[This is another segment in the Music in the Bible series which begins in Genesis and finishes in Revelation.]
And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them.
Israel has reached the point in its national development where they have become too comfortable in their walk with the Lord so He sends them challenges to their loyalty. This is what God does, like it or not.
image source: janevoigts.com
But along with the tests, God always provides a way out usually through a messenger or a hero of some sort because He knows how helpless we are as humans. So maybe the real test is: Do we turn to God in our times of desperation and wait for His deliverer or do we continue in our folly and succumb hopelessly to the evil forces attacking us from all directions?
In this passage from Judges, King Eglon was the obese sovereign of the Moabites who had oppressed the Israelites for eighteen years. When the people "finally cried out to the Lord", He "raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite". (Judges 3:15)
Now Ehud was a God ordained assassin that snuck in to see the king after paying false tribute in order to get a private audience with the ruler. At that time, he pulled out a hidden sword (about the size of a sawed off shotgun) which was strapped to his right thigh under his clothes. When the opportunity arose, Ehud plunged the weapon into the king's fat which was so prominent that it swallowed up the sword, hilt and all, and guts came spilling out.
After Ehud escaped the confines of the palace, he went up to the hill country of Ephraim and sounded the trumpet to call the people to assembly and let them know they had been delivered from their enemy. Ding dong the witch is dead! Sing a song!
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