How does Aod’s killing of Eglon lead to Moab’s defeat in this account?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Aod escapes while Eglon’s servants delay, calls Israel with a trumpet, leads them to the Jordan fords toward Moab and permits no crossing. Israel kills about ten thousand strong Moabites, none escaping, and the land rests eighty years. Challoner’s separate note says Aod’s special action must not be imitated by private men.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord leaves nations to instruct Israel and those who have not known the Chanaanite wars, so later children may learn to fight enemies and be trained for war. They are the five Philistine princes, all the Chanaanites, the Sidonians and the Hevites in mount Libanus from mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Emath. He also leaves them to test whether Israel hears the commands given to their fathers through Moses. Israel lives among the Chanaanite, Hethite, Amorrhite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite. They take those peoples’ daughters as wives, give their daughters to those peoples’ sons and serve their gods. They do evil before the Lord, forget their God and serve Baalim and Astaroth.

The Lord’s anger gives Israel into the hands of Chusan Rasathaim, king of Mesopotamia, whom they serve eight years. Challoner explains separately that Mesopotamia is Aramnaharim in Hebrew, Syria of the two rivers, named because it lies between the Euphrates and Tigris and called simply Syria in verse 10. Israel cries to the Lord, who raises a savior and delivers them: Othoniel son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb. The Lord’s spirit is in him, and he judges Israel and goes out to fight. The Lord delivers Chusan Rasathaim, king of Syria, into his hands, and Othoniel overthrows him. The land rests forty years, and Othoniel son of Cenez dies.

Israel again does evil before the Lord, who strengthens Eglon king of Moab against them because of that evil. Eglon joins Ammon and Amalec’s children to him, overthrows Israel and possesses the city of palm trees. Israel serves him eighteen years. After they cry to the Lord, he raises a savior, Aod son of Gera, son of Jemini, who uses his left hand as well as his right. Israel sends presents to Eglon by Aod. Aod makes a two-edged sword, described as having “a haft in the midst of the length of the palm of the hand,” and wears it beneath his garment on his right thigh. He presents the gifts to Eglon, who is exceedingly fat, and then follows the companions who came with him.

Returning from Galgal, where the idols are, Aod tells the king he has a secret message. The king commands silence and everyone around him leaves. Aod enters while Eglon sits alone in a summer parlour. Aod says he has a word from God, and Eglon immediately rises from his throne. Challoner’s separate note says Aod is Israel’s judge and chief magistrate and that his act on this occasion is by special inspiration from God; such things are not to be imitated by private men. Aod reaches with his left hand, takes the dagger from his right thigh and thrusts it into Eglon’s belly. The haft follows the blade into the wound and the fat closes over it. Aod does not withdraw the dagger but leaves it in the body, and excrement immediately comes out through the body’s private parts.

Aod carefully closes and locks the parlour doors and goes out through a postern, a back door. The king’s servants come in, see the parlour doors closed and suppose he may be relieving himself there. They wait a long time until they are ashamed; when no one opens the door, they take a key and open it, finding their lord dead on the ground. While they are in confusion, Aod escapes, passes the place of the idols from which he returned and comes to Seirath.

Aod immediately sounds a trumpet in mount Ephraim. Israel goes down with him, and he leads in front. He tells them to follow because the Lord has delivered their Moabite enemies into their hands. They follow down and seize the Jordan fords on the way to Moab, allowing no man to cross. They kill about ten thousand Moabites, all strong and valiant; none escapes. Moab is humbled under Israel’s hand that day, and the land rests eighty years.

After Aod comes Samgar son of Anath, who kills six hundred Philistines with a ploughshare and also defends Israel.

The story inside

The chapter first gives the remaining nations’ purposes: training those without knowledge of war and testing obedience to Moses’s commands. Israel instead marries among the named peoples and serves their gods. Eight years under Chusan Rasathaim end when Israel cries and the Lord raises Othoniel, whose victory is followed by forty years of rest and his death. Renewed evil leads to Eglon’s strengthened rule and eighteen years of service. After another cry, Aod carries gifts, returns with a secret message, strikes Eglon and escapes while the servants wait. His trumpet call and leadership lead Israel to take the Jordan fords; no crossing or escape is allowed, and Moab’s defeat is followed by eighty years of rest. The final verse gives Samgar’s distinct defense with a ploughshare. The two Challoner notes explain Mesopotamia’s naming and the special character and limit of Aod’s act.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The purposes for leaving the nations are explicit. The Lord uses them both to train later generations for war and to test hearing the commands given through Moses. The chapter then names Israel’s marriages, forgetting and worship rather than supplying a private motive for those acts.
2
The two deliverances have different named details and durations. Israel serves Chusan Rasathaim eight years before Othoniel’s victory and forty years of rest; service under Eglon lasts eighteen years before Aod’s actions and eighty years of rest. Keeping those numbers and sequences prevents one vague summary from replacing the actual record.
3
Aod’s actions and the commentary’s limit both belong in the account. The doors and servants’ delay precede his escape and trumpet call; the fords and no-crossing rule precede Moab’s defeat. Challoner describes the act as specially inspired and explicitly says private men must not imitate it, without turning that note into a broader unstated rule.

Test your recall

How do the closed doors and servants’ delay precede Aod’s escape, and what does Israel do at the Jordan fords before Moab is humbled and the land rests eighty years?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 25277–25305
Judges Chapter 3 The people falling into idolatry are oppressed by their enemies; but repenting are delivered by Othoniel, Aod, and Samgar. 3:1. These are the nations which the Lord left, that by them he might instruct Israel, and all that had not known the wars of the Chanaanites: 3:2. That afterwards their children might learn to fight with their enemies, and to be trained up to war: 3:3. The five princes of the Philistines, and all the Chanaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hevites that dwelt in Mount Libanus, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entering into Emath. 3:4. And he left them, that he might try Israel by them, whether they would hear the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers, by the hand of Moses, or not. 3:5. So the children of Israel dwelt in the midst of the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite: 3:6. And they took their daughters to wives, and they gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. 3:7. And they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot their God, and served Baalim and Astaroth.
Lines 25307–25324
3:8. And the Lord being angry with Israel, delivered them into the hands of Chusan Rasathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and they served him eight years. Mesopotamia.... In Hebrew Aramnaharim. Syria of the two rivers: so called because it lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris. It is absolutely called Syria, ver. 10. 3:9. And they cried to the Lord, who raised them up a saviour, and delivered them; to wit, Othoniel, the son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb: 3:10. And the spirit of the Lord was in him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to fight, and the Lord delivered into his hands Chusan Rasathaim, king of Syria, and he overthrew him: 3:11. And the land rested forty years, and Othoniel, the son of Cenez, died.
Lines 25326–25349
3:12. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: who strengthened against them Eglon, king of Moab: because they did evil in his sight. 3:13. And he joined to him the children of Ammon, and Amalec: and he went and overthrew Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 3:14. And the children of Israel served Eglon, king of Moab, eighteen years. 3:15. And afterwards they cried to the Lord, who raised them up a saviour, called Aod, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, who used the left hand as well as the right. And the children of Israel sent presents to Eglon, king of Moab, by him. 3:16. And he made himself a two-edged sword, with a haft in the midst of the length of the palm of the hand, and was girded therewith, under his garment, on the right thigh. 3:17. And he presented the gifts to Eglon, king of Moab Now Eglon was exceeding fat. 3:18. And when he had presented the gifts unto him he followed his companions that came along with him.
Lines 25351–25370
3:19. Then returning from Galgal, where the idols were, he said to the king: I have a secret message to thee, O king. And he commanded silence: and all being gone out that were about him, 3:20. Aod went in to him: now he was sitting in a summer parlour alone, and he said: I have a word from God to thee. And he forthwith rose up from his throne. A word from God, etc.... What Aod, who was judge and chief magistrate of Israel, did on this occasion, was by a special inspiration of God: but such things are not to be imitated by private men. 3:21. And Aod put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly, 3:22. With such force that the haft went in after the blade into the wound, and was closed up with the abundance of fat. So that he did not draw out the dagger, but left it in the body as he had struck it in: and forthwith, by the secret parts of nature, the excrements of the belly came out.
Lines 25372–25384
3:23. And Aod carefully shutting the doors of the parlour, and locking them, 3:24. Went out by a postern door. And the king’s servants going in, saw the doors of the parlour shut, and they said: Perhaps he is easing nature in his summer parlour. 3:25. And waiting a long time, till they were ashamed, and seeing that no man opened the door, they took a key: and opening, they found their lord lying dead on the ground. 3:26. But Aod, while they were in confusion, escaped, and passed by the place of the idols from whence he had returned. And he came to Seirath:
Lines 25386–25398
3:27. And forthwith he sounded the trumpet in Mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel went down with him, he himself going in the front. 3:28. And he said to them: Follow me: for the Lord hath delivered our enemies, the Moabites, into our hands. And they went down after him, and seized upon the fords of the Jordan, which are in the way to Moab: and they suffered no man to pass over: 3:29. But they slew of the Moabites at that time, about ten thousand, all strong and valiant men: none of them could escape. 3:30. And Moab was humbled that day under the hand of Israel: and the land rested eighty years.
Lines 25400–25404
3:31. After him was Samgar, the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with a ploughshare: and he also defended Israel.