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Selected Verse: Judges 3:15 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Jud 3:15 |
King James |
But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Ehud the son of Gera--descended from Gera, one of Benjamin's sons (Gen 46:21).
left-handed--This peculiarity distinguished many in the Benjamite tribe (Jdg 20:16). But the original word is rendered in some versions "both-handed," a view countenanced by Ch1 12:2.
by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab--the yearly tribute, which, according to Eastern fashion, would be borne with ostentatious ceremony and offered (Jdg 3:18) by several messengers. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer - The very same words as are used at Jdg 3:9. See, too, Jdg 2:16, Jdg 2:18, and Neh 9:27.
Ehud "the Benjamite" was of the family or house of Gera Sa2 16:5, the son of Bela, Benjamin's first-born, born before Jacob's descent into Egypt Gen 46:21, and then included among "the sons of Benjamin." The genealogy in Ch1 8:6 intimates that Ehud (apparently written Abihud in Jdg 3:3) became the head of a separate house.
Left-handed - See the margin. The phrase is thought to describe not so much a defect as the power to use left and right hands equally well (compare Jdg 20:16; Ch1 12:2).
A present - i. e. tribute Sa2 8:2, Sa2 8:6; Kg1 4:21; Psa 72:10. The employment of Ehud for this purpose points him out as a chief of some distinction. He would be attended by a numerous suite Jdg 3:18. We may conclude that the destruction of the Benjamites Judg. 20 had not taken place at this time. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
But when the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, He set them free through the Benjaminite Ehud, whom He raised up as their deliverer. Ehud was "the son of Gera." This probably means that he was a descendant of Gera, since Gera himself, according to Ch1 8:3, was a son of Bela the son of Benjamin, and therefore was a grandson of Benjamin; and Shimei the contemporary of David, a man belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, is also called a son of Gera in Sa2 16:5; Sa2 19:17. At the same time, it is possible that the name Gera does not refer to the same person in these different passages, but that the name was repeated again and again in the same family. "A man shut with regard to his right hand," i.e., hindered in the use of his right hand, not necessarily crippled, but in all probability disabled through want of use from his youth upwards. That the expression does not mean crippled, is confirmed by the fact that it is used again in connection with the 700 brave slingers in the army of the Benjaminites in Jdg 20:16, and it certainly cannot be supposed that they were all actual cripples. So much is certain, however, that it does not mean ἀμφοτεροδέξιος, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur (lxx, Vulg.), since אטר signifies clausit (shut) in Psa 69:16. It is merely with reference to what follows that this peculiarity is so distinctly mentioned. - The Israelites sent a present by him to king Eglon. בידו does not mean in, but through, his hand, i.e., through his intervention, for others were actually employed to carry the present (Jdg 3:18), so that Ehud merely superintended the matter. Minchah, a gift or present, is no doubt a euphemism for tribute, as in Sa2 8:2, Sa2 8:6; Kg1 5:1. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
A Benjamite - This tribe was next to Eglon, and doubtless most afflicted by him; and hence God raiseth a deliverer. Left handed - Which is here noted, as a considerable circumstance in the following story. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Ehud the son of Gera - a man left handed - איש אטר יד ימינו ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use his left. The Septuagint render it ανδρα αμφοτεροδεξιον, an ambidexter, a man who could use both hands alike. The Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur, a man who could use either hand as a right hand, or to whom right and left were equally ready. This is not the sense of the original, but it is the sense in which most interpreters understand it. It is well known that to be an ambidexter was in high repute among the ancients: Hector boasts of it: -
Αυταρ εγων εν οιδα μαχας τ,ανδροκτασιας τε·
Οιδ' επι δεξια, οιδ' επ' αριστερα νωμησαι βων
Αζαλεην, το μοι εστι ταλαυρινον πολεμιζειν.
Iliad, lib. vii., ver. 237.
"But am in arms well practiced; many a Greek
Hath bled by me, and I can shift my shield
From right to left; reserving to the last
Force that suffices for severest toil."
Cowper.
Asteropaeus is also represented by Homer as an ambidexter, from which he derives great advantages in fight: -
Ὡς φατ' απειλησας· ὁ δ' ανεσχετο διος Αχιλλευς
Πηλιαδα μελιην· ὁ δ' ὁμαρτη δουρασιν αμφις
Ἡρως Αστεροπαιος, επει περιδεξιος ηε.
Iliad, lib. xxi., ver. 161.
So threatened he. Then raised Achilles high
The Pelian ash: - and his two spears at once
Alike, (a practiced warrior), with both hands
Asteropaeus hurled."
Cowper.
We are informed by Aristotle, that Plato recommended to all soldiers to acquire by study and exercise an equal facility of using both hands. Speaking of Plato, he says: Και την εν τοις πολεμικοισασκεσιν, ὁπως αμφιδεξιοι γινωνται κατα την μελετην, ὡς δεον μη την μεν χρησιμον ειναι ταιν χεροιν, την δε αχρηστον. - De Repub., lib. ii., cap. 12. "He (Plato) also made a law concerning their warlike exercises, that they should acquire a habit of using both hands alike; as it is not fit that one of the hands should be useful and the other useless." In Jdg 20:16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was אטר יד ימינו itter yad yemino, lame of his right hand, and yet slinging stones to a hair's breadth without missing: these are generally thought to be ambidexters.
Sent a present unto Eglon - This is generally understood to be the tribute money which the king of Moab had imposed on the Israelites. |
18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
2 And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
6 And these are the sons of Ehud: these are the heads of the fathers of the inhabitants of Geba, and they removed them to Manahath:
21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
5 And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.
27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
1 And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
2 And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.
16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king.
5 And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.
3 And the sons of Bela were, Addar, and Gera, and Abihud,
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.