Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

Ehud crafts a double-edged dagger16 that is a gomed in length. The NIV translates gomed “about a cubit” with a note stating, “that is, about 18 inches” (v. 16). This is incorrect. Ehud’s dagger was more likely about a foot or less in length.17 His improvisation is undoubtedly a prefiguring of the improvising of other weapons: Shamgar’s oxgoad (3:31), Jael’s tent peg (4:21–22), Gideon’s jars and torches (7:20), the certain woman’s millstone (9:53), and Samson’s donkey jawbone (15:15). But here, as opposed to the other instances, Ehud’s action is deliberate and calculated. He takes time and effort to fashion his weapon—perhaps even, as some commentators have suggested, making the length appropriate to the size of Eglon. Finally, he devises a means of getting the implement into Eglon’s presence: He straps it to the inner side of his right thigh under his clothing. To sum up, the dagger is short enough to hide under his clothing, long enough to do in Eglon, and double-edged to ensure the fatality of one quick thrust.18