performing it he was acting under a | tion of his purpose? How could he divine commission, or prompted otherwise presume to think that he, merely by a self-moved impulse of a single person, and disabled in his patriotism to free his country from right hand, could reach the heart of the yoke of a usurper and a tyrant. the king amidst the circle of his offiIf the latter were the fact we have cers and guards? How could he exno disposition to justify the course pect, enemy as he was, to be admitted adopted by Ehud, although it may be to a private interview? And if adplausibly maintained to be according mitted, how could he have looked to the acknowledged right of nature for an incident so favorable to his and of nations for subjects to free object as the king's ordering all the themselves from bondage and restore company to leave the room? And liberty to a country unjustly enslaved then, should he succeed in dispatchby taking the life of their oppressor.ing the king, what prospect had he Most nations, both in ancient and of effecting his escape ?-and yet, modern times, that have recovered should he fail to escape, the whole themselves from political thraldom, enterprise, as far as the deliverance have taken this course, and appar- of his country was concerned, would ently with the approbation of the have been abortive. We cannot great mass of mankind. At any therefore resist the evidence arising rate, the objection, against this act from these considerations that Ehud of Ehud as a base assassination, acted in this matter in virtue of a comes with an ill grace from those commission from God, who saw fit who admire and eulogise the conduct thus to punish the oppressor of his of Brutus in stabbing Cæsar in the people after having first made use of senate-house, on the plea of ridding | him for their correction. He would his country of a tyrant. But the of course know that the prompting deed of Ehud is doubtless to be vin- to the act was of God, by the Spirit dicated on other grounds. There is that came upon him, the impulses of every reason, we think, to look upon which carried their own evidence him as moved to this undertaking by along with them, and so gave him an impulse from above. It is ex-full assurance at once of the lawfulpressly said, v. 15, that God raised ness and the success of the attempt, him up as a savior to the country, of both which he would otherwise and how could he save his country | have had the utmost reason to doubt. but by crushing the power which 'If he be sure that God bids him do held it in subjection? Again, we it, he is sure both that he may do it, are brought to the same conclusion and that he shall do it; for a comby considering the peculiar circum- mand from God is sufficient to bear stances under which the deed was us out, and to bring us off, both accomplished. In view of the dan-against our consciences and against gers attending it, what but the confi- all the world.' Henry. It is not dence of being divinely directed however to be imagined that Ehud's could have induced him, after dis- conduct is to be followed as a precemissing his attendants at Gilgal, to dent; for no man can dare to follow return alone and attempt the execu- it unless he have infallible evidence 22 And the haft also went in 24 When he was gone out, his after the blade: and the fat servants came; and when they closed upon the blade, so that saw that, behold, the doors he could not draw the dagger of the parlor were locked, they out of his belly; and the dirt said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer-chamber. came out. 23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them. 25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor, therefore they took a key colloquial form of expression for lying down to sleep. When this was done they dropped their slip that he is called of God to do it; but as no man can expect such a call at this time, no man can without the deepest criminality presume to imi-pers, lifted up their feet, and covtate his example. 22. And the dirt came out. According to some, and it (the blade) went out behind.' The obscurity of the original renders it difficult to affix any determinate sense to the words. 23. Ehud went forth, &c. By a remarkable providence, Eglon fell silently without uttering any shriek or outcry, which might have been overheard by his servants at a distance. His dying groans seem to have been stifled in his own fat, and thus the escape of his executioner was signally favored. Ehud accordingly walked forth, shutting and locking the doors, and probably taking the key with him, with such an air of composure and innocence as gave no ground of suspicion to any of the guards that he might have passed, of what had taken place within. His calm and sedate demeanor under such trying circumstances is to be resolved into that strong confidence in God, by which he was actuated in executing the commission. 24. He covereth his feet. This appears to have been an idiomatic and ered them with their long loose garments. Thus in the only other place where this phrase occurs, 1 Sam. 24. 3, we read, that Saul 'went into a cave to cover his feet,' i. e. to refresh himself by sleep. This interpretation, though varying from that of several of the ancient versions, which regard it as a euphemism for a dif ferent act, is confirmed by the Arabic and Syriac, and also by Josephus, who says, 'The king's servants were very still, as supposing that the king had composed himself to sleep.' From the case of Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 4. 5, and of David, 2 Sam. 11. 2, it is evident that the custom of taking repose in those hot countries in the middle of the day was by no means unusual. 25. Tarried till they were ashamed. That is, perplexed, confounded, not knowing what to make of it. They were greatly agitated between the fear of disturbing him on the one hand, and of neglecting their duty on the other. Though the primary import of the original is that of feeling shame, yet it is also in repeated instances found to be closely connected with the idea of disappoint and opened them: and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried; and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. 28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for a the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. b 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand 27 And it came to pass when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of men, all lusty, and all men of Israel went down with him from | valor: and there escaped not a the mount, and he before them. y ch. 5. 14, and 6. 34. 1 Sam. 13. 3. z Josh. 17. 15. ch. 7. 24, and 17. 1, and 19. 1. ment in long waiting, and consequent perplexity, chagrin, mortification. Thus Jer. 14. 3, 'And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they have come to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.' Job. 6. 19, 20, The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither and were ashamed.' Comp. Ps. 6. 1; Jer. 14. 4; Is. 19. 9.- T Behold, their lord was fallen down. Heb. D adonëhem, their lords, pl. according to the Heb. idiom. See on Gen. 1. 1. 'God, when he hath chastened his children, doth many times cast the rod into the fire.' Trapp. 27. Blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim. That is, caused trumpets to be blown in different directions throughout that region. By the 'mountain of Ephraim,' is not meant any particular mountain, but the mountainous tract or district generally. Ehud, though a Benjamite, applied first to the tribe of Ephraim, man. a ch. 7. 9, 15. 1 Sam. 17. 47. b Josh. 2. 7. ch. 12. 5. probably for the reason that that tribe, lying immediately contiguous, was more numerous than his own, and had more men to spare, as the Benjamites not long before, in consequence of the events mentioned ch. 19-21, seem to have been reduced to a mere handful. It is not unlikely, moreover, that the Ephraimites had been the principal sufferers under the rod of Moab.- -T The children of Israel went down from the mount. After being collected in considerable numbers by his emissaries. 28. Took the fords of Jordan. He first secured these passes and set a strong guard upon them, to cut off all communication between the Moabites on the west, and those in their own country on the east of Jordan, so that those who might attempt to fly should have no means of escape, and those who might resolve to fight no prospect of assistance from abroad. 'He thus shut them up in that land as their prison, in which they were pleasing themselves as their palace and paradise.' Henry. 29. All lusty, and all men of valor. The best and choicest of all the king 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel; and ©the land had rest fourscore years. 31 T And after him was d Sham gar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad; fand he also delivered * Israel. e 1 Sam. 17. 47, 50. f ch. 2. 16. f ch. 2. 16. g ch.4. c ver. 11. d ch. 5. 6, 8. 1 Sam. 13. 19, 22. 1, 3, &c. and 10. 7, 17, and 11. 4, &c. 1 Sam. of Moab's forces, picked troops, composed of men of bulk and stature, able-bodied and high-spirited, whom Eglon had stationed on that side the Jordan to overawe and keep Israel in subjection. Chal. 'every one terrible and full of valor.' 31. After him was Shamgar. Of the tribe and family of Shamgar nothing is said in the Scripture, except that he was the son of Anath, nor are we informed how long he judged Israel. From his having to do principally with the Philistines, it is probable that he originated in one of the tribes bordering upon their territory, as perhaps that of Judah or Dan. -¶With an ox-goad. Heb. malmad, from the root 3 lamad, to teach, and literally rendered an instructer of oxen ;' i. e. an instrument by which they are brought into due subjection, analogous to which we have, Hos. 10. 11, eglëh malmedâh, a heifer that is taught, and Jer. 31. 18, 'I was chastised keëgel lo lummâd, as a bullock not taught, i. e. not trained to subjection, though rendered less accurately in our translation, 'unaccustomed to the yoke.' The Sept. and Vulg. render the original by a coulter or ploughshare, but that the ox-goad still used in Palestine is a weapon sufficiently destructive for this purpose, if wielded by a strong and skilful hand, appears highly probable from the description of this implement given by Maundrell. He 4. 1. says, 'the country people were now everywhere at plough in the fields, in order to sow cotton. It was observable, that in ploughing they used goads of extraordinary size; upon measuring of several, I found them eight feet long, and at the bigger end six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen, at the other end with a small spade, or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleansing the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. May we not from hence conjecture, that it was with such a goad as one of these, that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related of him, Judges 3. 21? I am confident that whoever should see one of these instruments, would judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such an execution. Goads of this sort I saw always used hereabouts, and also in Syria; and the reason is, because the same single person both drives the oxen, and also holds and manages the plough; which makes it necessary to use such a goad as is above described, to avoid the encumbrance of two instruments.' This is confirmed by Mr. Buckingham, who, in describing his journey from Soor (Tyre) to Acre, remarks of the ploughing that he witnessed, that oxen were yoked in pairs, and the plough was small and of simple construction, so that it seemed necessary CHAPTER IV. of the LORD when Ehud was ND a the children of Israel | dead. | a ch. 2. 19. An for two to follow each other in the 1. 13, where Othniel is said to have taken Kirjath-sepher, though no one CHAPTER IV. 1. The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. This mode of expression when used, as here, of the whole body of the nation, seems to imply a general and open defection from the worship of God, so that the services of the sanctuary were in a great measure neglected. |