My Talk - a Difficult One

I spent  Wednesday morning with Maggie, and Thursday morning with my helper, practising my talk - and having cups of tea and kitkats.

Jackie is back.  Hurray!

This is my talk from last night.   It all went OK and my helper and I stuck to time. We were overtime when we practised it yesterday morning and had to cut it somewhat.

I will add the rather harrowing passage from Judges at the end.

Ehud:   Jehovah Delivers his People

Main Hall

Study 32:  Expressed with Conviction

Setting:  Encouraging a Bible student to come to the meetings

Sue.  Hello G, before I leave, I wanted to say that if you would like to come to the Thursday meeting, I can pick you up at 6.30

G.   Thanks for the offer Sue, but I don't think I want to. I did quite like that meeting on Sunday, but I had a look at the study schedule you gave me for Thursday. And I thought that bit about the king who was murdered was awful.   The Old Testament seems so cruel to me. Why would you want to study that?

S.   Do you know G that if I had talked to you about this before I began my Bible study with the JWs, I would probably have agreed with you.  The killing of King Eglon by Ehud is described in such horrible detail.    What changed my mind was actually studying the Bible, as we really need to see the whole picture to understand what is happening, and why.  So to help us do that here, could you read Judges 3, verses 12 and 15?

G.  reads Judges 3:12 and 15:   "And once again the Israelites began doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes. So Jehovah let Egʹlon the king of Moʹab prevail over Israel, because they did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes."   "Then the Israelites called to Jehovah for help, so Jehovah raised up for them a savior, Eʹhud the son of Geʹra, a Benʹja·min·ite who was left-handed. In time the Israelites sent tribute through him to Egʹlon the king of Moʹab."

Sue.  So do you see how this situation came about. Was it something that Jehovah had wanted?

G.  No.  Clearly it happened because the Israelites were not obeying him.

Sue.  Yes, had they obeyed, Eglon would never have been ruling over them.

G. Though why was it him who was killed when it was them who were disobedient?

S.  Good question.  Let's go back and have a look.  Now, in the light of these words:  "Then the Israelites called to Jehovah for help...", do you think that Eglon was a kind King?  Did he treat his people in a just manner?

G.  Well no, if  they had to call for help, I guess he must have been pretty oppressive.

S.  Yes.  I think we must assume that he was a harsh ruler.   And then we have the description of his death, which I know is horribly graphic and we won't read it again.  But was it a lingering one?

G.  No.  Horrible though it was, I should think it was quick enough.

S.  Yes, I would guess so. And also there is an interesting detail in there to show that the King was not anticipating anything bad, he didn't have to fear his execution.  It tells us that Ehud was left-handed - and I was reading in one of our publications that would mean his attack was very unexpected as the sword would have been girded on his right thigh under his garment and he would have drawn it with his left hand. The King would not have been expecting that at all.(I tried to add some gestures here, drawing my sword and wielding it sort of backhand, which I hope worked out as  have always had difficulty telling my right from my left).  So very probably Ehud gave the King a quicker and  more merciful death than King Eglon gave to others.

G.  There is a surprising lot of detail in there when you come to read it closely.

S. Exactly - the more we study the Bible, the more it has the ring of truth. But given that this account has been written down and preserved for us to this day, it must be there for a reason, to teach us something.  What lesson do you take from it?

G.   Erm  - clearly how important it is to obey Jehovah.

S.   Definitely. though I was thinking of something else too.  Do you see how Jehovah protected his people - when they called to Him for help in faith, he gave it - because, look, see how it turned out, We will pack up after Ehud has killed Eglon, from verse 26.  It shows how Ehud escaped, rallied Israel to him, and they defeated the Moabites. And then: (reads verse 30) "So Moʹab was subdued on that day under Israel’s hand; and the land had rest for 80 years"   And I want you notice that Jehovah did this through the congregational arrangement. Ehud is called a saviour of the congregation, so he was effectively one of the Judges in Israel, even though he is not given that title as such.  Now the Christian congregation has an eldership arrangement today which is a great protection for us.  And I would really love you to come along and see it in action for yourself.   They have no literal sword, let me quickly assure you, but they can all wield "the sword of the spirit", which is God's word, and keep the congregation free from all false teaching..

(Judges 3:12-30)  "And once again the Israelites began doing what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes. So Jehovah let Egʹlon the king of Moʹab prevail over Israel, because they did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes.  Furthermore, he brought against them the Amʹmon·ites and the A·malʹek·ites. They attacked Israel and captured the city of palm trees.  The Israelites served Egʹlon the king of Moʹab for 18 years.  Then the Israelites called to Jehovah for help, so Jehovah raised up for them a savior, Eʹhud the son of Geʹra, a Benʹja·min·ite who was left-handed. In time the Israelites sent tribute through him to Egʹlon the king of Moʹab.  Meanwhile, Eʹhud made for himself a two-edged sword, a cubit long, and he strapped it underneath his garment on his right thigh.  He then presented the tribute to Egʹlon the king of Moʹab. Now Egʹlon was a very fat man.  When Eʹhud finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.  But after reaching the carved images at Gilʹgal, he himself went back and said: “I have a secret message for you, O king.” So the king said: “Silence!” With that all his attendants left him.  So Eʹhud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. Then Eʹhud said: “I have a message from God for you.” So he rose up from his throne.  Then Eʹhud drew the sword from his right thigh with his left hand and plunged it into his belly.  The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed in over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the fecal matter came out.  Eʹhud went out through the porch, closing the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locking them.  After he left, the servants returned and saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked. So they said: “He must be relieving himself in the cool interior room.”  They kept waiting until they were embarrassed, but when they saw that he was still not opening the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them and saw their lord fallen to the floor dead!  Eʹhud escaped while they were lingering, and he passed by the carved images and made it safely to Se·iʹrah.  When he arrived, he sounded the horn in the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im; and the Israelites went down out of the mountainous region, with him at their head.  Then he said to them: “Follow me, because Jehovah has given your enemies, the Moʹab·ites, into your hand.” So they followed him and captured the fords of the Jordan against the Moʹab·ites, and they did not allow anyone to cross.  At that time they struck down about 10,000 Moʹab·ites, all strong and valiant men; not a single one escaped. 30 So Moʹab was subdued on that day under Israel’s hand; and the land had rest for 80 years."