Integrity matters.

The way we go about fulfilling our mission—as a church, as an organisation, as the people of God—is just as important as the mission itself. God-honouring goals should never justify ungodly means. We’ve witnessed the tragic consequences of that truth being ignored in recent times. But the pattern goes back a long way; we can see it already playing out in the story of Ehud, who delivers God’s people in a way that’s... well… not right. 

Let’s take a brief look at the story, from Judges chapter 3:

Judges 3:12-15a (ESV) And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel… He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel… And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer…

This is the pattern we see throughout the book of Judges. Israel does evil in the eyes of God, worshipping the gods and goddesses of the surrounding nations, so God stops protecting them and allows those nations to conquer and oppress them. Israel then cries out to God, and he raises up a deliverer. Up to this point, it seems, the Ehud story fits the usual pattern. But here’s where it gets a little interesting.

Judges 3:15b …the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

It may not seem all that interesting: does it really matter which is his dominant hand? Well, in the ancient world, it did. Lefties were treated with suspicion. Now if you’re left-handed, let me make this clear: this doesn’t reflect God’s view of your left-handedness. It’s just the view of many ancient cultures filled with fallen human beings who liked to pick on people who were different. In the Ancient Near East, lefties were not right! Even that pun shows that in English, right is right. And in many languages, the word for “left” has negative connotations—often derived from the Latin sinistrum, from which we get the word “sinister.” What I’m saying is, there’s a long history of rightism, with others being… left out. 

Moreover, in the ancient world you’d only eat food with your right hand, because your left hand—in a world with no toilet paper or hand sanitiser—was used for other things. So already there’s a whiff of suspicion around Ehud. 

This is all the more so when we see that he’s a Benjaminite, which is literally translated, “son of the right.” And the phrase we’ve translated “left-handed” literally means “bound in the right.” So, Ehud is a son of the right who’s bound in the right. His practice doesn’t match his identity. The way he does things isn’t aligned with who he’s meant to be. 

And here’s something else that doesn’t fit the pattern. Unlike Othniel before him—or Gideon, Jephthah, or Samson after him—the Spirit of the LORD isn’t mentioned at all. God raised him up as a deliverer, but he then seemed to go about it in his own strength. This becomes clearer as we read on: 

Judges 3:15c-16 The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. 

He made it for himself, trusting in his own hand, as it were. And what he makes is a double-edged sword; except the Hebrew for “edge” is the same as the word for “lip.” It’s a double-lipped or double-mouthed sword. A wordplay suggesting he’s a bit tricky, like our expression, “he speaks out of both sides of his mouth.”

And unlike Othniel, he doesn’t raise an army to fight their oppressors—something that you’d do if you were trusting in God to give you victory. Instead, he secretly binds his sword to his right thigh, where it wouldn’t set off the king’s metal detectors, which were calibrated for right-handers—for normal people, not tricky, manipulative lefties! He then carries out a rather deceptive plot, under the cover story of bringing Israel’s tribute to King Eglon:

Judges 3:17-19 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal…

Again, something is not right. Ehud is supposed to be rescuing Israel who were under oppression because of their idolatry and he just walks on by, leaving the idols there to continue defiling the land. Or perhaps he’ll come back to them later? 

Judges 3:19-20 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message [literally, “a secret thing”] for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message [a “thing”] from God for you.” And he arose from his seat.

It turns out, Ehud was being tricky: that secret “thing” was sharp and double-mouthed.

Judges 3:21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.

Now here’s where it gets gross—and complicated.

Judges 3:22-23 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over (way·yis·gōr) the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out (way·yê·ṣê). Then Ehud went out (way·yê·ṣê) into the porch and closed over (way·yis·gōr) the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

What many English translations miss (which is why I’ve gone with the ESV here) is that the same words are being used about the dung and about Ehud. The fat closed over, and the poo came out. The door closed over, and Ehud came out. What do you think the narrator is implying about Ehud? That he’s a deceptive little… so and so?

Anyway, the servants eventually go into the chamber to find the king dead, but Ehud has had enough time to sneak off.

Judges 3:26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.

Again, he leaves the idols defiling the land. Some deliverer he is!

Judges 3:27-28 When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim… And he said to [Israel], “Follow after me, for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.”

How does he know God has done that? I mean, after God raised him up, he seems to have gone about it using his own tricky plan, with God nowhere in the picture. Is he just assuming?

As it turns out, Israel was delivered and Moab defeated. By God? The narrator doesn’t say. And this also doesn’t fit the pattern of the other judges, unlike back with Othniel, where he said:

Judges 3:10 The Spirit of the LORD was upon him…  He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. 

But with Ehud, all we get is this:

Judges 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel.

In this story, God calls Ehud to a mission, but something isn’t quite right. He makes for himself a double-mouthed sword and a double-mouthed plan. He doesn’t fight head on, trusting in God. Instead, he slips past the idols he’s supposed to purge, slips in his assassin’s sword, and then slips out the back door (so to speak). God still rescues his people. But the way the Bible tells the story, Ehud isn’t commended. He’s judged and found wanting because of the way he went about it. 

How we do God’s work matters. How we achieve the mission matters. This story makes us think: what are some of the ways in which we might be tempted to go about our mission the way Ehud did? 

Firstly, in the busyness of running a church, an organisation, or a ministry, it can be surprisingly easy to forget that God is in the picture. We forget to pray first; or to pray at all. Or maybe, we pray, but when we we’re honest with ourselves, we’re really trusting more in our own activity: our services and preaching, our growth strategies and social media presence, or our tried and tested youth and children’s programmes. These may all be good and important things, but they are pointless without the Spirit of God. Like Ehud, we can easily fall into the trap of making them for ourselves, rather than making them in the power of God.

Secondly, we can be tempted to walk past idols we should be tearing down. We find it easier to be a small target, so we compromise our beliefs, or soft-pedal the parts of our doctrinal convictions that attract undue opposition from the wider culture. 

Thirdly, we can be tempted to cut corners with our integrity in order to get the mission done. In our financial practices, are we using our tax concessions in good faith and are we paying people fairly? In our meetings and preaching, are we ensuring godly persuasion doesn’t tip over into manipulation? In our dealings with the wider world, are we considering the potential impact of what we do on other churches and organisations, or on our community and environment? Or do we avoid confronting ungodly behaviour when confronting it will be costly, or when it looks like it might put the mission at risk?

These are the kinds of questions I need to ask myself regularly. Every Christian organisation, every leader, and every believer needs to guard against the end justifying the means. In the end, God will complete his mission. That’s up to him, not us. The question is: will we be commended by the way in which we’ve played our part? Let’s be a people that’s known for how we do what we do. Because integrity matters.