Dictionary and topics
Ehud — Union. (1.) A descendant of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:10), his great-grandson. (2.) The son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 3:15). After the death of Othniel the people again fell into idolatry,…
Gera — Grain. (1.) The son of Bela and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chr. 8:3, 5, 7). (2.) The father of Ehud the judge (Judg. 3:15). (3.) The father of Shimei, who so grossly abused David (2 Sam. 16:5; 19:16,…
Goad — (Heb. malmad, only in Judg. 3: 31), an instrument used by ploughmen for guiding their oxen. Shamgar slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. “The goad is a formidable weapon. It is sometimes ten…
Left-handed — (Judg. 3:15; 20:16), one unable to use the right hand skilfully, and who therefore uses the left; and also one who uses the left as well as the right, ambidexter. Such a condition of the hands is due…
Moab — The seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37), of incestuous birth. (2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Num. 22:3-14; Judg. 3:30; 2 Sam.…
Moabite — The designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:37). From Zoar, the cradle of this tribe, on the south-eastern border of the Dead Sea, they gradually spread over the region on…
Assassination · .Of Eglon, by Ehud — .Of Eglon, by Ehud
Eglon · .Assassinated by Ehud — .Assassinated by Ehud
on Judges 3:15
But when the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, He set them free through the Benjaminite Ehud, whom He raised up as their deliverer. Ehud was "the son of Gera." This probably means that he was a descendant of Gera, since Gera himself, according to Ch1 8:3, was a son of Bela the son of Benjamin, and therefore was a grandson of Benjamin; and Shimei the contemporary of David, a man belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, is also called a son of Gera in Sa2 16:5; Sa2 19:17. At the same time, it is possible that the name Gera does not refer to the same person in these different passages, but that the name was repeated again and again in the same family. "A man shut with regard to his right hand,"…
Whose right arm was immobile. Yonasan renders "A man whose right arm was shrunken." "Gamid" in the Aramaic always indicates something shrunken by disease, "retrait", "shrunk" in old French. He could not utilize his right arm. In Hebrew, "closed", as in "Let not the well close its mouth over me."4Tehilim, 69:16. His right arm was "closed"—he could not utilize it.
Left-Handed · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Presents · Were given: As tribute — Were given: As tribute
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).