Sermon Cloud

Rebellion is in the human heart

The Ehud story starts with the fact that the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, 3:12. This isn’t just the ordinary evil that is in all of us – but that specific evil which especially angers God – it’s the evil in HIS eyes. Now you might think all evil is like this – and indeed God hates all sin. But surely the most offensive evil is to not let God be God.

This evil/sin that people – even we - commit is the classic sin of dethroning Yahweh, the living God.  The Jewish people preferred the local gods. 

What is God to do with such rebellion?  Here he gives them over to neighbouring Moab – just across the Jordan, under their fat king Eglon. In the NT, when people rebel, there is a repeated phrase: God gave them over – see Rom 1:24, 26, 28. - a terrible judgement.  Indeed hell is the same – God says:  If you want to stay out of my range; if you insist that your gods are to be preferred over me, then stay with them for ever. That’s fair, isn’t it?  That’s why no-one on judgement day will say God is unfair.  He gives us what we want.

Retribution is God’s work

It is becoming more and more clear that although we sing about our God being an awesome God, that’s not how we generally view him.  He’s been domesticated, making him rather soft and cuddly. If we want a God who is warm and loving, we must also have the same God who is hot and holy. This is the God who has wrath and anger – not the sort that erupts when least provoked, but the anger that burns against his very own people who blatantly disobey what he has asked of them. see 2:12b-14.

What is even more striking, is that God should intervene at all!  But that’s what he does; cos that’s his character; that’s his love for his people.  So, after 18 yrs, God steps in; he causes the people to cry to him. Yes, God puts that cry into our hearts, 14-15a.

God never ignores the cry of his people. Its not as though he’s asleep and we have to wake him up. We may have to wait for a solution – but its not cos God doesn’t hear. He responds in his own time – and in his own way.  The man he sends along to deliver them is a left-hander! The Benjamites were noted for their left-handedness; see Judges 20:15f.  This is ironic as Benjamin means "son of my right-hand".

Rescue is in the heart of God

This rescue would be every young boys dream story; indeed many of the judges are written to show the surprising methods God uses for rescue  - look at the next man Shamgar using an oxgoad, v. 31 – a cattle prod, a long stick to guide cattle; it had a sharp metal tip so was rather like a spear. Such an impromptu weapon is similar to Ehud’s home made sword, 3:16.

And of course, with a left-hander, the king would never expect it to be hidden down his right thigh.

God never ignores sin – all sin must be punished. Maybe it builds up over the years, and looks as though some people/nations get away with it. But in the end everyone gets their come-uppance. All sin gets punished – if not in this life, certainly in the next.

But God is not out to be vindictive; he is out to forgive and rescue. He uses various means – the oxgoad, and the home-made sword of Ehud. Ultimately of course the cross is the ultimate rescue. But here the man to do his saving work is left-handed Ehud.  Notice that he’s not called a murderer or a liar; he’s not an assassin or a deceiver – he is called a deliverer, 1:15 = a Saviour; one who will rescue

It’s a rather messy and unsavoury business this rescue, with all its trickery, and by looking too closely at the methods God uses, we might miss the heart of it. But imagine the situation the Jewish people are in:

·          Oppressed by this blubbery king of Moab

·          Living in poverty, eking out some sort of living in the hill country of Ephraim.

And who should God send to the rescue – a left-handed man, with a sword tucked down his trouser leg!

Some think all left-handers are outcasts. But of all people, a leftie – hardly one of the military/ political elite! 

I think we’re meant to laugh. And the humour continues with the extraordinary murder, and locking him in his toilet. When the men finally break in they see – 25 their lord fallen to the floor, dead.  – the massive bulk is on the floor, with a sword all the way through him – and Ehud’s long fled

Ehud comes as the head of a delegation to pay tribute money to the fat king.

You see God uses various means to rescue us – ultimately as I say, the cross of Jesus. The heart of God is one of great compassion and redemption. He is out to save us from our own folly and our sin.

The judges show how God saves from their enemies, when they cry out to him, and repent of their sin. It is a very dangerous thing to oppose God – even if you are a big man like Eglon – for you may well become the butt of one of God’s jokes!  God’s ways are never dull; he delivers us from our troubles in many different, and sometimes unexpected, ways

Real repentance stops the landslide

It is debatable whether the people here truly repented; it seems that as you go through the book of Judges, the sin increases – until that awful ending, 21:25 – and then God raises up a king after his own heart. Indeed as the succession of Judges comes to the fore; they too become more and more degenerate all the way down to Samson.

So when we read, 4:1 after Ehud died the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord, we realise that the sin of the human heart has not be fully driven out. It’s been temporarily abated.

The little summary section - 3:5f - reminds us that the Israelites – whom God calls this nation, 2:20 rather than “my people” – were far too taken up with the nations around them. They intermarried amongst the pagans, and aped their worship. From the people who served Yahweh; 2:7 we end up with the people who served their gods: 3:6

But are they truly repentant?  Maybe for a short while. The fruit is far too short-lived.  You see these deliverer/judges are only mini-saviours; they are not able to plumb the depths of the human heart.  Listen to this good man

There is a difference between saying sorry, and being sorry; between worldly repentance and genuine repentance. The genuine variety shows itself buy its fruit.  That’s why he was called Jesus – cos he really can save his people from their sins.  I know there are those sins called “besetting sins” – but what we are looking for is a regenerative spirit – one that is moving upwards towards holiness – not a degenerative movement that is heading downhill for hell.

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