Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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 left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.
15. Ehud the son of Gera ] Both names occur in the Benjamite genealogies, Gen 46:21, 1Ch 7:10 ; 1Ch 8:3; 1Ch 8:5 ; 1Ch 8:7; it has been suggested that both belonged to clans and not to individuals. Gera was certainly a clan, 2Sa 16:5 (‘Shimei ben Gera’); but the Chronicler may have adopted (1Ch 7:10) the name of Ehud merely from here, or the clan Ehud may have taken its name from the hero of this story. With the mention of Ehud the ancient narrative probably begins.
a man lefthanded ] lit. restricted as to his right hand, the word only again in Jdg 20:16. This peculiarity has a bearing upon what follows: being left-handed he naturally fastened his sword on the right side instead of the left, and thus was able to conceal a weapon without rousing suspicion.
a present ] An euphemism for tribute ( 2Sa 8:2 ; 2Sa 8:6; 1Ki 4:21 etc.), which was paid in kind, and therefore had to be ‘carried 1 [29] .’
[29] The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II (860 825 b.c.) in the Brit. Mus., Nimroud Central Saloon, No. 98, contains a sculptured relief of Israelites carrying tribute in the time of Jehu: an illustration of the obelisk is given in the Brit. Mus. Guide to Bab. and Assyr. Antiquities, Plate ii.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer – The very same words as are used at Jdg 3:9. See, too, Jdg 2:16, Jdg 2:18, and Neh 9:27.
Ehud the Benjamite was of the family or house of Gera 2Sa 16:5, the son of Bela, Benjamins first-born, born before Jacobs descent into Egypt Gen 46:21, and then included among the sons of Benjamin. The genealogy in 1Ch 8:6 intimates that Ehud (apparently written Abihud in Jdg 3:3) became the head of a separate house.
Left-handed – See the margin. The phrase is thought to describe not so much a defect as the power to use left and right hands equally well (compare Jdg 20:16; 1Ch 12:2).
A present – i. e. tribute 2Sa 8:2, 2Sa 8:6; 1Ki 4:21; Psa 72:10. The employment of Ehud for this purpose points him out as a chief of some distinction. He would be attended by a numerous suite Jdg 3:18. We may conclude that the destruction of the Benjamites Judg. 20 had not taken place at this time.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Ehud the son of Gera – a man left handed] ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use his left. The Septuagint render it , an ambidexter, a man who could use both hands alike. The Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur, a man who could use either hand as a right hand, or to whom right and left were equally ready. This is not the sense of the original, but it is the sense in which most interpreters understand it. It is well known that to be an ambidexter was in high repute among the ancients: Hector boasts of it: –
,
‘ , ‘ ‘
, .
Iliad, lib. vii., ver. 237.
“But am in arms well practiced; many a Greek
Hath bled by me, and I can shift my shield
From right to left; reserving to the last
Force that suffices for severest toil.”
COWPER.
Asteropaeus is also represented by Homer as an ambidexter, from which he derives great advantages in fight: –
‘ ‘
‘
, .
Iliad, lib. xxi., ver. 161.
“So threatened he. Then raised Achilles high
The Pelian ash: – and his two spears at once
Alike, (a practised warrior,) with both hands
Asteropaeus hurled.”
COWPER.
We are informed by Aristotle, that Plato recommended to all soldiers to acquire by study and exercise an equal facility of losing both hands. Speaking of Plato, he says: , , , . – De Repub., lib. ii., cap. 12. “He (Plato) also made a law concerning their warlike exercises, that they should acquire a habit of using both hands alike; as it is not fit that one of the hands should be useful and the other useless.”
In Jdg 20:16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was itter yad yemino, lame of his right hand, and yet slinging stones to a hair’s breadth without missing: these are generally thought to be ambidexters.
Sent a present unto Eglon] This is generally understood to be the tribute money which the king of Moab had imposed on the Israelites.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A Benjamite, Heb. the son of Gemini, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, 2Sa 16:11; 19:17; 1Ki 2:8. This tribe was next to him and doubtless most afflicted by him; and hence God raiseth a deliverer.
Left-handed; which is here noted, partly as a mark of his courage, and strength, and activity; see Jdg 20:16; and principally as a considerable circumstance in the following story, whereby he might more advantageously and unsuspectedly give the deadly blow.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Ehud the son of Geradescendedfrom Gera, one of Benjamin’s sons (Ge46:21).
left-handedThispeculiarity distinguished many in the Benjamite tribe (Jud20:16). But the original word is rendered in some versions”both-handed,” a view countenanced by 1Ch12:2.
by him the children of Israelsent a present unto Eglon the king of Moabthe yearly tribute,which, according to Eastern fashion, would be borne with ostentatiousceremony and offered (Jud 3:18)by several messengers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, in which Jericho was, Eglon possessed, and so might be more oppressed than any other part; and therefore the Lord stirred up one of that tribe to be the deliverer; and by his being a lefthanded man, as several of that tribe were, Jud 20:16; though a Benjamite signifies a son of the right hand; and he perhaps was one of those lefthanded Benjamites that fled to the rock Rimmon, as Dr. Lightfoot u conjectures, Jud 20:47; for that affair, though there related, was before this: the Septuagint calls him an “ambidexter”, one that could use both hands equally alike; but the Hebrew phrase signifies one that is “shut up in his right hand” w; who has not the true use of it, cannot exercise it as his other hand, being weak and impotent, or contracted through disuse, or some disease; or, as Josephus x expresses it, who could use his left hand best, and who also calls him a young man of a courageous mind and strong of body, and says he dwelt at Jericho, and was very familiar with Eglon, and who by his gifts and presents had endeared himself to all about the king:
and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab; either their yearly tribute, or rather a gift unto him, to soften him, and reconcile him to them, and make their bondage easier; or to give him access to him with more confidence and safety, though it does not seem that they knew anything of Ehud’s design.
u Works, vol. 1. p. 46. w “obturatum manu dextera sua”, Montanus; “habens manum dexterum obturatum”, Munsterus; “erat clausa manu dextera”, Tigurine version; “clausum manu dextera”, Drusius; “perclusum”, Junius Tremellius “praaeclusum”, Piscator. x Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 4.) sect. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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 1Ch 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 2Sa 16:5; 2Sa 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, ” i.e., hindered in the use of his right hand, not necessarily crippled, but in all probability disabled through want of use from his youth upwards. That the expression does not mean crippled, is confirmed by the fact that it is used again in connection with the 700 brave slingers in the army of the Benjaminites in Jdg 20:16, and it certainly cannot be supposed that they were all actual cripples. So much is certain, however, that it does not mean , qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur (lxx, Vulg.), since signifies clausit (shut) in Psa 69:16. It is merely with reference to what follows that this peculiarity is so distinctly mentioned. – The Israelites sent a present by him to king Eglon. does not mean in, but through, his hand, i.e., through his intervention, for others were actually employed to carry the present (Jdg 3:18), so that Ehud merely superintended the matter. Minchah, a gift or present, is no doubt a euphemism for tribute, as in 2Sa 8:2, 2Sa 8:6; 1Ki 5:1.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(15) Ehud the son of Gera.In Gen. 46:21 Gera is a son of Benjamin; in 1Ch. 8:3 he is a son of Bela, son of Benjamin. The name Gera was hereditary in the tribe of Benjamin (see 2Sa. 19:18; 1Ch. 8:1-7), and the Jews so constantly omit steps in their genealogies that we can never be sure that son means more than descendant. Ehud seems to be another form of Abihud (1Ch. 8:1-8). St. Jerome explains it to mean one who praises or is
praised. Josephus calls him a young man, and even a youth (neaniskos).
A Benjamite.Ben-ha-jemn, as in Psa. 7:1. The word is generally written undivided, so that here the LXX., Vulgate, and Luther have son of Jemini. No doubt the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee rightly understood it to mean a Benjamite, but still there seems to be an intentional play on words, for Ben-ha-jemn may also mean a son of the right hand, who, as the writer adds, was helpless with his right hand (Ben-ha-jemn eesh ittr jad-jemn).
LefthandedMarg., Shut of his right hand. Luther also renders it links but the LXX. and the Vulgate take it to mean ambidextrous, i.e., able to use his left hand as well as his right (LXX., amphoterodexion; Vulg., qui utrague manu pro dexter utebatur). Josephus says that he was best skilled in using his left hand, in which was his whole strength (Antt. v. 4, 2). This rendering is merely an inference, from the fact that in Jdg. 20:15-16 (comp. 1Ch. 12:2) there are 700 chosen men left-handed. (See the Note on that verse.) The Hebrew ittr, however, is correctly rendered shut in the margin of our version (comp. Psa. 69:16, lest the pit shut her mouth upon me ), and cannot possibly mean ambidextrous. No doubt Ehud, like other Benjamites, might have been trained to use the sling with the left hand, but it does not follow that he may not have had some accident which maimed the right hand; and if so it would avert all suspicion from him in his dreadful purpose. Ehud in that case was a Hebrew Scvola. Stobus mentions some African tribes which, like the Benjamites, were left-hand fighters (aristeromachoi), and for the same cause an Egyptian tribe was known as the Euonymitae. The Greek Laius has the same meaning.
By him.Either because he was the chief of one of their houses (1Ch. 8:6), or perhaps because he had intimated to them his design. The narrative in Judges 20 falls chronologically in the days of Phinehas and, therefore, Ehuds act occurred at a still earlier period after the conquest; for Ehud would hardly have been chosen for this honourable function after the terrible degradation and decimation of the tribe of Benjamin. Possibly Eglons invasion occurred soon after Joshuas death.
Sent a present.The Hebrew word is minchah, here euphemistically used for tribute, as it is elsewhere. (2Sa. 8:6 : And the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. 1Ki. 4:21 : They [the Philistines] brought presents and served Solomon. Psa. 72:10 : The kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring gifts.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Cried unto the Lord History repeats itself, because like causes produce like effects. A second oppression calls forth a second cry.
Left-handed Heb, lamed (margin, shut) in the right hand. The Septuagint reads, , which is well translated in the Vulgate by, who used either hand for a right hand. “The phrase,” says Hervey, “must originally have described an accidental defect; but when we read of seven hundred chosen men of Benjamin all left-handed, (Jdg 20:16; 1Ch 12:2,) and skilful slingers, it is obvious that this was no accidental defect, but an acquired art.” The name Benjamin, son of my right hand, seems to have been a misnomer in the case of his numerous left-handed progeny.
A present unto Eglon Either the annual tribute, brought with formality and parade, or a gratuity, to soften the severity of Eglon.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ But when the children of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man, and the children of Israel sent a present by him to Eglon the king of Moab.’
Yahweh heard their cry. It may not have seemed like it for a time, for nothing seemed to happen. Until at length the time came for further tribute to be paid. It was then that the deliverer carried his plan into operation.
“Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man .” This was the name of the deliverer. Lefthandedness appears to have been prevalent among Benjaminites (compare Jdg 20:16; 1Ch 12:2). Ehud was clearly an important man for he led the contingent that delivered the tribute and was able to gain private access into the king’s presence. He had probably been delivering the tribute for a number of years. Few thought of this man as a likely champion.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 3:15. Ehuda man left-handed Mr. Saurin has taken great pains to shew that this expression signifies a man who was ambidexter, i.e. one who could use his left hand as well as his right; and what would lead one very much to prefer this interpretation is, that the same quality is ascribed to seven hundred chosen men of the tribe of Benjamin, chap. Jdg 20:16 all of whom one can hardly believe to have had no use of their right hand, as some interpreters suppose was the case with Ehud. But indeed, from 1Ch 12:2., Mr. Saurin’s interpretation seems perfectly justified; for it is there said of the Benjamites, that they were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left. The Vulgate renders it here, who used both his hands for a right hand; and the LXX, who could use both his hands alike. This qualification is often spoken of by the heathen poets as possessed by their heroes. See Iliad, book 7: ver. 3:237.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader! do not fail to remark, how grace manifests itself in the heart. When the Lord is about to appear in any remarkable manner, very frequently he sets his people to prayer. And then that promise is fulfilled, Isa 65:24 . Read another, to the same effect, Isa 30:18 . This Ehud was the second judge of Israel, after the death of Joshua. It is particularly recorded of him that he was left handed, and a Benjamite. The name Benjamin, signifies the son of the right hand. And therefore it is perhaps mentioned, as being the more remarkable. Jesus, as the deliverer of his people, is emphatically called, the Man of Jehovah’s right hand. Psa 80:17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ehud
Jdg 3:15
A DELIVERER with a lefthand seems to be a contradiction in terms or a piece of practical irony. The Divine Being, in sending Ehud in reply to the cry of the children of Israel, seems to mock the very prayer which he answers. Such a reply is full of subtle suggestion, to the effect that the Israelites really need not have made such a cry about their circumstances, because even in their forlorn condition a lefthanded man would show himself to be equal to the occasion. When we pray to God for help it is with some idea that an angel will be sent, and that all Heaven’s artillery will be placed at our disposal that we may resist or destroy the foe. Instead of an angel there comes a man with a lefthand, or as he is elsewhere called an “ambidexter” that is, a man who can use both hands with equal ease. Has not God continually disappointed the expectation of people in the matter of leadership? Again and again it appears in sacred history as if the leader were altogether unlikely to accomplish his task either by reason of bodily infirmity or mental incapacity. What was Moses but a stammering shepherd? And was not Christ himself regarded with disdain because of the lowliness of his origin? Between these two great captaincies a number of others will be found illustrative of the same principle.
On the matter of lefthandedness we are reminded of the boast of Hector: “Many a Greek hath bled by me, and I can shift my shield from right to left.” In another part of the book of Judges we read respecting the children of Benjamin: “Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.” Plato recommended all his soldiers to acquire equal facility in the use of both hands, but these very references show that lefthandedness is quite a peculiarity. We do not remark upon a man that he has the use of his right hand, that he writes with it, points with it, or performs the usual duties of life with it; but when a man is lefthanded the incident instantly strikes us as a peculiarity. All these peculiarities are noticed in the Bible. We have already seen that men were known in many instances by little circumstances or trifling peculiarities. All such identifications lead us to the great consolatory doctrine that the very hairs of our head are all numbered. All kinds of men are made use of in the Bible. There is no peculiarity, however strange, that may not be used as an instrument for the promotion of truth and goodness, or the defence of right and weakness. No man should be discouraged because of his peculiarities, for in truth though in some respects his weakness, they may in other respects be his strength. It has been noticed by close observers of human affairs that almost every cripple is endowed with some speciality of power which gives him pre-eminence among his fellows. What he wants in dignity he may make up in skill. The very infirmity which drives him into solitude may be the occasion of his acquiring richer learning, or training his insight to profounder and clearer views of providence and humanity. Men ought not therefore to be discouraged because of peculiarities however striking.
Does not the text throw us back upon the oft-recurring doctrine that the many may be dependent upon the one? All the ciphers are turned into value by the single unit that is placed at their head. Without that unit they would be simply nothing, but with that unit they become millions strong. The children of Israel were many, even a great host, numerous enough to turn their desires into a great noise which they dignified by the name of prayer. Why then did they not work out their own deliverance? Have we not been wrong on this subject of majorities? Is there not a quality as well as a quantity to be considered in estimating human influence? Eglon, king of Moab, had oppressed Israel, yet as soon as Ehud was raised up their liberation was effected, and the sorrows and burdens of eighteen years were forgotten when the deliverer appeared upon the scene. There is unquestionably a philosophy of monopoly in the matter of human influence. One man keeps the key of secrets. Another man speaks the word which inspires the courage of dejected hearts. Another man is blessed with farsightedness and can see the very spectre of deliverance when it first appears upon the distant horizon. Another man has such richness of character as to be a tower of strength in the day of shaking and desolation. One man may be in a better position than a great number of men can possibly be. The individual moves rapidly from place to place; he can move noiselessly; he can take his own time for the making of certain observations; above all things, he can keep his own counsel; for who does not know that whispering is the ruin of confidence and the very annihilation of strength? The Ehuds of society find that their power lies in their individuality. They know the difference between leading the crowd and consulting it. In all great leaderships consultation must be a kind of compliment and in no wise a necessity. At a critical point in important affairs it is the one man who must decide the course of the journey or the policy of the battle. Is it then altogether well with the great man? Probably not. We see his greatness and admire his elevation and wonder about his gifts, but we forget that all high qualities bring with them severe taxation, and that power is the measure of responsibility. It may be that to obey is easier than to direct Certainly the responsibility is of a higher grade. Beyond all question he who cannot obey cannot rule. The men pray for a deliverer, and a deliverer is given in answer to prayer; their business should be to receive the deliverer, hold him in honour, obey his commandments, and do all that within them lies to consolidate his power. All this is true in merely political directions. The great statesman keeps his party together. The great professor unites and glorifies the university. The brilliant commander makes his army as the heart of one man. But these are exceptional cases and can hardly be quoted for daily purposes. There is, however, a truth in connection with this doctrine that is constantly available in all the practical conditions of life, and that truth is that the good man who is also wise may command a deep and gracious influence in social affairs. Goodness is always influential; not necessarily in the sense of continuousness, without break or interruption, for there are times when goodness itself is silenced, but always in the sense of appearing at critical times and under circumstances which give its word infinite weight and consequence. In illustration of this, read the account in the Acts of the Apostles of a shipwreck, in which Paul took command of all things and was more than captain. “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.” Covet earnestly the best gifts.
We are very dainty about our instruments. In this matter we have committed the most mischievous errors in the administration of Church affairs and the appointment of spiritual ministries. Who ever prayed God to send a lefthanded man to save the country? Who has not been disappointed when a lefthanded man actually came and said he had been sent to do the work? The prayers which the Church sends to heaven for ministers are prayer’s in many instances which the Divine Being can only reject with contempt. Our prayer asks that God would send into the Christian ministry men of great intellectual capacity, men of burning eloquence, men capable of receiving the highest educational culture, men able to address the most gifted classes of society; what is all this but dictating to God or making our own conception of the situation the measure of God’s bounty? All such prayers are impertinences. The consolation is that God pays no heed to them but sends the kind of men who can do the work after his own will and in defiance of many preconceptions on the part of men. Let us pray God to make his own choice, to send whom he will king or peasant, man of stammering tongue or eloquent speech; he must choose the labourers, and thrust them forth into his own harvest. It must not be supposed that a man is necessarily an Ehud simply because he is lefthanded. In this direction our thoughts need to be continually guarded. We may see the lefthandedness and generalise too broadly concerning it The peculiarity must have something behind it, for in itself it is nothing. We must not reason that because Ehud was lefthanded every lefthanded man is an Ehud. Bunyan was a tinker, but it does not follow that every tinker is a Bunyan. There is a danger of mistaking an eccentricity for a law and setting up false or inadequate standards of judgment, Moses stammered or was of slow speech. It does not follow that every stutterer is a Moses. Do not magnify the peculiarity, and certainly do not disdain it. We say about some men that appearances are not in their favour. Were appearances in favour of this lefthanded man? We imagine that we show our sagacity by discovering in a candidate for favour some littleness or infirmity or awkwardness which disentitles him to confidence. “Look not on the height of his stature.” “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” Paul was aware that his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible, at least in the estimation of those who looked upon him with evil eyes. The great instance is of course always to be found in the Son of God himself. He had no form nor comeliness, and there was no beauty that men should desire him. He was as a root out of a dry ground. He took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. Like the psalmist he was “a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Thus we are brought again to the great doctrine which he himself laid down: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
Selected Note
Ehud, of the tribe of Benjamin, was 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 lefthanded, 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 ).
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jdg 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.
Ver. 15. A Benjamite, a man left-handed. ] Scaeva fuit, and no less valiant than that Roman Scaeva, a soldier of Caesar’s, who at the siege of Dyrrachium so long alone resisted Pompey’s army till he had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in his shield,
“ Densam portans in pectore sylvam.” ” – Lucan.
And no less famous in his way was Mr William Perkins, lame of his right hand, as Ehud, but yet so as that with a left-handed pen he stabbed the Eglon of Rome to the heart. Of him one writeth thus: –
“ Dextera quantumvis fuerit tibi manca, docendi
Pollebas mira dexteritate tamen. ”
the Message from God
Jdg 3:15-31
The sword is usually worn at the left hand, and Ehud escaped suspicion because his was girded under his raiment on his right thigh. Eglon was also the more ready to listen to him and give a secret audience, because he had just received a tribute from Ehuds hand. It was a terrible deed of vengeance, which must not be judged by our ethical standards. But can we not understand how the hatred of a downtrodden and high-spirited race would express itself in just this manner?
That dagger, thrust in up to the hilt, was indeed a message from God, for it ended Eglons life and summoned his soul to stand at the bar of divine judgment. A supreme tragedy cannot befall except by the divine permission. Though Gods silent permission of evil cannot be construed as acquiescence, yet the results of an evil deed may be wrought into the scheme of His providence, as in the case of Gen 50:20-21 and Act 2:23. It is our frequent experience to have thrusts made at us; let us ask if they may not be messages from God! There is no chance in life.
am 2679, bc 1325, An, Ex, Is, 166
cried unto: Jdg 3:9, Psa 50:15, Psa 78:34, Psa 90:15, Jer 29:12, Jer 29:13, Jer 33:3
a Benjamite: or, the son of Jemini
lefthanded: Heb. shut of his right hand, This Hebrew phrase intimates that, either through disease or disuse, he made little or no use of the right hand, but of his left only, and so was the less fit for war, because he would most likely wield a dagger awkwardly: yet God chose this left-handed man to be the minister of his retributive justice. It was God’s right hand that gained Israel the victory, Psa 44:3, not the right hand of the instruments he employed. Jdg 20:16, 1Ch 12:2
sent a present: 1Sa 10:27, Pro 18:16, Pro 19:6, Pro 21:14, Isa 36:16
Reciprocal: Gen 49:27 – a wolf Jdg 2:16 – the Lord Jdg 4:3 – cried Jdg 6:6 – cried Jdg 7:13 – a cake 1Sa 12:10 – And they 1Ki 10:25 – every man 1Ch 7:10 – Ehud 1Ch 8:5 – Gera Neh 9:27 – in the time Psa 119:66 – Teach me
Jdg 3:15. A Benjamite This tribe was next to Eglon, and doubtless most afflicted by him; and hence God raised a deliverer. Left-handed Which is here noted as a considerable circumstance in the following story. The Seventy render the word , who could use both his hands alike, which is probably the true meaning, as the same quality is ascribed to seven hundred chosen men of the tribe of Benjamin, chap. Jdg 20:16, all of whom one can hardly believe to have had no use of their right hands. The children of Israel sent a present Some interpreters understand by this the tribute which had been imposed upon them; but it rather signifies a voluntary present above their usual payments, whereby they hoped to mollify his mind and render him favourable to them. For the Hebrew word mincha is used for such offerings as were presented to God in order to obtain his gracious regards.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments