Chapter 5: Ehud

Ehud’s name means “united, undivided, joining together.” It is the same as Ohad, Simeon’s son (Gen. 46:10). His name suggests the idea of unity, either in a positive or a negative sense. If an Israelite thought he could worship a false god and still be considered a son of God, he was portraying an unholy union that disqualified him. One must be begotten by our true heavenly Father to be a son of God.

In fact, all fleshly conceptions from our earthly fathers are carnal and none since Adam’s sin can make us sons of God. Sons of God must be begotten by a holy union with the Holy Spirit. As sons of God, we are begotten by incorruptible and immortal seed (1 Peter 1:23). John 1:13 says it is “not by blood(line), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

As we will see in this study, the main theme in the story of the Judges is the message of Sonship. The story of Ehud (“united”) tells us that sonship must be attained, not through an unholy union, whose seed is corruptible, but through the true union with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Moab himself was born through an unlawful union (Gen. 19:32, 37). Recall that Moab was one of the sons of Lot that was conceived through incest. Mo’ab means “water (seed) of father.” Moab was the result of an unholy union not sanctioned by God (Lev. 18:7). Any unlawful union (marriage) will fail to bring forth the sons of God.

The story of Ehud (as a Judge) is rooted in the principle of a New Covenant marriage union found in Gen. 2:23. It is the foundational principle of all lawful relationships that alone can bring about the success of the divine plan as revealed in greater detail throughout the rest of Scripture. In the end, the entire divine plan to unify heaven and earth is built upon the marriage principle.

As individual sons of God, we are children of a heavenly Father and an earthly mother, patterned after Jesus’ own conception by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18-20). The result is a kingdom of priests who have access to heaven and earth. To put it in Ezekiel’s terms (44:17, 19), we may minister to God in heaven dressed in our linens and to people on earth dressed in our woolens.

Ehud, then, provides us with a very important principle of marriage and lawful unity, without which we cannot become the sons of God. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us as “the power of God” (Acts 1:8), we are given the exousia (“authority,” or “right”) to become the sons of God (John 1:12). Eventually, all of creation will be brought into this same liberty (Rom. 8:21).