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Judges 3:18

in Judges 3

After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people that bare the tribute.

KJV

And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

This verse in Judges 3

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Made an end to offer the present - Presents, tribute, etc., in the eastern countries were offered with very great ceremony; and to make the more parade several persons, ordinarily slaves, sumptuously dressed, and in considerable number, were employed to carry what would not be a burden even to one. This appears to have been the case in the present instance.

This site's exposition

who was an obese man

on Judges 3:17-19

Eglon is "an obese man" before the blade goes anywhere, and at verse 22 that detail is why the sword stays in. At verse 19 the Hebrew names carved images, "the idols near Gilgal", where Israel first camped and where the angel of 2:1 came from.

This site's exposition

ushered out those who had carried it

Adam Clarke describes the custom of the East, where tribute was carried with ceremony by many attendants, often slaves, bearing what one man could carry. The crowd made the delivery a show for the court.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON JUDGES 4.1 · Written before 253.

proposed

Let's observe how Ehud, whose name means "praise," discharged his leadership. History teaches us, in its writings about King Eglon, how this most wise Ehud with particular skill and, if I may say, cunning but praiseworthy deception, would kill the tyrant Eglon, whose name means "round" or "circular." It was necessary, then, to have the quality of judges of our people as was this Ehud, whose name means "praise," so to cut through all his rolling motion and circuit of evil ways and to destroy the king of the Moabites. But Moabite is translated as "flow" or "effusion." Who can the ruler or leader of this flowing and dissolute people be seen or understood to be, therefore, other than the word of that philosophy which adjudges pleasure to be the highest good, a philosophy which the word of the gospel, which has been compared to a sword, killed and destroyed? And this prophetic word would become enclosed within their belly and lowest stomach by means of the "ambidextrous" judge's arguments, to extinguish the Moabites by assertion of the truth, enclosing also every sense of perverse doctrine and dull understanding "which extols itself and rises against the spiritual knowledge of Christ," so that by acting thus and by doing battle with the word of God, each judge of the church may also become a praising Ehud, about whom the Lord would say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few, so I will set you over many."

A commentator

Jerome

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20 (Ps 90) · Written before 420.

proposed

What did you mean by saying, two thousand fall at the side? Naturally, when the right hand is designated and the left is not, the side is named in place of the left hand. It would not be right, certainly, for the just man to have a left hand: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek," counsels the Lord, "turn to him the other also." Notice that he did not say, "the left also," for it is not the left cheek that is offered, but another right cheek.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And when he had made an end to offer the present,....

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַֽיְהִי֙and it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֣רjust when

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • כִּלָּ֔הhe had finished

    kilahH3615 →

  • לְהַקְרִ֖יבto bring near

    lehakrivH7126 →280 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַמִּנְחָ֑הthe tribute

    haminchahH4503 →211 times

  • וַיְשַׁלַּח֙and he sent away

    vayshalachH7971 →845 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעָ֔םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • נֹשְׂאֵ֖י[who] bore

    noseeiH5375 →656 times

  • הַמִּנְחָֽה׃<of> the tribute

    haminchahH4503 →211 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20 (Ps 90); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JUDGES 4.1.