Ehud

Context

The Israelites did evil in the yes of God, so God’s anger was put on the Israelites. They were subject to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim for eight years. After eight years, the Israelites cried out to God and God delivered Othniel son of Kenaz, and Caleb’s younger brother. Othniel saved them and made the land at peace for forty years. After the forty years, the Israelites again did evil in the eyes of God. Because of this, God gave Elgon King of Moab power over the Israelites. The Ammonitesand Amalekites joined Elgon to attack the Israelites. They took possession of the City of Palms and ruled over them for eighteen years. After eighteen horrible years, the Israelites cried out to the Lord and he gave them Ehud. The son of Gera the Benjamite and a left handed man. These are the events that happened which caused Ehud to become a judge and take the Israelites out of oppression.

Story of Ehud

As God sent Ehud to take the Isrealites out of oppression, the Israelites sent him to give Elgon the king of Moab a tribute. Before he went, he made a cubit long double edged sword and strapped it to his right thigh under his clothing. He strapped it to his right thigh as he was a left handed man. This was unusual, which made the right thigh is a good hiding spot for his sword. Ehud met with Elgon and saw that Elgon was a very fat man, he then presented the tribute without causing any suspicion. He then said to king Elgon that he had a secret message for him. Because Ehud said it was a confidential message, Elgon sent everyone in the room away. This was all part of Ehud’s plan.

Ehud then approached Elgon while they were now alone and said “I have a message from God for you.” Elgon then stood up and as he stood, Ehud pulled out his sword from his right thigh and stuck it in Elgons belly until the fat folds went over it and swallowed the sword. Elgon’s bowels discharged and Ehud could not pull out his sword as it was all inside his stomach. Ehud then closed and locked all doors of the room they were in and left out the porch. Elgon’s servants did not bother checking on Elgon as they assumed the doors were locked as he was reliving himself. After an embarrassing amount of time went by, the servants opened the door with their key to find their king dead. As they waited so long, Ehud was able to successfully escape. He went to Seirah and he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites went with him and he led them down the hills. He lef the Israelites to take possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, giving the Moabites no way to enter their land. He then led the Israelites to kill ten thousand strong moabites, not one survived. After this, Moab became subject to the Israelites, and peace was in the land for eighty years.

Comparison to Samson

Samson and Ehud are both great judges who both took the Israelites out of oppression. Ehud was from the tribe of dan and was the second judge, he took the Israelites out of 18 years of oppression into 80 years of peace. Samson was from the tribe of Dan and the twelfth judge, he took the Israelites out of 40 years of oppression and into 20 years of peace. They have many similarities and differences. They are the same as they are both great leaders who have killed many of the oppressor’s people to take the Israelites out of oppression. Ehud led the Israelites to kill ten thousand Moabites, and Samson himself killed one thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone.

Although, both Ehud and Samson are strong killer leaders, their approach to fighting the enemy is very different. Ehud Fights with mental strength and strategy, this was shown when he killed Elgon. He made a plan so he could kill him without being caught. This differs from Samson as he uses pure physical strength when fighting the enemy. He was given a gift from god that was super strength, with this gift he did not need to make plans or strategies to escape simply because he was stronger than everyone. Neither way of fighting is better or worse as both Ehud and Samson did their jobs and took the Israelites out of oppression. Not only did their fighting preferences differ, but also their personalities. Samson is described as a womanizer and one who loves women so much he is weak for them, which is ironic because of his super stregth. It is never mentioned or hinted that Ehud was like this, it is very unlikely that Ehud was like this as being a womanizer is not a common quality for a judge to have. As for all of these reasons, one can see that Ehud and Samson differ greatly but also share many key qualities.