“WHEN LEFTY STUCK IT TO HEFTY “
Judges 3:12-25
Here we have a truly authentic cloak and dagger story!
The book of Judges is like the wild west of the Bible, with twelve heroes coming through town like Clint Eastwood dispensing justice as they see fit.
I. THE Dire SITUATION……..…Vs. 12-14
BIG problem—literally!
A. THE DESPERATION……Vs. 15
All during the 400 yrs covered in the book of Judges, Israel repeated a predictable pattern. .
REBLLION—RUIN—RETREIBUTION-REPENTANCE- RESCUE-REVIVAL
The circle of:
1. Sin 2. Slavery 3. Supplication 4. Salvation God always answers!
They knew better! But they had to learn the lesson over n’ over again!
(sound familiar? The cycle of sinful habits die hard!)
These 3 nations are a picture of our old, fleshly natures.
Moab represents the power of the flesh. Ammon represents the passion of the flesh.
Amalek represents the persistence of the flesh.
All three illegitimate offspring as a result of immorality! (Lot & Easau)
As Israel was repeatedly attacked by these nations, we are continually fought by the flesh!
Gal 5:16-18 if we walk in the flesh we will reap the results!
If we feed the flesh, we must face the fact ,that we will suffer the consequences!
Physically and spiritually! àSIN always ENSLAVES!
B. THE DICTATOR……Vs. 15
Oft times God allows people to get the leader they deserve.
--that DOESN’T mean it is His will! “God sets them up” --not every time!
Hosea 8:4 “They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not”
God ALLOWS them …..but He doesn’t APPOINT them! Don’t blame God for Obama!
..notice this week Obama and Oprah tried to get the Olympics---O brother….
We are paying the price for being passive to perverts and now we have apagan president with a socialist agenda quickly killing whats left of a once great country!
* Eglon’s name means a “bullock”—appropriate, considering his size…and demise!
Moab means “flesh”
This SUMO SIZED sovereign is the perfect picture of the flesh. -- fat, lazy and evil!
Vs. 17.... * Many modern versions (ex. Living Bible, etc.) consider "fat" offensive b/c they change it to “stout”.
Æ For the first time ever, overweight people outnumber average people in America. Doesn't that make overweight the average then? Last month you were fat, now you're average! I…am ABOVE average!
-He wasn’t “Plump” or “portly” This roly-poly royalty was obscenely obese!
- the only fat person named in the Bible, in fact, the only fat person referred to in the Bible!
“very” imagine the biggest person you have ever seen---now add 100 lbs!
……Eglon went to Pizza Hut on his own and still got a group discount!
….he left footprints in concrete!
…..when he stepped on the scale it said, "To be continued."
…..has so many double chins he looked like he was staring at you over a pile of pancakes!
……more chins than a Chinese phonebook!
…..when he went to the zoo the elephants throw him peanuts!
…he put his belt on with a boomerang!
He was a Moabite and his favorite expression was, "the mo I bite the mo I swallow."
II. THE DIVINE DECLARATION……..…Vs. 20
A. THE DELIVERER that WAS sENT ……Vs. 15
"the LORD raised them up a deliverer".
ÆGod’s left hand man! - Secret agent Double-O Ehud!
"The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men." ~ E. M. Bounds
Ehud— means “United ” -still a popular name in Israel -two recent prime ministers
Æ “a man lefthanded”.
*How many Southpaws do we have here? *
Estimated that between only 7-9% of the poplation is left handed at any time in history.
Left is almost always BAD—left wing politics
-word sinister comes from the Latin word sinestra, originally meant "left" but took on meanings of "evil"
Many interesting people have been lefty’s……
Alexander the Great , Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, Napoléon Bonaparte
Prince Charles, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime-minister, Henry Ford, Jack the Ripper, Raphael , Leonardo da Vinci
Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax…. John McEnroe , Jimmy Connors…Oscar de la Hoya … Rocky Balboa
Ronald Reagan -who was switched to being a righty by his parents -George H.W. Bush -Bill Clinton -Barack OObama ….Some of his buddies Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez
-- some feel that even God is left-handed!
* Little boy was spending the weekend with his grandmother ..." ? Did you know God painted this just for you?" Boy said, "Yes, God did it and he did it left handed." She asked him, "What makes you say God did this with his left hand?". " Sunday School that Jesus sits on God's right hand!"
* Only 2 places in the Bible draw attention to left-handedness. Both refering to the skill of the Benjaminite warriors, who could sling with the left hand and not miss a hair (20:16), and Benjaminite archers who could use the bow with either hand (1 Chron 12:2).
àEhud............was a "Benjamite."
Paul was a Benjamite, Mordecai was a Benjamite......, means “son of my right hand”!
Not what Rachel named him—named him “Benoni “ “Son of my sorrow” Jacob re-named him.
So he is a left handed man from a son of the right hand!
Ehud was a left-handed man in a right handed world, and while he may have been left-handed, he was right minded with God!
When the Bible says that he was “a man lefthanded”, it does not simply mean that he just preferred his left hand. It literally means that he was “bound in the right hand.” (1611 margin note “shut of his right hand”)
In other words, Ehud was forced to use his left hand because his right hand did not function.
Ehud was a man with limited capabilities, but he served a God who gave him unlimited possibilities!
Ehud could have used his handicap as a “get out of jail free” card and not taken the assignment. He could have used it as an excuse to not do what God had called him to do…but he didn’t.
The greatest ABILITY is AVAILABILITY!
(Ezek 22:30)--And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
B. THE DAGGER that stabbed 3: 16
"made him a dagger".
—weapons were outlawed.
Eglon did not worry about an uprising because he had confiscated all their weapons. The Philistines later did the same thing. 1 Samuel 13:19
Nowadays Ehud woulda been packing a pistol!
à GUN CONTROL. * Gun control is not about guns; it's about control!
Nowadays they are trying to outlaw the Bible….our offensive weapon!
1. “two edges” [cutting in and out, going and coming]— Hebrews 4:12 , Revelation 1:16.
Most knives AREN”T two edged! Only one side—used for SLICING and CUTTING…
Only reason to be two edged is for the PURPOSE of PIERCING, PUNCTURING or PENATRATING!
2. "a cubit length"— around 18 inches (* PULL OUT KNIFE*)
18 inches---one for ever year of bondage---I think he made it that way on purpose!
He was weak, but his weapon was strong!!! God’s word will get the job done!
Vs.20 - the point of preaching is for people to get the point!
One “point’ message! He REALLY got the point!
It was a deep message that went right through him.!
Ehud cut this mamoth monarch down to size!
Æ……this Moabite Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall!!! * His name was EGG-lon!
The king-sized king fell dead in his own dung!
My gut reaction to this gut wrenching scene is that both of the men in that room had a lot of guts!
---the NIV tries to sanitize & translates it wrong --they just not have the guts to admit t
Ehud locks the doors to the rooftop room where they are and he makes his escape. v. 24
v. 22, The locked door and the odor from the chamber convince the servants that the king is on the throne, so to speak.
The flesh stinks!!! Killing the flesh is a dirty job—but it must be done!
Ehud lost his knife, but Eglon lost his life!
(*RE: Vs 26-30) àEhud accomplished what the Lord had put on his heart to do and again we see that there was peace in the land for forty more years.
III. THE DAILY APPLICATION
Eglon “got the message”!!! Everybody here---needs to hear!
We are BOTH –HEFTY & LEFTY!!
“old man” and the “new man” 1 Cor 15:31 Paul said “I die daily”
Eph 4:17 -24 Col 3:1 -10
Applies to our SEPARATION and DEDICATION!
We MUST slay the flesh with the Sword of the Spirit!
Rom 8:13-14 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. “
1Co 9:26-27 “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. “ à The phrase “keep under” means “to beat black and blue”
Read Romans 7 and see his struggle with the flesh! The old nature.
The flesh wouldn’t be fat—if we didn’t feed him so much!!!
Took 18 yrs for them to get tired of it!!
How long will you waste? How long before we get on our knees before God ?
The people DESIRED a DELIVERER! We have to WANT deliverance!
(Rom 6:16) “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
We are in a war! The Christian life is not a play ground, it is a battle ground!
à Thomas Costain's history, THE THREE EDWARDS, described the life of Raynald Ill, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means "fat."
After a violent quarrel, Raynald's younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room.
This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, and none was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald's size. To regain his freedom, he needed to lose weight.
But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: "My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills."
Raynald stayed in that room for ten years and wasn't released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined he died within a year. . . a prisoner of his own appetite.