Richter 3:15

Schlachter Bibel

Da schrieen sie zum Herrn . Und der Herr erweckte ihnen einen Retter, Ehud, den Sohn Geras, einen Benjaminiten; der war lahm an seiner rechten Hand. Und die Kinder Israel sandten durch ihn Geschenke an Eglon, den König der Moabiter.

Parallel Translations

Elberfelder Bibel (1905)
Und die Kinder Israel schrien zu Jehova; und Jehova erweckte ihnen einen Retter, Ehud, den Sohn Geras, einen Benjaminiter, einen Mann, der links war. Und die Kinder Israel sandten durch ihn ein Geschenk an Eglon, den K�nig von Moab.

Lutherbible (1912)
Da schrieen sie zu dem HERRN; und der HERR erweckte ihnen einen Heiland: Ehud, den Sohn Geras, den Benjaminiten, der war links. Und da die Kinder Israel durch ihn Geschenk sandten Eglon, dem König der Moabiter,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 2679, bc 1325, An, Ex, Is, 166

cried unto: Judges 3:9, Psalms 50:15, Psalms 78:34, Psalms 90:15, Jeremiah 29:12, Jeremiah 29:13, Jeremiah 33:3

a Benjamite: or, the son of Jemini

lefthanded: Heb. shut of his right hand, This Hebrew phrase intimates that, either through disease or disuse, he made little or no use of the right hand, but of his left only, and so was the less fit for war, because he would most likely wield a dagger awkwardly: yet God chose this left-handed man to be the minister of his retributive justice. It was God's right hand that gained Israel the victory, Psalms 44:3, not the right hand of the instruments he employed. Judges 20:16, 1 Chronicles 12:2

sent a present: 1 Samuel 10:27, Proverbs 18:16, Proverbs 19:6, Proverbs 21:14, Isaiah 36:16

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:27 - a wolf Judges 2:16 - the Lord Judges 4:3 - cried Judges 6:6 - cried Judges 7:13 - a cake 1 Samuel 12:10 - And they 1 Kings 10:25 - every man 1 Chronicles 7:10 - Ehud 1 Chronicles 8:5 - Gera Nehemiah 9:27 - in the time Psalms 119:66 - Teach me

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... After being long oppressed, and groaning under their burdens, and brought to a sense of their sins, and humiliation for them, they asked forgiveness of God, and deliverance from their bondage; for it is very probable they were until towards the close of those years stupid and hardened, and did not consider what was the reason of their being thus dealt with:

the Lord raised them up a deliverer; another saviour, one that he made use of as an instrument of their deliverance:

Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded; who is described by his parentage, a son of Gera, but who his father was is not known; by his tribe a Benjamite, in which Jericho was, Eglon possessed, and so might be more oppressed than any other part; and therefore the Lord stirred up one of that tribe to be the deliverer; and by his being a lefthanded man, as several of that tribe were, Judges 20:16; though a Benjamite signifies a son of the right hand; and he perhaps was one of those lefthanded Benjamites that fled to the rock Rimmon, as Dr. Lightfoot u conjectures, Judges 20:47; for that affair, though there related, was before this: the Septuagint calls him an "ambidexter", one that could use both hands equally alike; but the Hebrew phrase signifies one that is "shut up in his right hand" w; who has not the true use of it, cannot exercise it as his other hand, being weak and impotent, or contracted through disuse, or some disease; or, as Josephus x expresses it, who could use his left hand best, and who also calls him a young man of a courageous mind and strong of body, and says he dwelt at Jericho, and was very familiar with Eglon, and who by his gifts and presents had endeared himself to all about the king:

and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab; either their yearly tribute, or rather a gift unto him, to soften him, and reconcile him to them, and make their bondage easier; or to give him access to him with more confidence and safety, though it does not seem that they knew anything of Ehud's design.

u Works, vol. 1. p. 46. w אטר יד ימינו "obturatum manu dextera sua", Montanus; "habens manum dexterum obturatum", Munsterus; "erat clausa manu dextera", Tigurine version; "clausum manu dextera", Drusius; "perclusum", Junius Tremellius "praaeclusum", Piscator. x Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 4.) sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Judges 3:9. See, too, Judges 2:16, Judges 2:18, and Nehemiah 9:27.

Ehud “the Benjamite” was of the family or house of Gera 2 Samuel 16:5, the son of Bela, Benjamin’s first-born, born before Jacob’s descent into Egypt Genesis 46:21, and then included among “the sons of Benjamin.” The genealogy in 1 Chronicles 8:6 intimates that Ehud (apparently written Abihud in Judges 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 Judges 20:16; 1 Chronicles 12:2).

A present - i. e. tribute 2Sa 8:2, 2 Samuel 8:6; 1 Kings 4:21; Psalms 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 Judges 3:18. We may conclude that the destruction of the Benjamites Judges 20:0 had not taken place at this time.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 3:15. 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 practised 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 losing 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 Judges 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.