Weapons and Warfare
0 Amens
Introduction
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love movies. And if you know me well you also know that my taste in movies is perfect, flawless, and far superior to everyone else’s. You might disagree but it doesn’t matter. Because I’m the one with the microphone and I have the privilege of propagating my views whenever I please. Of course I’m mostly kidding. I am not really a movie snob -- really. But I have seen enough movies to know what elements help make for a great film. At the heart of all good movies is conflict, a significant conflict that disrupts the status quo. In bad movies this conflict exists for itself. In good movies this conflict exists to develop the characters by putting them in tight situations and forcing them to make difficult decisions. Good movies also tell stories that are true in the sense that they have something to say about the way real life is or the way real life should be. All of these elements are present in chapter 3 of the book of Judges, which we’re going to study together today. Reading through this chapter is like watching a good movie. It has all the essential elements – drama, conflict, interesting characters, and true insight into the human condition. It also has a lot of the other elements that make for an exciting movie. It has action. Murder. Guts. Gore. Irony. Deceit. A happy ending. It even has humor. Both ethnic humor and bathroom humor. It’s nothing like the stories you remember from Sunday school. It’s nothing like an episode of Veggie Tales. It’s nothing like many of the sermons we’ve heard at church or on TV. It’s much more like a film. A good film. And one that would likely be R-rated for reasons we’ll soon see.
The First Cycle – Othniel
Turn with me if you will to Judges 3:7-30. If you were here last week you should already know how the story begins. It’s much like when you go to see a genre film – a gangster film, a romantic comedy, an action film – whatever. When you watch a genre film you know the basic order of events that will transpire before you even start the movie. You know that all romantic comedies follow a certain plot cycle. Guy meets girl. Girl isn’t that into guy. There seems to be no hope of them getting together. But through a series of coincidences the unlikely couple does get together. And they’re having a great time. Such a good time that the filmmakers want to emphasize it by giving us a montage sequence with clips of them having fun together in a number of different environments while a happy, upbeat love song plays in the back. Of course because you’ve seen enough romantic comedies you know that this won’t last. Something will happen that will cause this happy couple to break up. “We should have never gotten together,” they’ll say. “It was a mistake.” “We knew we weren’t right for each other from the beginning.” But, in the end, you know that love will prevail and the unlikely couple will reunite happier than ever. Because you know the genre you know the plot cycle it’s going to follow. You don’t know the specific events or characters but you know where everything is heading. That’s what we find in Judges chapter 3. We know that this story is going to follow a certain cycle. It’s going to follow the same cycle as every other story in the book. That’s not because God is not creative. It’s because human beings are predictable. We are stubborn, selfish people and our choices reflect that. It’s also because the author already told us about this cycle in chapter 2. Each section of this book is going to follow that same cycle. Idolatry, oppression, deliverance, idolatry. The Israelites commit idolatry, their idolatry leads them to suffer oppression, Yahweh has compassion on his people and delivers them, and then the Israelites return once again to idolatry.
In verse 7 the cycle begins with idolatry, “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” From idolatry comes oppression in verse 8, “The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathiam king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.” And then, in his compassion, Yahweh delivers his people. Verse 9, “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” Now of course these people didn’t deserve to be delivered. They didn’t repent. They cried out in anguish but there is no sign of true repentance. Yet Yahweh delivered them anyway. He knew they were going to return to idolatry. Yet Yahweh delivered them anyway. As we’ve seen the last two weeks Yahweh is both a warrior and a lover. He goes to war against idolatry and the evil and oppression that it produces and he loves his people even as they whore themselves out to other gods. He is faithful to the unfaithful. Loving to the unlovable. Gracious to the ungrateful. Anything good that comes to his people has nothing to do with them and everything to do with him. Verse 10 confirms this. “The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war.” Notice the wording here. It doesn’t say that Othniel became Israel’s judge and went to war so the Spirit of the Lord came on him. It says the Spirit of the Lord came on him so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The deliverance was initiated and empowered by Yahweh, not Othniel, and certainly not Israel. Keep reading in verse 10, “The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” The Lord gave the king into his hands. Again we are reminded that any good that happens to idolatrous Israel, any good that happens to the people of God, any good that happens to you and me is solely a product of Yahweh’s goodness. Because of him, as we read in verse 11, the people had rest. Now I wish we could stop there but that’s not the end of the cycle. Remember it goes idolatry, oppression, deliverance and then idolatry again. Look at verse 12, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.” Here we see the cycle begin again with Israel’s idolatry and Israel’s idolatry results in Israel’s oppression. But this is not the end of the story.
The Second Cycle – Ehud
All of this sets the stage for the dramatic story of an Israelite named Ehud and a pagan king named Eglon. Eglon was the king of Moab. He ruled over Israel for 18 years. The Scripture says quite bluntly, “(he) was a very fat man.” Now the author of this book is not a junior high student. He’s not just name calling here, “hey, king fatso.” He’s making a more significant point. He’s pointing out the contrast between Moab and Israel. Moab’s leader is powerful and prosperous -- his belly is full, he takes what he wants. Israel is powerless and barren. They are subjects to their oppressor. They are hopeless. So in their hopelessness they cry out in anguish to Yahweh. Again, there is no mention of repentance. But Yahweh responds in compassion by giving them a deliverer. A man named Ehud. The text tells us that Ehud is a left-handed man. That may seem insignificant but it becomes a key element of the plot as it unfolds.
For now we can say that Eglon was a good tyrant. Like any oppressive governor worth his salt Eglon expected that his subjects pay him tribute. And because he had the power to squash them the Israelites didn’t have much of a choice. In that way he was a lot like the IRS. I can get away with that now because David doesn’t work for them anymore. But I digress. Eglon ruled over Israel and demanded that they pay him tribute. The Israelites submitted, they had to, and paid him tribute. Most likely they paid him in agricultural produce. They didn’t have UPS then so paying the king’s tribute in the form of agricultural produce would require a team of men who could transport it and deliver it to him themselves. And that’s what they did. Israel sent a team of men to carry the tribute and they sent Ehud, the left-handed man, as their ambassador. Ehud was prepared for the task but he planned on delivering more than some good food. He had also prepared a double-edged dagger, about a foot long, that he hid underneath his clothing, strapped to his right thigh. A right-handed man would have strapped the dagger to his left thigh and the king’s attendants would surely have found it when they searched him. But because let-handedness was and is uncommon the king’s attendants were not as likely to check the right-thigh during a weapons search. And they didn’t.
Ehud entered into the upper room of King Eglon’s palace along with the people of Israel carrying the tribute. Eglon received him and the tribute and then Ehud and the other Israelites turned to leave. They continued to walk away from the palace until Ehud reached the stone images near Gilgal. Around this time Ehud dismissed his fellow-Israelites who carried the tribute. Their work was done. But his was not. In true action hero style he had to have a one-on-one encounter with his enemy. After walking by these stone idols he turned around and walked back toward the palace and back toward Eglon in the upper room. He stood before the king and his attendants and announced, “Your majesty, I have a secret message for you.” Perhaps Eglon thought it was another tribute? Perhaps Eglon thought that Ehud received a message from the gods as he walked by the idols? Either way the greedy king was eager to receive his secret message. He shouted to his attendants, “Leave us!” and they left.
Ehud now stood before Eglon alone in the upper room of his palace. The king waited expectantly as Ehud walked towards him. “I have a message from God for you,” he announced. The king stood up from his seat to receive this special message. Little did he know that God’s message for him was judgment. Ehud quickly reached his left hand under his garment, removed the dagger, and thrust it into the king’s belly. He pushed the dagger in so deep that even the handle sank in after the blade and Eglon’s fat closed in around it. Under this sharp pressure Eglon’s anal sphincter exploded and the contents of his bowels emptied all over the floor. In the name of Yahweh Ehud beat the crap out of Eglon, both figuratively and literally. The grotesque imagery and language that we find here is symbolic of something else. It is symbolic of a sacrifice offered to Yahweh. Even the name of the king, Eglon, means “fat bull.” And just like an animal sacrifice he was killed, disemboweled, and offered to Yahweh by Ehud on behalf of Israel. After slaughtering his sacrifice Ehud left the dagger in the dead king’s belly and locked the doors to the upper room from the inside. This would give him time to make his escape out of the guarded palace through the king’s private porch.
By this time King Eglon’s attendants assumed that Ehud had finished presenting the secret message. So they reached to open the doors to the upper room…but they were locked. Normally that might make them suspicious. But not now. Because along with the locked doors the attendants noticed a very powerful odor coming from the King’s upper room. Remember what spilled on the ground as Ehud stabbed him? So the combination of the locked door and the extremely strong odor led the attendants to conclude that their king was relieving himself. So they politely and patiently waited outside of his room. And they waited. And they waited. And they waited. And every moment that they waited was another moment that Ehud had to get farther and farther away from the castle and make his escape. After waiting and waiting and waiting the king’s attendants began to get embarrassed. You know how that can be, right? Have you ever had someone excuse themselves to use the restroom and the more minutes that pass the more awkward it gets. Is he still in there? He must really have it bad. Part of you wants to go to the door and make sure he’s okay, make sure he didn’t pass out. Well the people in the Bible are no different than us. Judges 3:25 says they waited to the point of embarrassment. Finally they got the key to the door and opened it…only to discover their king, their lord, their leader lying dead in his own excrement. By then they had no hope of catching Ehud.
Ehud escaped and when he arrived in Seirah he blew a trumpet to call Israel to arms. With the leader of the Moabites dead Ehud was able to make this announcement that we see in Verse 28, “Follow me, for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” And that is precisely what happened. The Israelites followed Ehud and the Lord gave 10,000 Moabites into their hands. That day they had peace and rest from oppression. Remember why the cycle began: Israel committed idolatry. Because of their idolatry they experienced 18 years of oppression. And though they deserved to remain in this position Yahweh had mercy on them. In his compassion he delivered them. He raised up Ehud to defeat the Moabite king and then gave the Moabites into the hands of his people. They could have never achieved their own deliverance. Remember they were subjects to this powerful people for 18 years! They also did nothing to deserve this deliverance. They didn’t even repent. Yahweh provided it in his grace knowing full well that the cycle would begin again and Israel would once again turn to worship other gods, even after Yahweh’s miraculous deliverance.
Learning from Ehud
So what? What does this mean for you and for me? How is this ancient story of this ancient people relevant to each of us in this room? What’s the message here? Let me tell you first what the message is not. The message is not, “go out and be like Ehud.” Ehud is not the hero of this story. Yahweh is. We have to be very careful to remember that the Bible is not a book about us. It is a book about Yahweh. It is God’s written revelation of himself. Jesus taught on at least three different occasions that he is the fulfillment of all of Scripture and that the purpose of all of Scripture is to testify about him. You should memorize these passages -- Luke 24, John 5:39, and Matthew 5:17 – and beware of any teacher or author that takes a passage like this and makes it primarily about us and what we must do. The message is not, “be like Ehud.” The message is “Yahweh is powerful and merciful, put your trust in him.”
The author of Judges makes no attempt to present Ehud as an exemplary character. Sure, he does have qualities that we should want to imitate. For one he was willing to risk his own life in order to help the people of God. Certainly this community would look a lot different if we were willing to serve Jesus and his people at the risk of our own lives. We should also want to imitate the motivation behind Ehud’s self-sacrifice. He did what he did not because he was Superman but because he trusted that Yahweh was powerful and good. He knew that Yahweh would deliver his people. These are good qualities. And they are qualities that some of the judges we’ll read about desperately lack.
But while Ehud has qualities we should imitate he also has qualities we should hate. By no means is he our moral example. He is far from flawless as this text makes clear. Ehud is a master deceiver. His entire strategy for victory is a strategy of deceit and dishonesty. He is fighting the right battle but he is using the wrong weapons. You’ll notice as you read through the book of Judges that Yahweh gives specific instructions to several of the Judges. He tells them how to approach the enemy and how to achieve victory. Not so with Ehud. Yahweh is silent here. This deception is not Yahweh’s strategy. It is Ehud’s strategy. He is fighting Yahweh’s war with man’s weapons. He is fighting Yahweh’s war in man’s way. And this is where I think we can see ourselves.
As we’ve looked at the book of Judges together we have seen that Yahweh is a warrior. He wages war against evil and idolatry and against the oppression and injustice that it produces. In the period of the Judges Yahweh waged this war in a physical way through physical weapons against a physical enemy. This all changed when he came to us in Jesus Christ. On the Cross Jesus waged war against evil not by killing but by being killed, not by defeating evil people but by defeating the powers behind evil people. Because of this, now, today, Yahweh wages war in a spiritual way through spiritual weapons against a spiritual enemy. In the book of Judges the people of God fashion whatever weapons they can find: double-edged daggers, ox goads, tent pegs, and so on. But today the people of God have one weapon and only one weapon. That weapon is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done declared with our lips and demonstrated with our lives. This is how Yahweh wages war against evil, idolatry, oppression, and injustice. This is how Yahweh exercises his grace and liberates people from oppression.
Oh, how the Christian Church needs to be reminded of that again and again. Oh, how this church needs to be reminded of that again and again. Many of you who are here tonight call this your home church. You have joined this church because you value the church’s mission to be drawn to Christ by the gospel, developed in community through the gospel, and to be deployed into culture with the gospel. Because you value this mission and because this is your church, your community, you want to see this church grow. You want to see new people coming, new people liberated, new people joining the mission. These are good goals. These are Yahweh’s goals, Yahweh’s war. But these goals and this war can quickly be abused by us and by the rest of the American Church. We can quickly stray from fighting Yahweh’s war with Yahweh’s weapons to fighting Yahweh’s war with human weapons. That’s what Ehud did. And we are in danger of doing this too.
The longer that we exist as a church the more likely we are to trust in human weapons instead of in Yahweh’s weapon. For every week that we exist that we don’t see the results we want to see we become more and more likely to trust in our weapons rather than Yahweh’s weapon. And there is no shortage of human weapons available to us. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be fundraising. If we just had more money than our church would grow. We could do more things and attract more people. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be a certain type of music. If we just had this musician or that musician doing this type of music the church would grow and we would impact this community. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be human influence. If we just had a few key people, some influential people, maybe even some local celebrities attend this church then our church would become more attractive and our message more credible. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be a more human-centered message. If we spent more time talking about the personal benefits of being a Christian more people would want to become Christians and join our mission. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be subtle manipulation. By promising rewards for certain behaviors and punishment for others we could have more active volunteers and more consistent financial givers and all of this would make our church grow. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be political activity. If we just supported this candidate or that candidate and pushed for this policy or that policy then we would truly make an impact in our community. Some would say we need to adopt tested and approved church-growth strategies. If we just followed this church-growth principle and that church-growth principle then our church would grow. But I say to hell with church growth strategies! They say don’t meet on Sunday night but we refuse to listen to them because the gospel draws people to Jesus not good scheduling. They say we need to have a homogenous/uni-racial/uni-cultural church and we refuse to listen because the gospel does not divide people it unites people. We do not fulfill Yahweh’s mission with our weapons. We wage Yahweh’s war with Yahweh’s weapon. And he has given us one weapon: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
People will not be liberated through human creativity or ingenuity or even through human power or influence. People will only be liberated through the gospel of Jesus Christ declared and demonstrated by his people. That means that we will have to walk by faith and not by sight. There may be many times that we proclaim the gospel and do not see the immediate results we want to see. But this is a spiritual war not a physical one. We must have faith that even when we cannot see it Yahweh is liberating his people and building his church. So if you want to see this church grow and if you want to see people liberated from oppression you must trust in Jesus and not in yourself or in your church. You must use the weapon he has given you. You cannot wait for your pastors to design the perfect program or come up with the perfect strategy. You cannot wait for the church to have the “right” music or the “right” people or the “right” preacher. These are human weapons. You have been given the only weapon that actually works. And Yahweh expects you to use it.
But this isn’t just relevant to the Church. It’s relevant to all of us as individuals. And that’s true whether we call ourselves Christians or not. We all want to experience peace. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – war and pacifism. But only the gospel can secure peace for us because only the gospel assures us that we are reconciled to God and to one another through Jesus. We all want to earn approval and acceptance. We could try to make that happen with human weapons – doing this and having that. But only the gospel can secure approval and acceptance for us because only the gospel assures us that even when we fail miserably we are approved and accepted by God because of Jesus. We all want to feel safe and secure. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – money and career. But only the gospel can secure us because only the gospel assures us that no matter what we may lose we will never lose the thing that is most valuable, most beautiful, and most treasured which is Jesus. We all want to experience joy. We could rely on human weapons to chase that – our relationships and our passions. But only the gospel can secure joy for us because only the gospel can assure us that our life has meaning, and purpose, and value because we were created by Jesus, redeemed by Jesus, and given a mission by Jesus who loves us. We all want the world that is to be the world as it ought to be. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – politics and education. But only the gospel can turn the world that is into the world as it ought to be because only the gospel turns evil people into righteous people, broken people into whole people, enemies into brothers, injustice into justice, and wrong into right.
The Completed Cycle – Jesus
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only weapon that wins the wars that matter. And it is the most unique of weapons. Because the gospel message is not just our means to victory it is the proclamation that we already have victory. Remember what happened with Ehud? He defeated King Eglon, the leader of the Moabites. And as soon as he defeated their leader he blew the trumpet and announced that the Israelites had been freed and their enemies had been given into their hands. While Ehud wasn’t the last deliverer Yahweh sent. Ehud was a shadow of a perfect and final deliverer to come. That perfect and final deliverer, of course, is Jesus. He too has defeated the leader who is responsible for our oppression. And he has blown the trumpet announcing that we have been freed and our enemies have been given into our hands. The gospel is not just our means to victory it is our proclamation that victory is already achieved. Listen to these words from Colossians 2:13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” This is all past tense: having disarmed, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
In those three hours on the cross Jesus waged the perfect war as the perfect warrior. In three hours he defeated all of our oppressors: Satan who deceives us, the law that condemns us, the sin that destroys us, and the death that exiles us. And if there was any doubt that Jesus conquered all of these things on the cross it was removed when Yahweh raised him from the dead, proving that these enemies could oppress us and enslave us no more. Ephesians 1:20-22 says this, “…he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that can be invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything…”
The message of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done is not just our means to victory it is our announcement of victory. Yahweh has sent a deliverer and that deliverer has freed us from our oppression by defeating the leaders that oppress us. Unlike Ehud, Jesus was not an imperfect man fighting on behalf of a perfect God. Instead, he was the perfect God fighting on behalf of imperfect men. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not fashion a dagger so that he could attack our oppressors. Instead, he fashioned himself in the form of a man so that our oppressors could attack him. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not secure our deliverance by killing but by being killed. Unlike Ehud, who would die and be followed by another deliverer, Jesus still lives so that there is no need for another deliverer. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not win us peace and rest from our enemies for 80 years. He won us peace and rest for now and for eternity. You and I could trust in our wisdom and our effort and our techniques and our power to get what we need and want…but why? Why would we do that when the gospel is our means of victory and our proclamation of victory. Let this be what we trust in. Let this be what we declare. Let this be what we demonstrate. And let not one of us fail to join Jesus on his mission by bringing this gospel into every relationship we enter into.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love movies. And if you know me well you also know that my taste in movies is perfect, flawless, and far superior to everyone else’s. You might disagree but it doesn’t matter. Because I’m the one with the microphone and I have the privilege of propagating my views whenever I please. Of course I’m mostly kidding. I am not really a movie snob -- really. But I have seen enough movies to know what elements help make for a great film. At the heart of all good movies is conflict, a significant conflict that disrupts the status quo. In bad movies this conflict exists for itself. In good movies this conflict exists to develop the characters by putting them in tight situations and forcing them to make difficult decisions. Good movies also tell stories that are true in the sense that they have something to say about the way real life is or the way real life should be. All of these elements are present in chapter 3 of the book of Judges, which we’re going to study together today. Reading through this chapter is like watching a good movie. It has all the essential elements – drama, conflict, interesting characters, and true insight into the human condition. It also has a lot of the other elements that make for an exciting movie. It has action. Murder. Guts. Gore. Irony. Deceit. A happy ending. It even has humor. Both ethnic humor and bathroom humor. It’s nothing like the stories you remember from Sunday school. It’s nothing like an episode of Veggie Tales. It’s nothing like many of the sermons we’ve heard at church or on TV. It’s much more like a film. A good film. And one that would likely be R-rated for reasons we’ll soon see.
The First Cycle – Othniel
Turn with me if you will to Judges 3:7-30. If you were here last week you should already know how the story begins. It’s much like when you go to see a genre film – a gangster film, a romantic comedy, an action film – whatever. When you watch a genre film you know the basic order of events that will transpire before you even start the movie. You know that all romantic comedies follow a certain plot cycle. Guy meets girl. Girl isn’t that into guy. There seems to be no hope of them getting together. But through a series of coincidences the unlikely couple does get together. And they’re having a great time. Such a good time that the filmmakers want to emphasize it by giving us a montage sequence with clips of them having fun together in a number of different environments while a happy, upbeat love song plays in the back. Of course because you’ve seen enough romantic comedies you know that this won’t last. Something will happen that will cause this happy couple to break up. “We should have never gotten together,” they’ll say. “It was a mistake.” “We knew we weren’t right for each other from the beginning.” But, in the end, you know that love will prevail and the unlikely couple will reunite happier than ever. Because you know the genre you know the plot cycle it’s going to follow. You don’t know the specific events or characters but you know where everything is heading. That’s what we find in Judges chapter 3. We know that this story is going to follow a certain cycle. It’s going to follow the same cycle as every other story in the book. That’s not because God is not creative. It’s because human beings are predictable. We are stubborn, selfish people and our choices reflect that. It’s also because the author already told us about this cycle in chapter 2. Each section of this book is going to follow that same cycle. Idolatry, oppression, deliverance, idolatry. The Israelites commit idolatry, their idolatry leads them to suffer oppression, Yahweh has compassion on his people and delivers them, and then the Israelites return once again to idolatry.
In verse 7 the cycle begins with idolatry, “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” From idolatry comes oppression in verse 8, “The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathiam king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.” And then, in his compassion, Yahweh delivers his people. Verse 9, “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” Now of course these people didn’t deserve to be delivered. They didn’t repent. They cried out in anguish but there is no sign of true repentance. Yet Yahweh delivered them anyway. He knew they were going to return to idolatry. Yet Yahweh delivered them anyway. As we’ve seen the last two weeks Yahweh is both a warrior and a lover. He goes to war against idolatry and the evil and oppression that it produces and he loves his people even as they whore themselves out to other gods. He is faithful to the unfaithful. Loving to the unlovable. Gracious to the ungrateful. Anything good that comes to his people has nothing to do with them and everything to do with him. Verse 10 confirms this. “The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war.” Notice the wording here. It doesn’t say that Othniel became Israel’s judge and went to war so the Spirit of the Lord came on him. It says the Spirit of the Lord came on him so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The deliverance was initiated and empowered by Yahweh, not Othniel, and certainly not Israel. Keep reading in verse 10, “The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” The Lord gave the king into his hands. Again we are reminded that any good that happens to idolatrous Israel, any good that happens to the people of God, any good that happens to you and me is solely a product of Yahweh’s goodness. Because of him, as we read in verse 11, the people had rest. Now I wish we could stop there but that’s not the end of the cycle. Remember it goes idolatry, oppression, deliverance and then idolatry again. Look at verse 12, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.” Here we see the cycle begin again with Israel’s idolatry and Israel’s idolatry results in Israel’s oppression. But this is not the end of the story.
The Second Cycle – Ehud
All of this sets the stage for the dramatic story of an Israelite named Ehud and a pagan king named Eglon. Eglon was the king of Moab. He ruled over Israel for 18 years. The Scripture says quite bluntly, “(he) was a very fat man.” Now the author of this book is not a junior high student. He’s not just name calling here, “hey, king fatso.” He’s making a more significant point. He’s pointing out the contrast between Moab and Israel. Moab’s leader is powerful and prosperous -- his belly is full, he takes what he wants. Israel is powerless and barren. They are subjects to their oppressor. They are hopeless. So in their hopelessness they cry out in anguish to Yahweh. Again, there is no mention of repentance. But Yahweh responds in compassion by giving them a deliverer. A man named Ehud. The text tells us that Ehud is a left-handed man. That may seem insignificant but it becomes a key element of the plot as it unfolds.
For now we can say that Eglon was a good tyrant. Like any oppressive governor worth his salt Eglon expected that his subjects pay him tribute. And because he had the power to squash them the Israelites didn’t have much of a choice. In that way he was a lot like the IRS. I can get away with that now because David doesn’t work for them anymore. But I digress. Eglon ruled over Israel and demanded that they pay him tribute. The Israelites submitted, they had to, and paid him tribute. Most likely they paid him in agricultural produce. They didn’t have UPS then so paying the king’s tribute in the form of agricultural produce would require a team of men who could transport it and deliver it to him themselves. And that’s what they did. Israel sent a team of men to carry the tribute and they sent Ehud, the left-handed man, as their ambassador. Ehud was prepared for the task but he planned on delivering more than some good food. He had also prepared a double-edged dagger, about a foot long, that he hid underneath his clothing, strapped to his right thigh. A right-handed man would have strapped the dagger to his left thigh and the king’s attendants would surely have found it when they searched him. But because let-handedness was and is uncommon the king’s attendants were not as likely to check the right-thigh during a weapons search. And they didn’t.
Ehud entered into the upper room of King Eglon’s palace along with the people of Israel carrying the tribute. Eglon received him and the tribute and then Ehud and the other Israelites turned to leave. They continued to walk away from the palace until Ehud reached the stone images near Gilgal. Around this time Ehud dismissed his fellow-Israelites who carried the tribute. Their work was done. But his was not. In true action hero style he had to have a one-on-one encounter with his enemy. After walking by these stone idols he turned around and walked back toward the palace and back toward Eglon in the upper room. He stood before the king and his attendants and announced, “Your majesty, I have a secret message for you.” Perhaps Eglon thought it was another tribute? Perhaps Eglon thought that Ehud received a message from the gods as he walked by the idols? Either way the greedy king was eager to receive his secret message. He shouted to his attendants, “Leave us!” and they left.
Ehud now stood before Eglon alone in the upper room of his palace. The king waited expectantly as Ehud walked towards him. “I have a message from God for you,” he announced. The king stood up from his seat to receive this special message. Little did he know that God’s message for him was judgment. Ehud quickly reached his left hand under his garment, removed the dagger, and thrust it into the king’s belly. He pushed the dagger in so deep that even the handle sank in after the blade and Eglon’s fat closed in around it. Under this sharp pressure Eglon’s anal sphincter exploded and the contents of his bowels emptied all over the floor. In the name of Yahweh Ehud beat the crap out of Eglon, both figuratively and literally. The grotesque imagery and language that we find here is symbolic of something else. It is symbolic of a sacrifice offered to Yahweh. Even the name of the king, Eglon, means “fat bull.” And just like an animal sacrifice he was killed, disemboweled, and offered to Yahweh by Ehud on behalf of Israel. After slaughtering his sacrifice Ehud left the dagger in the dead king’s belly and locked the doors to the upper room from the inside. This would give him time to make his escape out of the guarded palace through the king’s private porch.
By this time King Eglon’s attendants assumed that Ehud had finished presenting the secret message. So they reached to open the doors to the upper room…but they were locked. Normally that might make them suspicious. But not now. Because along with the locked doors the attendants noticed a very powerful odor coming from the King’s upper room. Remember what spilled on the ground as Ehud stabbed him? So the combination of the locked door and the extremely strong odor led the attendants to conclude that their king was relieving himself. So they politely and patiently waited outside of his room. And they waited. And they waited. And they waited. And every moment that they waited was another moment that Ehud had to get farther and farther away from the castle and make his escape. After waiting and waiting and waiting the king’s attendants began to get embarrassed. You know how that can be, right? Have you ever had someone excuse themselves to use the restroom and the more minutes that pass the more awkward it gets. Is he still in there? He must really have it bad. Part of you wants to go to the door and make sure he’s okay, make sure he didn’t pass out. Well the people in the Bible are no different than us. Judges 3:25 says they waited to the point of embarrassment. Finally they got the key to the door and opened it…only to discover their king, their lord, their leader lying dead in his own excrement. By then they had no hope of catching Ehud.
Ehud escaped and when he arrived in Seirah he blew a trumpet to call Israel to arms. With the leader of the Moabites dead Ehud was able to make this announcement that we see in Verse 28, “Follow me, for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” And that is precisely what happened. The Israelites followed Ehud and the Lord gave 10,000 Moabites into their hands. That day they had peace and rest from oppression. Remember why the cycle began: Israel committed idolatry. Because of their idolatry they experienced 18 years of oppression. And though they deserved to remain in this position Yahweh had mercy on them. In his compassion he delivered them. He raised up Ehud to defeat the Moabite king and then gave the Moabites into the hands of his people. They could have never achieved their own deliverance. Remember they were subjects to this powerful people for 18 years! They also did nothing to deserve this deliverance. They didn’t even repent. Yahweh provided it in his grace knowing full well that the cycle would begin again and Israel would once again turn to worship other gods, even after Yahweh’s miraculous deliverance.
Learning from Ehud
So what? What does this mean for you and for me? How is this ancient story of this ancient people relevant to each of us in this room? What’s the message here? Let me tell you first what the message is not. The message is not, “go out and be like Ehud.” Ehud is not the hero of this story. Yahweh is. We have to be very careful to remember that the Bible is not a book about us. It is a book about Yahweh. It is God’s written revelation of himself. Jesus taught on at least three different occasions that he is the fulfillment of all of Scripture and that the purpose of all of Scripture is to testify about him. You should memorize these passages -- Luke 24, John 5:39, and Matthew 5:17 – and beware of any teacher or author that takes a passage like this and makes it primarily about us and what we must do. The message is not, “be like Ehud.” The message is “Yahweh is powerful and merciful, put your trust in him.”
The author of Judges makes no attempt to present Ehud as an exemplary character. Sure, he does have qualities that we should want to imitate. For one he was willing to risk his own life in order to help the people of God. Certainly this community would look a lot different if we were willing to serve Jesus and his people at the risk of our own lives. We should also want to imitate the motivation behind Ehud’s self-sacrifice. He did what he did not because he was Superman but because he trusted that Yahweh was powerful and good. He knew that Yahweh would deliver his people. These are good qualities. And they are qualities that some of the judges we’ll read about desperately lack.
But while Ehud has qualities we should imitate he also has qualities we should hate. By no means is he our moral example. He is far from flawless as this text makes clear. Ehud is a master deceiver. His entire strategy for victory is a strategy of deceit and dishonesty. He is fighting the right battle but he is using the wrong weapons. You’ll notice as you read through the book of Judges that Yahweh gives specific instructions to several of the Judges. He tells them how to approach the enemy and how to achieve victory. Not so with Ehud. Yahweh is silent here. This deception is not Yahweh’s strategy. It is Ehud’s strategy. He is fighting Yahweh’s war with man’s weapons. He is fighting Yahweh’s war in man’s way. And this is where I think we can see ourselves.
As we’ve looked at the book of Judges together we have seen that Yahweh is a warrior. He wages war against evil and idolatry and against the oppression and injustice that it produces. In the period of the Judges Yahweh waged this war in a physical way through physical weapons against a physical enemy. This all changed when he came to us in Jesus Christ. On the Cross Jesus waged war against evil not by killing but by being killed, not by defeating evil people but by defeating the powers behind evil people. Because of this, now, today, Yahweh wages war in a spiritual way through spiritual weapons against a spiritual enemy. In the book of Judges the people of God fashion whatever weapons they can find: double-edged daggers, ox goads, tent pegs, and so on. But today the people of God have one weapon and only one weapon. That weapon is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the message of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done declared with our lips and demonstrated with our lives. This is how Yahweh wages war against evil, idolatry, oppression, and injustice. This is how Yahweh exercises his grace and liberates people from oppression.
Oh, how the Christian Church needs to be reminded of that again and again. Oh, how this church needs to be reminded of that again and again. Many of you who are here tonight call this your home church. You have joined this church because you value the church’s mission to be drawn to Christ by the gospel, developed in community through the gospel, and to be deployed into culture with the gospel. Because you value this mission and because this is your church, your community, you want to see this church grow. You want to see new people coming, new people liberated, new people joining the mission. These are good goals. These are Yahweh’s goals, Yahweh’s war. But these goals and this war can quickly be abused by us and by the rest of the American Church. We can quickly stray from fighting Yahweh’s war with Yahweh’s weapons to fighting Yahweh’s war with human weapons. That’s what Ehud did. And we are in danger of doing this too.
The longer that we exist as a church the more likely we are to trust in human weapons instead of in Yahweh’s weapon. For every week that we exist that we don’t see the results we want to see we become more and more likely to trust in our weapons rather than Yahweh’s weapon. And there is no shortage of human weapons available to us. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be fundraising. If we just had more money than our church would grow. We could do more things and attract more people. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be a certain type of music. If we just had this musician or that musician doing this type of music the church would grow and we would impact this community. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be human influence. If we just had a few key people, some influential people, maybe even some local celebrities attend this church then our church would become more attractive and our message more credible. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be a more human-centered message. If we spent more time talking about the personal benefits of being a Christian more people would want to become Christians and join our mission. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be subtle manipulation. By promising rewards for certain behaviors and punishment for others we could have more active volunteers and more consistent financial givers and all of this would make our church grow. Some would say that our weapon of choice should be political activity. If we just supported this candidate or that candidate and pushed for this policy or that policy then we would truly make an impact in our community. Some would say we need to adopt tested and approved church-growth strategies. If we just followed this church-growth principle and that church-growth principle then our church would grow. But I say to hell with church growth strategies! They say don’t meet on Sunday night but we refuse to listen to them because the gospel draws people to Jesus not good scheduling. They say we need to have a homogenous/uni-racial/uni-cultural church and we refuse to listen because the gospel does not divide people it unites people. We do not fulfill Yahweh’s mission with our weapons. We wage Yahweh’s war with Yahweh’s weapon. And he has given us one weapon: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
People will not be liberated through human creativity or ingenuity or even through human power or influence. People will only be liberated through the gospel of Jesus Christ declared and demonstrated by his people. That means that we will have to walk by faith and not by sight. There may be many times that we proclaim the gospel and do not see the immediate results we want to see. But this is a spiritual war not a physical one. We must have faith that even when we cannot see it Yahweh is liberating his people and building his church. So if you want to see this church grow and if you want to see people liberated from oppression you must trust in Jesus and not in yourself or in your church. You must use the weapon he has given you. You cannot wait for your pastors to design the perfect program or come up with the perfect strategy. You cannot wait for the church to have the “right” music or the “right” people or the “right” preacher. These are human weapons. You have been given the only weapon that actually works. And Yahweh expects you to use it.
But this isn’t just relevant to the Church. It’s relevant to all of us as individuals. And that’s true whether we call ourselves Christians or not. We all want to experience peace. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – war and pacifism. But only the gospel can secure peace for us because only the gospel assures us that we are reconciled to God and to one another through Jesus. We all want to earn approval and acceptance. We could try to make that happen with human weapons – doing this and having that. But only the gospel can secure approval and acceptance for us because only the gospel assures us that even when we fail miserably we are approved and accepted by God because of Jesus. We all want to feel safe and secure. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – money and career. But only the gospel can secure us because only the gospel assures us that no matter what we may lose we will never lose the thing that is most valuable, most beautiful, and most treasured which is Jesus. We all want to experience joy. We could rely on human weapons to chase that – our relationships and our passions. But only the gospel can secure joy for us because only the gospel can assure us that our life has meaning, and purpose, and value because we were created by Jesus, redeemed by Jesus, and given a mission by Jesus who loves us. We all want the world that is to be the world as it ought to be. We could rely on human weapons to make that happen – politics and education. But only the gospel can turn the world that is into the world as it ought to be because only the gospel turns evil people into righteous people, broken people into whole people, enemies into brothers, injustice into justice, and wrong into right.
The Completed Cycle – Jesus
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only weapon that wins the wars that matter. And it is the most unique of weapons. Because the gospel message is not just our means to victory it is the proclamation that we already have victory. Remember what happened with Ehud? He defeated King Eglon, the leader of the Moabites. And as soon as he defeated their leader he blew the trumpet and announced that the Israelites had been freed and their enemies had been given into their hands. While Ehud wasn’t the last deliverer Yahweh sent. Ehud was a shadow of a perfect and final deliverer to come. That perfect and final deliverer, of course, is Jesus. He too has defeated the leader who is responsible for our oppression. And he has blown the trumpet announcing that we have been freed and our enemies have been given into our hands. The gospel is not just our means to victory it is our proclamation that victory is already achieved. Listen to these words from Colossians 2:13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” This is all past tense: having disarmed, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
In those three hours on the cross Jesus waged the perfect war as the perfect warrior. In three hours he defeated all of our oppressors: Satan who deceives us, the law that condemns us, the sin that destroys us, and the death that exiles us. And if there was any doubt that Jesus conquered all of these things on the cross it was removed when Yahweh raised him from the dead, proving that these enemies could oppress us and enslave us no more. Ephesians 1:20-22 says this, “…he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that can be invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything…”
The message of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done is not just our means to victory it is our announcement of victory. Yahweh has sent a deliverer and that deliverer has freed us from our oppression by defeating the leaders that oppress us. Unlike Ehud, Jesus was not an imperfect man fighting on behalf of a perfect God. Instead, he was the perfect God fighting on behalf of imperfect men. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not fashion a dagger so that he could attack our oppressors. Instead, he fashioned himself in the form of a man so that our oppressors could attack him. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not secure our deliverance by killing but by being killed. Unlike Ehud, who would die and be followed by another deliverer, Jesus still lives so that there is no need for another deliverer. Unlike Ehud, Jesus did not win us peace and rest from our enemies for 80 years. He won us peace and rest for now and for eternity. You and I could trust in our wisdom and our effort and our techniques and our power to get what we need and want…but why? Why would we do that when the gospel is our means of victory and our proclamation of victory. Let this be what we trust in. Let this be what we declare. Let this be what we demonstrate. And let not one of us fail to join Jesus on his mission by bringing this gospel into every relationship we enter into.
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