[One-Verse Meditation]

Judges 3:15a (NIV) “Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.”

[Meditation]

After the death of Othniel, Israel’s first judge, the people ‘again’ did evil in the eyes of the LORD (v. 12). Here, the biblical writer uses the Hebrew verb vayyosifu, which comes from yasaph, meaning ‘to add’ or ‘to continue.’ This shows that their sin was not a simple repetition, but a deep-rooted habit of willfully adding to their evil. As a judgment for their sin, God strengthened King Eglon of Moab, and Israel had to serve him in suffering for 18 years.

When Israel cried out again in their suffering, God raised up a second judge for them: ‘Ehud the left-handed man,’ from the tribe of Benjamin. But here, we must pay attention to the kind of deliverer God chose. The Hebrew phrase translated as ‘left-handed’ literally means ‘one whose right hand was restricted (or bound),’ implying a disability in the use of his right hand. What is even more astonishing is the fact that he was from the tribe of ‘Benjamin,’ which means ‘son of the right hand.’

What a paradox, that from among the ‘sons of the right hand,’ a man ‘who could not use his right hand’ was chosen as the deliverer! In an era that prized the right hand as a symbol of strength and authority, a left-handed person was considered weak, imperfect, and in the community’s eyes, ‘no good.’ I see now how God accomplishes salvation through the most unsuitable, the most pathetic-looking person.

This is exactly how God works. It is the secret by which He uses not our greatest strengths, but our weaknesses, so that no one can boast in themselves and all glory might go to God alone. And I see now that the culmination of this secret is the cross of Jesus Christ.

[Prayer]

The one who came in the form of a left-handed man, whom no one would desire; yet He alone is the true Right-Handed One—because He is God. Let this be a new day to exalt that Lord. Amen.
___________________

[Daily Reading]

Judges 3:12-30