SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:15
Y clamaron los hijos de Israel al SEÑOR; y el SEÑOR les despertó un salvador, a Aod, hijo de Gera, benjamita, el cual tenía cerrada la mano derecha. Y los hijos de Israel enviaron con él un presente a Eglón rey de Moab.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 3:15
Verse 15. Ehud the son of Gera-a man left handed] dy rfa ya wnymy ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use his left. The Septuagint render it andra amfoterodexion, 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: - autar egwn en oida macav tÆ, androktasiav te oidÆ epi dexia, oidÆ epÆ aristera nwmhsai bwn azalehn, to moi esti talaurinon polemizein. 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: - Æwv fatÆ apeilhsav o dÆ anesceto diov acilleuv phliada melihn o dÆ omarth dourasin amfiv Æhrwv asteropaiov, epei peridexiov he.
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 losing both hands.
Speaking of Plato, he says: kai thn en toiv polemikoiv, opwv amfidexioi ginwntai kata thn melethn, wv deon mh thn men crhsimon einai tain ceroin, thn de acrhston. - Deuteronomy 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 chap. xx. 16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was wnymy dy rfa 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 15. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord , etc.] 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 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 f55 ; 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 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 Ehuds design.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-30 - When Israel sins again, God raises up a new oppressor. The Israelite did ill, and the Moabites did worse; yet because God punishes the sin of his own people in this world, Israel is weakened, and Moa strengthened against them. If lesser troubles do not do the work, God will send greater. When Israel prays again, God raises up Ehud. As judge, or minister of Divine justice, Ehud put to death Eglon, the kin of Moab, and thus executed the judgments of God upon him as an enemy to God and Israel. But the law of being subject to principalities an powers in all things lawful, is the rule of our conduct. No suc commissions are now given; to pretend to them is to blaspheme God Notice Ehud's address to Eglon. What message from God but a message of vengeance can a proud rebel expect? Such a message is contained in the word of God; his ministers are boldly to declare it, without fearin the frown, or respecting the persons of sinners. But, blessed be God they have to deliver a message of mercy and of free salvation; the message of vengeance belongs only to those who neglect the offers of grace. The consequence of this victory was, that the land had res eighty years. It was a great while for the land to rest; yet what is that to the saints' everlasting rest in the heavenly Canaan.
Original Hebrew
ויזעקו 2199 בני 1121 ישׂראל 3478 אל 413 יהוה 3068 ויקם 6965 יהוה 3068 להם מושׁיע 3467 את 853 אהוד 164 בן 1121 גרא 1617 בן הימיני 1145 אישׁ 376 אטר 334 יד 3027 ימינו 3225 וישׁלחו 7971 בני 1121 ישׂראל 3478 בידו 3027 מנחה 4503 לעגלון 5700 מלך 4428 מואב׃ 4124
