Jehovah picks the winner, but the mortals do the work
Back when Eglon was the King of Moab, the Israelites went back to their old tricks. You know, intermarrying with the locals and worshiping local gods. This brings up an interesting point. What was so awesome about these other gods that made them so attractive to the Israelites? I mean seriously, it’s like every forty years that everyone forgets about Jehovah and starts back into polytheism.
Jehovah doesn’t like god-swapping OR interracial marriage, so He made Eglon and the Moabites strong. With this new help from Jehovah, the Moabites were able to conquer the Israelites and force them into slavery. After 18 years, the Israelites figured out polytheism was a bad move and started to pray to Jehovah again.
Jehovah was happy with the attention, so He went ahead and made a deliverer: Ehud the Left-Handed. The Israelites put together a ridiculously large gift for Eglon and gave it to Ehud for delivery. Ehud made a dagger, strapped it to his thigh, and went to see Eglon.
Once Ehud got to the king’s house, he sent away his slaves that carried the present and said to the king, “I have a secret message for you.” King Eglon loved secrets, so he sent away his guards and slaves. Once they were alone, Ehud said “It’s a message from God!” Then Ehud pulled the dagger off his thigh and made a brave left-handed thrust at Eglon.
The dagger easily pierced Eglon’s fat belly, and Ehud’s thrust was so strong and so true, that the dagger was buried past the hilt and could not be removed.
Because nobody was there to witness the murder, Ehud easily escaped and ran to find the Israelite army he left hidden on Mount Ephraim. This army attacked King Eglon’s people and pretty much wiped them out.
Moral: Jehovah helps strangers when the Israelites are bad; but when the Israelites pray, Jehovah helps them do the killing.
Ref: Judges 3:12-30
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