What Now: Ehud; Sept. 27, 2026

Right, I've got an exciting question for you to start off today.

Who is your favorite secret agent?

I have a few options for you.

Limited, not limited to these, but are you a James Bond fan?

Yeah.

And if you are, which one?

Now, I know that's controversial.

Probably not the best way to start a sermon.

You're gonna be thinking about that debate for the rest of it, but hopefully we can uh can stay together.

Um maybe you prefer the mission impossible movies and the daring exploits of Ethan Hunt and all the stunts that Tom Cruise kind of foolishly but uh awesomely has done over the years.

Or maybe you yeah, maybe you take the genre a little less seriously, and Johnny English is more your speed.

Maybe you're like me and you enjoy all of these and much more.

Uh spy movies that feature secret agents and secret weapons and secret missions are thrilling.

They're exciting.

We love the intrigue, and it's always fun to see how the suave and dashing hero is going to overcome the odds and beat the bad guy and save the world.

Last week we began this series on the book of judges, and I mentioned last week that it kind of reads like a comic book.

We could just as easily say that some parts of Judges read like the script of a spy movie or a good action film.

As we're gonna start seeing today, there's a lot of graphic stuff in this book, as Taylor mentioned a few times in the children's message.

There's violence and bloodshed and fighting and carnage, and some of you are like, awesome.

And if that's you, I would want to remind you that all of that stuff is not the point, right?

Um, all of that is there to uh to help us find these larger truths and understand, you know, this more incredible thing that God is doing, um, teaching us more about the heavy cost of our sin and the marvel of God's deliverance and the power of his mercy.

Um, on the other hand, some of you might hear about this graphic, gruesome stuff coming up and be thinking, that is not cool.

That is not appropriate in church of all places.

And if that's you, I would remind you too that God gave us this book for a reason, and in spite of how it might make us uncomfortable, it has some really important things to teach us.

And one of those things we introduced last week as we looked at this downward spiral of the people of Israel at this time, this ABCD pattern that kept repeating as they swirled closer and closer to the drain.

They abandoned God and turned to idols, and as a result, they were beaten down by their surrounding enemies.

Then they would cry out to God for rescue, and he delivered them.

And he delivered them by sending judges, these heroes who would come and save them.

And this is exactly what happens as we meet our first major judge today.

And Ehud, even though he doesn't drive an Aston Martin, doesn't use high-tech gadgets, and he certainly doesn't have a Hollywood budget.

Ehud is very much a secret agent.

But in order to understand the need for Ehud, we first have to talk about someone else with an unusual E name.

Eglon.

Can you say that?

Let's say that.

It just sounds like a bond villain or something, doesn't it?

We heard about Aegon earlier in our reading from Judges chapter 3.

Judges 3 · chapter mention

Let's recap that again.

The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened who?

Aeglon.

Oh, come on.

Okay.

Let's let's start this again.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened, thank you, the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the just kidding.

Good job, though.

And went and defeated Israel.

And they took possession of the city of palms.

And the people of Israel served Aegon, the king of Moab, 18 years.

Okay, so a few things here.

First of all, we can see the A and the B of the downward spiral already.

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, A, abandoning God.

And the people of Israel served Aeglon, the king of Moab, for 18 years.

B, they're beaten down.

Israel abandons Yahweh, and so they're beaten down.

Israel had served idols, so they were made to serve Eglon.

The punishment fits the crime.

And so Aglon oppresses them for 18 years.

And think about that.

Where were you 18 years ago?

18 years ago was 2008.

I was still in my first year at the seminary.

If you were a senior in Israel's high school back in this time, in Ehud's day, that means you've been serving Aeglon your entire life.

It was a bad situation.

We are also told here that Aeglon took possession of the city of Palms.

Anybody know what city that is?

Jericho.

Yeah.

It's the same city that Israel had marched around and the walls had come down and all that stuff.

This is hugely significant because God's miraculous work for his people during the conquest of the Promised Land is being undone by the people's idolatry.

One more thing on Aglon.

If we jump ahead to verse 17, I think Adelaide or Charlotte pointed this out for us.

We find out that Aeglon was a very fat man.

And there are two things that are significant about this.

One, Aeglon has become fat as a result of his preying on Israel, consuming everything that their hard work had produced, taking it for himself.

He's the type of king that makes others serve him.

And then second, the name Eglon means calf.

It sounds a lot, actually, like the word for round or rotund.

We're supposed to notice here that Aeglon is in fact a fattened calf ready for slaughter.

And that brings us to Ehud.

Verse 15.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud.

You know, if we're going to say Eglon's name, we should definitely say his name, right?

We did have a debate about the pronunciation.

Let's say Ehud for now.

Let's do this again.

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, the son of Gerah the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

Okay, so here we see the C and the D of the downward spiral.

Israel cries out to the Lord, and he sends them a deliverer.

Ehud, this left-handed man whose name means praise.

Now, how many lefties do we have here today?

Raise your hands.

Your left hands, or it's not valid.

Okay, most of you did raise your left hands.

Um we lefties, I'm kind of a lefty.

We lefties are proud people, right?

I'm sort of a lefty.

Yesterday I was actually playing volleyball with the young adults, and like every time I play volleyball, I never remember which hand I am in that sport.

And the fact that my left shoulder is really hurting this morning tells me that I used my left mostly yesterday.

I kick with my left foot, but I do most things right-handed.

But but like you might have even noticed I tend to preach left-handed too, if you notice that.

Yeah, that was a joke.

Sometimes being a lefty in today's world can be an advantage.

Um, I played tennis against some left-handed players, and it's really tricky because they put different spin on the ball than the right-handers.

Left-handed pitchers are highly sought after in baseball.

But being left-handed in this world, in this day and age, even, can still be a disadvantage.

I hear it's hard to find scissors that work well for you.

It's harder to button up your shirts in the morning in some cases.

I have a sister who's left-handed, and I always had to make sure growing up never to sit on the wrong side of her when we were eating dinner.

Well, in Ehud's day, being left-handed wasn't simply seen as a disadvantage.

It was actually seen as a major deficiency, a serious disability.

In fact, the Hebrew, translated by the ESV as left-handed, literally means hindered or restricted or limited in his right hand.

Isn't that interesting?

And this is ironic because Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin, a name that means son of my right hand.

Ehud is selected to present Israel's tribute to Aeglon, and appropriately so, because this restricted in the right hand man is just the type of person you would expect to grovel before a superior power.

And so, knowing all this context, it's actually a bit perplexing to read.

The Lord raised up for them a deliverer.

Ehud, oh sorry, raised up for them a deliverer.

A left-handed man.

Ehud lacks the main thing a deliverer needs, a strong right hand of power.

He does not fit the mold of a warrior savior.

Ehud, God's hand-picked deliverer, is defective.

But the defect itself becomes a tool for victory that God uses.

And Ehud is in fact a secret agent.

So now let me read to you the rest of the account.

Buckle up.

The people of Israel sent tribute by Ehud to Aeglon, the king of Moab.

And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

And he presented the tribute to Aeglon, king of Moab.

Now Aeglon was a very fat man.

And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.

But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king.

And he commanded silence, and all his attendants went out from his presence.

And Ehud came to him, as he was sitting alone in his cool roofed chamber, and Ehud said, I have a message from God for you.

And he arose from his seat, and Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly, and the dung came out.

Gross.

Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.

And they waited till they were embarrassed.

But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their Lord dead on the floor.

Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Sarah.

When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim.

Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader, and he said to them, Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand.

So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow anyone to pass over.

And they killed at that time about ten thousand of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men, not a man escaped.

So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for eighty years.

Okay, first, if that's not the coolest thing an assassin has ever said in the history of the world, I don't know what is, I have a message from God for you.

How cool is that?

And Ehud did.

The message from God was that Aeglon's reign of terror was over.

God had sent Aeglon, and now God had sent Ehud to take Aeglon out.

And that's just what he does.

Because Ehud was left-handed, he might not have been searched by Aegon's guards, and if he was, they apparently might not have checked his right thigh, because that's not where swords were kept.

Aeglon certainly didn't suspect anything when Ehud reached under there, but Ehud had something up his sleeve, or his pant leg, or his loin covering, or whatever, whatever it was that he was wearing.

Here's the point.

Ehud went boldly, all alone, into the very center of the enemy, the enemy's camp, and then the enemy's belly.

It's not recorded that God explicitly commanded Ehud to do this, but either way, it's very clear that God blessed it.

Ehud's faith that chose to act, not for his own glory, but for God's, was given success by God.

And God's deliverance didn't look like people thought it would.

It looked like a man restricted in his right hand, who used deception and treachery to take out his enemy.

I mentioned earlier that playing a leftian tennis is a bit tricky.

The ball bounces differently, it's deceptive.

Ehud rescued Israel in a tricky, left-handed sort of way.

In fact, many of you know the word sinister actually comes from the Latin word for left or left-handed.

But the main thing about Ehud is not his deception, but his courage.

A courage born out of faith in Yahweh.

And in that faith, Ehud, deficient though he was, put Aeglon and his glory to shame.

As their master lay sprawled out in gruesome death, his servants, smelling something that suggested maybe he was relieving himself, waited till they were embarrassed, the book says.

And how embarrassing Aeglon's death truly was.

Aeglon got egg on his face.

But never mind.

Let's just say that Aeglon, who had humiliated Israel, dies in humiliating fashion.

All at once, this prodigious man's glory comes to a shameful end.

And after 18 years of oppression under Aegon, God gives Israel eighty years of peace under Ehud.

And the same God who gave Israel eighty years of peace has given you eternal peace.

Ehud was an incredible hero full of faith, but he was nothing compared to Jesus, the one God would send to slay the power of death and hell.

As Paul said in our reading from Colossians today, God disarmed the rulers and authorities, put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ.

But here again, God's hero did not look like you might expect.

Ehud came along and slaughtered the enemy.

Jesus came along and was slaughtered.

Ehud thrust Aeglon through and became a hero, but Jesus was the one thrust through, pierced by nails, run through with the spear.

Jesus was the one who died to set his people free.

But through his death, Jesus worked deliverance for sinners like you and me, winning our forgiveness and purchasing our peace.

Ehud appeared unarmed, and so did Jesus, but they both had something up their sleeves.

Ehud used a small sword hidden on his right thigh.

Jesus used his own death and caught Satan completely off guard.

Ehud went to the most powerful man in the land and rendered him powerless.

Jesus bound up the strong man, Satan, and plundered his house.

Ehud was able to escape from Moab, but Moab could not escape from Ehud.

Jesus was able to escape from death, but death could not escape from Jesus.

People of God, in Jesus Christ, the Lord has raised up for us a deliverer.

And like Ehud, Jesus didn't come to grovel or negotiate.

When Jesus defeated death, he did not leave any of its dignity intact.

He wiped it out completely.

He assassinated death.

Jesus plundered Satan's house.

And when he rose from the grave, he left it behind and in utter ruins.

And now he leads his people into a victory that he has already secured.

So whether you are right or left-handed, or a sinner or a saint, and by the way, we're both ambidextrous when it comes to that one.

Jesus has rendered death and hell powerless over you.

You are free.

And as long as your judge lives, you have peace.

And Jesus is alive forever.

The Lord has given your enemies into your hand.

And so as the name Ehud declares, praise God.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Next week we're going to be taking a look at Deborah, a prophetess, and the only female among the judges.

Until then, may the peace of God guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now and forever.

Amen.