So the book of Judges has a rather predictable circular pattern to its content.
- Israel blows off God
- God gets someone to conquer Israel and make them miserable
- Israelites get good and miserable and ready to get tight with God again
- God raises up a judge to beat up on the oppressor.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Because of this, it’s easy to sort of tune out and glaze the eyes as you read (or let the audiobook reading wash the spoken words over you).
Let’s look at one particular wash cycle depicted in Judges 3.
In the Middle East, it has been established that left hands are to be used for pretty much one thing: wiping your butt. So doing anything else with the left hand, like eating, is Just. Not. Done. Euro-centric culture hasn’t been much kinder to southpaws: The Latin term for left-handed is sinistra, which developed into the word sinister. And until the 1960s or so, school teachers forced left-handed children to use their right hands to write.
Compound the general societal scorn Ehud would have received for something he just couldn’t help, with the fact that his family name, Benjamin, meant “son of the Right Hand” or “son of the Right Side”. Even in his own family, he’s a misfit.
But left hand + dagger on right thigh = Advantage:Ehud. Remember: using the left hand for *anything* is Just.Not.Done. King Eglon expected that left hand to stay hidden in the folds of Ehud’s robe, which is why King Eglon was completely unprepared for Ehud’s attack on him.
What about you? Is there something about yourself that makes you feel like you don’t belong? Do you feel like you need to stay hidden under wraps? Or is God sending you out, to do what is Just.Not.Done?
