I Preached on a Ridiculous Bible Passage

My sermon on Judges 3:12-30

Jul 10, 2026

If you need to preach a sermon, I wouldn’t advise choosing Judges 3:12-30. It’s the story of Ehud stabbing fat King Eglon in the gut.

Now, it would easily work as part of a Boys’ Storybook Bible that contains all the craziest and most gruesome stories from Scripture that may make us squirm but keep the attention of hyperactive little boys.

Still, that’s the passage I felt led to preach earlier this week.

I’m most comfortable sharing my thoughts by typing on a keyboard and delivering them via the written word, but I do enjoy teaching opportunities.

I don’t preach often. Occasionally, however, I’ve been asked to preach at my church, including on Wednesday.

I enjoy sermon prep much more than sermon delivery. Digging through a biblical text to see more of God and His character is an exciting adventure. Preaching that text is more of an anxious adventure.

But I always welcome the chance to share truth from God’s Word with His people. Still, this passage is a challenge.

Below, I’ll share a summary that will, hopefully, be an encouragement to you. If you’d like to watch the full sermon, I’ll also include the YouTube video at the end.

An Impossible Rescue — Judges 3:12-30

On the surface, this seems like a random (even crude) story about a random event that happened thousands of years ago in the Middle East with no relevance to our lives today. But once you spend time with it, you see that it showcases God’s character, our dependence on Him, and Jesus being the point of it all.

In this impossible rescue, we see an unexpected deliverer, an unbelievable plan, and an unchallenged victory.

Unexpected deliverer (v. 12-15)

When we think of the deliverers in Judges, people like Samson come to mind. A supernaturally strong man. But most often, the judges are people no one else would choose.

The Bible describes Ehud here as a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. What makes that so unusual? Benjamin means “Son of the Right Hand.” The right hand signified power and authority. Ehud is left-handed.

Out of all the people, Ehud, the left-handed man from the tribe of the Son of the Right Hand, was chosen to deliver the tribute to King Eglon. He’s a walking contradiction.

But isn’t this what God loves to do? He delights in using the unexpected, the small, the weak. All through Scripture, we see Him choosing to use people like that. People like you and me.

God uses the weak to show His power, the foolish to show His wisdom, the small to show His majesty.

In 2 Corinthians 12, God tells Paul that His power is perfected in weakness. Perfected in weakness. The perfect display of God’s power comes through our weakness.

What do you contribute to God’s work? Your weakness and that’s exactly what God wants from you and that’s exactly what we need to give Him.

As Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 12, when I am weak, then I am strong.

Unbelievable plan (v. 16-25)

You can feel the tension rising in the text as this well-armed left-handed man takes the tribute with several other men to the oppressive king. But Ehud presents the tribute, dismisses the people who carried it, and leaves himself. Nothing happens.

It would seem like this was the perfect moment for some action movie battle between Ehud and his men and fat Eglon and his bodyguards. But everyone leaves, and Ehud heads back himself. Until he reaches the carved images at Gilgal (v. 19).

Those carved images likely were markers to proclaim the power and deeds of Moabite god Chemosh. A false god who demanded human sacrifices.

And these markers were at Gilgal, where the people of Israel had crossed the Jordan, taken stones from the bottom of the river, and set them up so that “all peoples of the earth may know that the Lord’s hand is strong” (Joshua 4:24).

After seeing these idols, Ehud returns to Eglon, somehow gains a private audience with the king, and stabs him. Eglon was so fat, his stomach enveloped the entire sword.

When he was stabbed, “waste” came out that caused the room to smell and led his servants to think he was using the bathroom. While they waited, Ehud escaped.

Nothing about that plan seems to make sense, but, again, that’s how God often operates. His plans often don’t make sense to us.

Yet, we trust that even though the tapestry looks terrible from our perspective, when we see it from eternity, from God’s vantage point, it looks like the beautiful masterpiece He intends.

When God works through the unexpected deliverer with an unbelievable plan, finally, He accomplishes an unchallenged victory.

Unchallenged victory (v. 26-30)

When Ehud returns to Israel, he passes right by those markers again, those idols to Chemosh. What do they do? Absolutely nothing.

Idols have no power to save. They didn’t stop Ehud from killing Eglon in the throne room, and they can’t stop him from escaping past them now.

Ehud calls the Israelite army to him and they conqueror Moab. God’s people have peace for 80 years.

But if we rewind the story, the Israelites were in their situation because of those idols. Israel let false worship take root in the land, and it led to them being trampled on by their enemies. The same idols that couldn’t stop Ehud could ensnare the Israelites because they let them.

If we allow idols to take root in our lives, they will work to enslave and destroy us. We have to be aggressive and go on the attack. As John Owens said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

Idols we ignore become kings we have to kill. When we allow even just the smallest sin leeway in our lives, it will spread like cancer and become a much bigger issue.

The Impossible Rescue

But ultimately, this passage isn’t a call for us to work harder in our strength. It’s not a reminder to be brave like Ehud.

All of Scripture is about Christ, including this passage about swords and guts, idols and kings. It foreshadows and reminds us of our impossible rescue by Christ.

Who is a more unexpected deliverer than Jesus in His first coming? In Isaiah 53, the prophet tells us that the Messiah wouldn’t have an impressive form or desirable appearance.

What is a more unbelievable plan than God dying in our place to defeat sin and death? It’s such an unbelievable plan that only God could’ve come up with it. No other religion or worldview bases salvation on God sacrificing Himself for humans.

And finally, what is a more unquestionable victory than what Jesus has accomplished and will finalize one day?

In the last verse of our story in Judges, verse 30, the Bible says the Israelites had “peace” for 80 years. When we see “peace” in the Bible, we often think of shalom, but this is a different word. This is sheqet.

It means quietness, settled, idleness. It is the removing of strife. That’s the peace that God brought through Ehud and other human leaders.

But in Christ, we don’t just have sheqet. We have shalom. We have wholeness. We aren’t just physically at peace. We are fully at peace because of what Christ has done.

Israel’s peace, their sheqet, ended when another nation oppressed them. In Christ, our peace, our shalom, transcends our circumstances. And the victory we have in Christ is so unquestionable, so far-reaching, it won’t last 80 years. It will never end.

God used Ehud to accomplish an impossible rescue. Through Jesus, God accomplished the impossible rescue and we can live in that victory today and for all eternity.

Here’s the full sermon if you’d like to watch.