Bible Strands
Judges 3:22
Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the immediate aftermath of Ehud’s left-handed thrust into King Eglon’s belly, occurring in the isolated upper room just before Ehud slips past the locked doors.
The words — The phrase הַנִּצָּב אַחַר הַלַּהַב (ha-niṣṣāḇ ʾaḥar ha-laḥaḇ) literally means “the hilt after the blade,” indicating the weapon was driven so deep that the handle followed the point. The verb וַיִּסְגֹּר (wa-yisgōr) translates “and it closed up,” describing how the king’s fat sealed over the weapon.
The thread — The sealing of fat over an object or cavity appears in the sacrificial instructions of Leviticus 3:3–4 and 4:8–9, where fat is carefully laid over the entrails. The motif of fat closing or hardening also surfaces in Job 15:27 and Isaiah 6:10 to depict an impenetrable, unresponsive state.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment operates through irreversible physical consequences, leaving no room for reversal or escape. It asks the reader to confront the finality of God’s appointed deliverance without softening the brutal mechanics of the account.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.