Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 3:22
And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
22. and it came out behind ] i.e. the sword; but this is hardly grammatical, for sword is fem. and came out is mas. The marg. he went out into the ante-chamber is merely based upon a guess of the LXX ( ). The AV. renders and the dirt came out, so Vulgate statimque per secreta naturae alvi stercora proruperunt, Targ., Jews, and many moderns, correcting the unknown and corrupt Hebr. word parshdon to peresh = dung. “This somewhat drastic touch is altogether in the vein of the narrator” (Moore); cf. Jdg 3:16-17 ; Jdg 3:24 b. On the other hand the clause is so much like the words at the beginning of the next verse in Hebr., that it may be a dittograph, a miswritten form of what follows.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The King James Version and margin give different explanations of the last words of this verse. Others explain it of a vestibule or chamber, through which Ehud passed into the porch where the entrance doors were. He locked the doors, took the key with him; and then retired through the midst of the attendants below (or: more probably, through the door which communicated directly with the outside).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. The haft also went in after the blade] As the instrument was very short, and Eglon very corpulent, this might readily take place.
And the dirt came out] This is variously understood: either the contents of the bowels issued through the wound, or he had an evacuation in the natural way through the fright and anguish.
The original, parshedonah, occurs only here, and is supposed to be compounded of peresh, dung, and shadah, to shed, and may be very well applied to the latter circumstance; so the Vulgate understood it: Statinque per secreta naturae alvi stercora proruperunt.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. His excrements came forth, not at the wound, which closed up, but at the fundament, as is usual when persons die either a natural or violent death.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the haft went in, after the blade,…. The handle of the dagger, as well as the blade; so strong and violent was the thrust, he determining to do his business effectually;
and the fat closed upon the blade; being an excessive fat man, the wound made by the dagger closed up at once upon it, through the fat:
so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; being not able to take hold of the haft or handle, that having slipped in through the fat after the blade, so that he was obliged to leave it in him:
and the dirt came out; the margin of our Bibles is, “it came out at the fundament”; that is, the dagger did, the thrust being so strong and vehement; but that is not so likely, the dagger being so short, and Eglon a very fat man. The Targum is,
“his food went out;”
which was in his bowels; but as the wound was closed up through fat, and the dagger stuck fast in it, it could not come out that way: rather therefore this is to he understood of his excrements, and of their coming out at the usual place, it being common for persons that die a violent death, and indeed others, to purge upon it; some, as Kimchi observes, interpret it of the place where the guards were, the guard room, through which Ehud went out, but that is expressed in another word in Jud 3:23; the Syriac and Arabic versions read, “he went out in haste”, that is, Ehud.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(22) The haft also went in after the blade.The tremendous violence of the blow marks that resoluteness of character which Ehud shows throughout. The Hebrew for blade is flame, as the LXX. here render it. It is as though the vivid narrator would make us see the flash of the dagger ere it is buried, hilt and all, in the huge body. So in Nah. 3:3 we have, The horseman lifteth up the flame of the sword and the lightning of the spear. The only other passage where the word occurs is to describe the polished head of the spear of Goliath (1Sa. 17:7).
So that he could not draw the dagger out.Thus he had disarmed himself by the force of his own blow; but the original only says, for he did not draw the dagger out.
And the dirt came out.The meaning of this clause is excessively doubtful, because the Hebrew word rendered dirt (parsedonah) occurs here and here only. (1) Our E.V. follows the Chaldee and the Vulgate with the alternative rendering (2) it came out at the fundament (marg.), which is the view of Gesenius. The Jews were themselves uncertain of the meaning and even in Rabbi Tanchums commentary we find that some understood it to mean (3) he (Ehud) ran out into the gallery. (4) A fourth guessthat of the Syriac versionis, he went out hastily. The LXX. omit it altogether, either because they thought that they were consulting proprietya tendency which they constantly showor because they could not rightly explain it. The resemblance of the word parsedonah to the word misdernah (porch), in the next clause, is certainly in favour of its meaning some part of the house. Ewald renders it, he rushed out into the gallery, which runs round the roof. He refers to Eze. 42:5. To understand it more exactly, we should require to know the structure of the house. Following the analogy of other Eastern houses, as described by Shaw, it seems that Eglons alijah was a separate building (domation, Jos.), or part of a building, with one door opening on a balcony, and another on a private staircase and closet (Jdg. 3:24). It was an inner room, and its outer door communicated with the house.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. The dirt came out The meaning of the word translated dirt is quite uncertain. The English version errs in making , parshedonah, rendered the dirt, the subject of the verb came out; for, as Gesenius says, “the He paragogic implies rather the place to which a thing comes out.” It seems, therefore, better to understand this obscure word as denoting either the place on Eglon’s body where the blade of Ehud’s dagger came out, or else an apartment of Eglon’s palace into which Ehud came out. This latter is, perhaps, preferable. Three apartments seem to be mentioned: the private parlour, (Jdg 3:20,) the hall, and the porch, (Jdg 3:23.) Having buried his dagger in Eglon’s body, Ehud went out through the hall and porch, and so escaped. Bachmann thinks the parshe-donah was a flat roof, upon which Ehud came out from the chamber where he assassinated Eglon, and that it is further defined by the word porch, in the next verse, which, in his view, means not an ordinary porch, but the platform of the roof, enclosed by lattice work.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the haft also went in, after the blade, and the fat closed on the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and it came out behind.’
The powerful thrust went straight through the fat king, with his fat gripping the blade and swallowing the haft, and it clearly killed the king immediately for he made no cry for help. The last word in the Hebrew text is used only here and its meaning is not certain. It is possible that it refers to the fact that the terrified king could not control his functions (compare 2Sa 20:10). This would be seen as a lack of dignity fitting for such a tyrant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 3:22. So that he could not draw the daggerand the dirt came out The Hebrew word rendered dirt is found only here. It is after the Chaldee that we render it dirt or excrement. This account is so short, that it is no wonder various conjectures have been formed upon it, with which it would be as useless as tedious to acquaint the reader.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 3:22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
Ver. 22. And the dirt came out. ] Which was a sign of death. And here Ehud was a type of Christ, in that he alone slew Eglon, as Christ alone doth all our enemies.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
haft = handle. Hebrew. nizzab, occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the dirt came out: or, it came out at the fundament, Jdg 3:22
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 3:22. And the dirt came out The Hebrew word , parschedona, here translated dirt, is found only in this place. It is from the Chaldee that it is thus rendered, and all agree that it signifies the excrements.