The focus on the execution of the plot (3:19b–26a)—“executing the main sacrifice”—is heightened by satire and irony, the principal target of which is Eglon (“young calf/bull”). This name, as noted above, is derived from ‘egel (calf/bull) and may be a diminutive or affectionate, familiar form. The name perhaps also plays on the term ‘agol (“round”).27 Ironically, then, the name suggests that Eglon is a fatted calf ready for slaughter. Four times he is designated as “king [melek] of Moab” (3:12, 14, 15, 17) and then, climactically in 3:19, Ehud addresses him as “Your Majesty” (lit. “O king,”
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