the lefty and the locked room

Judges 3:14-26 (JDV)

Judges 3:14 The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab eighteen years.
Judges 3:15 Then the Israelites cried out to Yahveh, and he raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjaminite, as a deliverer for them. The Israelites sent him with the tribute for King Eglon of Moab.
Judges 3:16 Ehud made himself a double-edged sword eighteen inches long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his clothes
Judges 3:17 and brought the tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man.
Judges 3:18 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it.
Judges 3:19 At the carved images near Gilgal he returned and said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.” The king said, “Silence!” and all his attendants left him.
Judges 3:20 Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in his upstairs room where it was cool. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you,” and the king stood up from his throne.
Judges 3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.
Judges 3:22 Even the handle went in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And the waste came out.
Judges 3:23 Ehud escaped by way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him.
Judges 3:24 Ehud was gone when Eglon’s servants came in. They looked and noticed the doors of the upstairs room locked and thought he was relieving himself in the cool room.
Judges 3:25 The servants waited until they became embarrassed and noticed that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors – and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!
Judges 3:26 Ehud had escaped while the servants waited. He passed the Jordan near the carved images and reached Seirah.

the lefty and the locked room

Long before Agatha Christie, the Bible gave us a locked room mystery. Okay, it was not much of a mystery, because the Bible tells us who did it. But it is interesting that the first clue people had was a red herring. The smell made Eglon’s servants think that everything was okay. They thought their master was relieving himself.

Ehud — the left handed judge, had killed his people’s enemy, and retreated to organize his army to finish the job. Think about all the things that aligned just right in order for him to carry it off. When he saw the opportunity, he took it.

Lord, show us when the time is right for us to make a difference for you.