User:JSFrancois/sandbox

Ehud

According to Judges 3:12–30, Ehud was sent by the Israelites to the Moabite King Eglon on the pretext of delivering the Israelites' annual tribute. Ehud made a double-edged short sword about a cubit (eighteen inches) long, useful for a stabbing thrust. Being left-handed, he could conceal the sword on his right thigh, where it was not expected. Left handedness is significant because the left side of the body is often associated with deception or darkness, it was a tactical advantage in war against the majority who are often right-handed, and is symbolic for being outside of the culturally accepted social norm of leadership in ancient Israel. Once they met, Ehud told Eglon he had a secret message for him. Eglon dismissed his attendants and allowed Ehud to meet him in private. The Hebrew for the location of the private meeting is  בַּעֲלִיַּת הַמְּקֵרָה (`aliyah meqerah), translated as cooling roof chamber, which was likely a bathroom given that the servants believed Eglon was relieving himself (v24). Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you", drew his sword, and stabbed the king in his abdomen. The Hebrew word for abdomen                                                                                                                         בְּבִטְנֽוֹ (beten), is the same word that is used for the womb of a woman, lending itself to a translation that implies sexual undertones and feminizes Eglon putting him in an “inferior position of the hierarchical binary pair” The weaker Ehud overcame the stronger Eglon. After Ehud stabbed the king, the end of Judges 3:22 reads in Hebrew וַיֵּצֵא הַֽפַּרְשְׁדֹֽנָה (yatsa' parshedon) usually translated as “and the dirt came out” a phrase of uncertain meaning as it is only used once in the Hebrew Bible. “Dirt” could be translated as feces.