Ehud: Left-Handedness
But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed. — Judges iii. 15.
According to the Septuagint Eliud was an Ambidexter, that isj a man who could use both hands with equal facility. Hector boasted — Many a Greek hath bled by me and I can shift my shield from right to left.’’ Of the children of Benjamin we read,” Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones at an hairbreadthj and not miss. — Judges xx. 16. Plato recommended all soldiers to acquire equal facility in the use of both hands. It is evident from all this, as well from what is known amongst ourselves, that left-handedness has always been considered peculiar, otherwise it would not have been pointed out as a feature in any case. We never say of a man that lie is but we do remark upon any man whom we see using his left hand for purposes which are usually assigned to the right. The text gives several points of interest.
I. The text shows that itnany men may be dependent upon one man. The children of Israel were many. Why did they not work out their own deliverance? As soon as Ehud was raised up they were liberated from the hands of Eglon, King of Moab. For eighteen years they served the stranger,, and then they cried unto the Lord for a deliverer. 1. The one man may be in a better position than the many, and this may account for his influence. Take the case of a besieged city: one man outside the walls may work out 4he deliverance of the whole, etc. 2. The one man may be able to move about more quicMy than the many. Crowds cannot be hurried to any wise action. They soon lose themselves in confusion. They need leadership to give unity and precision to their movements. Even a wise man is in danger of losing his wisdom when he mingles with a crowd.
Still, with these explanations fully valued, it is profoundly true that one man may be stronger than the many, and therefore that the millions may be kept together by special units here and there. Specially is one good man more than all the hosts of evil. For the sake of the oney God preserves the many. (Sodom, Potiphar, Paul in the storm, etc.) “There was a little city and few men within it.^’ — Eccles. ix. 14, 15.
II. The text shows that the instruments chosen of God may often siirjprise and disappoint men, God sent a left-handed man to deUver Israel! It seemed like a mockery. We are often very dainty about our instruments, and our daintiness does next to nothing for us. I have heard men, who ought to have known better, pray to God in this fashion for ministers: — “Raise up, we beseech Thee, educated men, men of talent and culture, for this work.^’ I could never say “Amen to such a prayer. I pray God to make his own choice, and to send whom he will — king or peasant, man of stammering tongue or eloquent speech, — no matter. I use no qualifying or limiting words, — whom thou WTLT, is prayer enough for me.
In view of this apparent eccentricity of the divine method, we should remember — 1. That a man is not a ^reat man merely because he is left-handed. Bunyan was a tinker, but it does not follow that every tinker is a Bunyan. George Whitfield was cross-eyed, but it does not follow that squinting is a condition of good preaching. I say these things because there is a
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danger of mistaking an eccentricity for a law, and setting up false or inadequate standards of judgment. On the other hand we should remember — 2. That no man should be condemned merely because he does not talce hold of things in the common way. We say about some men that apijearances are not in their favour. Sometimes we decide by the very first look. Occasionally we think we show our sagacity by exclaiming — “Why the man is left-handed! ‘’ All this shows that we may be mistaken. “Look not on the height of his stature.” Give every man an opportunity of proving himself.
III. The text shows that some good use may be made of the most unlihely qualifications. The text thus becomes a word of encouragement. One has no diffi- -culty in supposing that many persons are secretly lamenting some peculiarity of temperament, some defect of body, or some circumstance which seems to shut them off from the general band of workers. Let such persons look at the text, and take heart again!
Look at some of the instruments whom God has chosen. Moses, a man of slow speech; Davids yoiig and disdained of the Philistine; Ehud, left-handed; Shamgar, a labouring man; Paul, weak in bodily pre - sence and in speech contemptible!
Look at the Son of God himself. He had no form nor comeliness, and there was no beauty that men should desire him. He was as a root out of a dry ground. He was a Nazarene. Look at all these things, and let no man’s heart fail him because of mere left-handedness.