📖 Biblical Definition
The second judge of Israel, a left-handed Benjamite (the tribal name Ben-jamin means son of the right hand — the irony is biblical), who delivered Israel from Eglon king of Moab's eighteen-year oppression. Judges 3:12-30 narrates the deliverance. Ehud crafted a foot-and-a-half-long dagger, strapped it to his right thigh (where right-handed soldiers carried weapons on the left, and Eglon's guards apparently did not search there), delivered a tribute payment to Eglon, requested a private audience for a secret message, and assassinated the corpulent king with a single thrust before escaping through the parlor and rallying Israel to defeat the leaderless Moabites. The narrative's grimly comic detail (Eglon's servants delaying the discovery of his body, assuming privacy) is part of the biblical canon's honest narrative texture. Ehud is one of the more action-packed judges; Israel had rest for eighty years after his deliverance.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Ehud — the left-handed judge who slew Eglon king of Moab.
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Ehud, son of Gera the Benjamite, fashioned a two-edged dagger of a cubit's length and bound it on his right thigh under his clothing. Bringing tribute to the very fat king Eglon, he announced a secret message from God, drove the dagger home, locked the doors, and rallied Israel at Moab's confusion.
📖 Key Scripture
Judges 3:15 — "The LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded."
Judges 3:20 — "I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat."
Judges 3:21 — "Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger... and thrust it into his belly."
Judges 3:30 — "So Moab was subdued... and the land had rest fourscore years."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Treated as comic relief; the deliberate, costly courage is missed.
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Children's Bibles play Ehud for laughs — the fat king, the secret message, the locked doors. The text is grim and deliberate. Ehud forged the dagger, smuggled it past guards, used his left-handedness to defeat the right-side body search.
His deliverance bought eighty years of rest, the longest in the book of Judges. Quiet, calculated courage out-lasts noisy bravado.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew 'Ehud — possibly from a root meaning 'to unite' or 'strong.'
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Usage
"The left hand the searchers ignored became the hand of deliverance."
"Ehud forged his dagger before the message ever came."
"Eighty years of rest came from one prepared, hidden blade."