When Violence is the Answer

**WARNING GRAPHIC VIOLENCE**

There are times and occasions when plunging a double-edged sword into a morbidly obese king is the means by which God conveys his message. Brevity is indeed the soul of wit. We chance upon this in Judges 3:12-30. The children of Israel remained oppressed under Eglon, the lard laden king of Moab for eighteen years.  The Lord God raised them up a deliverer, a left-handed Benjamite called Ehud.

The Benjamites were an elite left-handed special military unit constituted of 700 warriors who could use a sling with deadly accuracy. In military and combat situations, a left handed warrior employs the element of surprise to his advantage. In response to tyranny, Ehud did not organize a protest, place sanctions, or threaten to defund Eglon’s treasury. He quietly and methodically fashioned an eighteen inch double edged dagger. A gleaming instrument, awash in judgement. Ehud calmly presented himself before the king and spoke these words, “I have a message from God for you.”

Evocative of lightening, Ehud put forth his left hand and plunged the dagger deep into Eglon’s belly.  A scene bathed in intense bloodletting.  The ancient text ascertained the sword as swallowed up by Eglon’s fat folds. As a result of the coup de grace, Eglon defecated upon himself, and the room was permeated with the stench of death.  The overarching lesson shows itself to be this: When tyranny arises, there remain seasons when we need warriors to rise up. The time for rhetoric draws to a close. It is to be found when the opportunity presents itself, there should be less talking and more stabbing.