Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 3:26
And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
26. and passed beyond the quarries ] lit. he having passed the sculptured stones. The construction in Hebr. (a circumstantial clause dependent on the preceding) is harsh and awkward: it is accounted for if we may suppose that clause b (‘and passed unto Seirah’) is a doublet of clause a. The repetition of he escaped looks as if this were the case. Instead of passed the sculptured stones we should probably translate crossed (i.e. the river Jordan, not mentioned but implied in the general situation) near the sculptured stones, cf. Jdg 3:19; for crossed without an expressed object cf. Gen 32:21 [22 Heb.], 2Sa 17:16; for the prep, near cf. Jdg 3:19 and Jdg 4:11.
unto Seirah ] Se‘rah, somewhere on the nearer highlands of Ephraim; otherwise unknown.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Seirath – The forest or weald, which evidently bordered on the cultivated plain near Gilgal, and extended into the mountain or hill country of Ephraim. Once there, he was safe from pursuit (compare 1Sa 13:6), and quickly collected a strong force of Ephraimires and probably the bordering Benjamites.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 26. Passed beyond the quarries] Beyond the pesilim, which appear to have been the Moabitish borders, where they had set up those hewn stones as landmarks, or sacred boundary stones.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And Ehud escaped while they tarried,…. While the servants of the king of Moab tarried waiting for the opening of the doors of the parlour, this gave him time enough to make his escape, so as to be out of the reach of pursuers; or else the sense is, that even when they had opened the doors, and found the king dead, while they were in confusion at it, not knowing what to ascribe it to, the dagger being enclosed in the wound, and perhaps but little blood, if any, issued out, being closed up with fat, and so had no suspicion of his being killed by Ehud; but rather supposing it to be an accidental fall from his seat, and might call in the physicians to examine him, and use their skill, if there were any hopes of recovery; all which prolonged time, and facilitated the escape of Ehud:
and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirath; he got beyond the quarries, which were by Gilgal, which shows that it could not be at Jericho where the king of Moab was, as Josephus thinks, but either in his own country beyond Jordan, though no mention is made of Ehud’s crossing Jordan, or however some place nearer the fords of Jordan; since Gilgal, from whence he returned, and whither he came again after he had killed the king of Moab, lay on that side of Jericho which was towards Jordan; and this Seirath he escaped to was in or near the mountain of Ephraim, as appears from Jud 3:27:, but of it we have no account elsewhere; but it is thought by some learned men l to be the place where Seth’s pillars stood, and they to be the engravings here spoken of, which we translate “quarries”: the words of Josephus m are, that the posterity of Seth, who very much studied astronomy, having heard that Adam foretold the destruction of the universe at one time by fire, and at another by water, erected two pillars, one of stone, and the other of brick, on which they inscribed their inventions (in astronomy), that they might be preserved, and which remain to this day in the land of Siriad; but this account of Josephus seems to be taken from a fabulous relation of Manetho, the Egyptian, and is abundantly confuted by Dr. Stillingfleet n. Jarchi interprets this of Seirath, a thick wood or forest, the trees of which grew as thick as the hair on a man’s head, and so a proper place to escape to, and hide in: it may be it was the woody part of the mount Ephraim, see
Jos 17:18.
l Marsham. Chronicon, p. 39. Vossius de 70 Interpret. p. 271. m Antiqu. l. 1. c. 2. sect. 3. n Origines Sacrae, l. 1. c. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ehud had escaped whilst the servants of Eglon were waiting, and had passed the stone quarries and reached Seirah. Seirah is a place that is never mentioned again; and, judging from the etymology (the hairy), it was a wooded region, respecting the situation of which all that can be decided is, that it is not to be sought for in the neighbourhood of Jericho, but “upon the mountains of Ephraim” (Jdg 3:27). For when Ehud had come to Seirah, he blew the trumpet “ upon the mountains of Ephraim,” to announce to the people the victory that was placed within their reach by the death of Eglon, and to summon them to war with the Moabites, and then went down from the mountain into the plain near Jericho; “ and he was before them,” i.e., went in front as their leader, saying to the people, “ Follow me; for Jehovah has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand. ” Then they went down and took (i.e., took possession of) the fords near Jericho (see at Jos 2:7), , either “ from the Moabites ” or “ towards Moab,” and let no one (of the Moabites) cross over, i.e., escape to their own land.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(26) Unto Seirath.Perhaps, rather, into the bush, or woodland, as the word has the article, and does not occur again. When he had got beyond the frontier post of Gilgal, into the district of Ephraim, he was safe from pursuit.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Seirath is unknown. Its name indicates that it was a wooded district of Mount Ephraim.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the graven images, and escaped to Seirah.’
The delay gave Ehud time to escape and he again came to the graven images, and then escaped into Seirah, a place of which the details are unknown to us, but it was presumably in the hill country of Ephraim.
And it is now that we discover the full detail of Ehud’s plan. For he had already made arrangements with the tribal confederacy, who had gathered and were awaiting his signal.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 3:26. Ehud escaped while they tarried It has been asked, how this action of Ehud can be at all justified. It is certainly among the number of those which are not to be imitated without that which gave it all its sanction; namely, a divine commission. The text expressly says, the Lord raised up Ehud; and it is well known, that all the deliverances which the Jews had under the judges were directed and conducted by the immediate hand of God, according as the people by their repentance became fit to receive them. A divine warrant, in such a case, is a clear foundation to go upon: it can, however, be no precedent for others to go upon, who have no divine warrant at all, but quite the contrary. What is reason and understanding given us for, but to discriminate cases and circumstances? See Grotius de jure Belli ac Pacis, lib. 1 cap. 24 and Barbeyrac’s note on Puffendorff’s Law of Nature and Nations, lib. 7: cap. 8.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 3:26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.
Ver. 26. And Ehud escaped while they tarried. ] So did Montgomery, Carnutensis, and other prime Protestants in the massacre of Paris, when lodging in the suburbs, and hearing the tumult within the city, though at first they could not tell what to make of it, yet afterwards they fled with all speed before the Duke of Guise, when his cut-throats came, who pursued a great way, but could not overtake them, God, by his providence, so ordering that, when the city gates were to be opened, the right keys could not presently be found. a
a Epitome Hist. Gallic., 148.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
passed = he passed.
beyond = by.
quarries = the graven images of Ehud. Compare Jdg 3:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the quarries: Jdg 3:19
Reciprocal: 2Ki 9:10 – he opened