But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. Ehud the son of Gera - a man left handed - איש אטר יד ימינו ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use his left. The Septuagint render it ανδρα αμφοτεροδεξιον, an ambidexter, a man who could use both hands alike. The Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur, a man who could use either hand as a right hand, or to whom right and left were equally ready. This is not the sense of the original, but it is the sense in which most interpreters understand it. It is well known that to be an ambidexter was in high repute among the ancients: Hector boasts of it: -
Αυταρ εγων εν οιδα μαχας τ,ανδροκτασιας τε·
Οιδ' επι δεξια, οιδ' επ' αριστερα νωμησαι βων
Αζαλεην, το μοι εστι ταλαυρινον πολεμιζειν.
Iliad, lib. vii., ver. 237.
"But am in arms well practiced; many a Greek
Hath bled by me, and I can shift my shield
From right to left; reserving to the last
Force that suffices for severest toil."
Cowper.
Asteropaeus is also represented by Homer as an ambidexter, from which he derives great advantages in fight: -
Ὡς φατ' απειλησας· ὁ δ' ανεσχετο διος Αχιλλευς
Πηλιαδα μελιην· ὁ δ' ὁμαρτη δουρασιν αμφις
Ἡρως Αστεροπαιος, επει περιδεξιος ηε.
Iliad, lib. xxi., ver. 161.
So threatened he. Then raised Achilles high
The Pelian ash: - and his two spears at once
Alike, (a practiced warrior), with both hands
Asteropaeus hurled."
Cowper.
We are informed by Aristotle, that Plato recommended to all soldiers to acquire by study and exercise an equal facility of using both hands. Speaking of Plato, he says: Και την εν τοις πολεμικοισασκεσιν, ὁπως αμφιδεξιοι γινωνται κατα την μελετην, ὡς δεον μη την μεν χρησιμον ειναι ταιν χεροιν, την δε αχρηστον. - De Repub., lib. ii., cap. 12. "He (Plato) also made a law concerning their warlike exercises, that they should acquire a habit of using both hands alike; as it is not fit that one of the hands should be useful and the other useless." In Judges 20:16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was אטר יד ימינו itter yad yemino, lame of his right hand, and yet slinging stones to a hair's breadth without missing: these are generally thought to be ambidexters.
Sent a present unto Eglon - This is generally understood to be the tribute money which the king of Moab had imposed on the Israelites.