Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

From time to time, I find myself tempted to slip back into behaviors I know don’t please God. I’m aware of it, but at those times, I can be willful and self-centered, allowing me to continue on the wrong path until I finally have to admit the emptiness that comes with the realization that I can no longer feel God in my life. I have pushed Him away, sometimes immediately, sometimes after a period of pushing and pulling. Then that feeling of separation leads to guilt and sorrow, and then to repentance and prayer, and then I feel God near me again and then, finally, it’s easy to walk away from the temptations and embrace the Christian walk again … knowing I need to be prepared to fight again another day.

Welcome to Judges. Before getting into the story of Israel’s years of destructive sin/repentance cycles, Ehud’s weapon deserves some attention.  Ehud was a deliverer of Israel and he had a weapon modeled after one that makes a famous appearance later in the Bible:

And when I turned I saw … someone “like a Son of man” … His head and hair were white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire … and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. (Revelation 1:12-16)

I cherish this description by John of Jesus. It is with me, along with the popular image of Him with the children, and the one of Him on the cross. He is gentle and caring, just as he is willing to suffer for our sins, just as he is this overpowering, fearsome celestial savior, blazing like fire, glowing like bronze in a furnace, with a thunderous voice, a brilliantly shining face, and instead of a tongue, this sharp and lethal double-edged sword. He is all three. Our God is an awesome God!

Why a double-edged sword? First, people of the day would know it as a fearsome weapon, the Roman soldier’s “gladius” sword, a battle-tested close-combat weapon designed for thrusting and stabbing, more forceful than a slashing sword. Of course, a gladius is not as forceful as God’s Word, but the Roman’s gladius and Ehud’s double-edged sword would both be instantly recognized to the people of their eras as highly effective weapons.

A double-edged sword doesn’t have as evident a meaning in this day of cruise missiles and jet fighters as it did in the days of Judges and John. So, instead of saying “God’s Word is like a double-edged sword,” we might say, “His Word cuts both ways.” But what does that really mean? Certainly, it cuts deep like a gladius did in the hand of a Centurion. We know God’s Word can often do that; We’ve had verses rip into us with awesome power.

But there’s more. God’s word also can cut the person who is directing it, since it is sharp on both sides. So, when using God’s Word to judge someone, know that it is judging you as well! Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (Matthew 7:1)

Judges is the story of a period in time when Israel was caught in a sin/repentance cycle, of doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, being subjected to hardship because of it, repenting, praying, and being sent a deliverer – the role of Ehud in this verse.

The disobedience started when the Israelites did not extinguish all previous dwellers from the promised land, breaking down their altars and driving out their ugly religion, with its sacrifices of children to the false god Baal, as God had told them to. We get this; we would probably do the same because to our modern sensitivities. Wiping out a people is genocide, at the top of anyone’s list of really bad behavior. But God didn’t share this view, at least as applied to those who peopled the promised land before the Israelites’ arrival, so He sent an angel, who told the tribes:

Yet you have disobeyed me. Why did you do this? Now therefore, I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides…. (2:2-3)

And so it remains to this day.

After Joshua and his generation died (2:8), the new generation forgot righteousness and served Baal, which would not have been possible if God’s directive had been fulfilled. From the chaos that followed, God raised up judges – the namesakes of this book – first Othniel (3:7-11), then Ehud.

Not learning from the eight years of subjugation ended by Othniel, the Israelites lost their piousness and began to sin again. Seizing this opportunity, Eglon, King of the Moabites, gathered the Ammonites and the Amalakites with him, defeated the Israelites and made them subjects for another 18 years, until God raised up Ehud.

Ehud was sent to Eglon with tribute, and while there, he plunged his double-edged sword into him, killing the Moabite king. Assassination accomplished, Ehud fled, gathered Israel to him, and said,

“Follow me … for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” (3:28)

Follow him they did, with their God again at their side, they seized Moab, striking down “about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped” (3:29), bringing another eight years of peace.

Reading Judges, it’s impossible not to ask, “Why didn’t they get it?” The Israelites continuously repeated their cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance, sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance … over and over. This is not only historically accurate, it is also an accurate metaphor for human behavior through the centuries. How often do we repeat it ourselves? Why don’t we get it?

Fortunately, God’s grace is there to save us. As Christians, we awake to the shame we feel, and when we repent and pray for forgiveness, God sends us an Ehud of the Spirit, complete with a double-edged sword to slay the enemies we did not drive out of our “promised land,” our born-again bodies and minds. Why didn’t we drive them out completely? Determining that is the task of the second edge of the double-edged sword, because the Holy Spirit’s sword doesn’t just slay the enemy, it wounds us as well, excising the evil, wounding us with the shame of our sin. And then, like the Israelites, we get peace. 

Don’t repeat the cycle! Use faith and God’s word and Christ’s model to drive the sin out once and for all!

Thought:  Protection, too, is a double-edged sword. God protects us and wants us to protect ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, I am cut open by your Word. I see in it both Your Love and my sin. Let your Word be to me today like Ehud’s double-edged sword, slaying the enemy without and the sin within, so I can serve You better. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.