{"id":55084,"date":"2019-05-07T13:07:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T10:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55084"},"modified":"2022-11-29T16:04:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T14:04:05","slug":"the-assassination-of-eglon-the-first-locked-room-murder-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-assassination-of-eglon-the-first-locked-room-murder-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"The Assassination Of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[570,373],"acf":{"old_id":"55084","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"214","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"We know how he did it, but how did he get away?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter relates how the Israelites dealt with the Canaanite tribes that remained after the initial conquest of the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. Among them was Eglon king of Moab who took possession of the City of Palms (i.e. Jericho) for eighteen years. God provided a deliverer\u2014 Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite (verses 12-15). Since \u201cBenjamite\u201d (<em>Ben Ha-Yimani<\/em>) seems originally to have meant \u201cSon of the Strong Right-Hand\u201d \u00a0it is ironic that Ehud is specifically mentioned as being \u201cleft-handed\u201d, because his right-hand was thought to be \u201cshriveled up\u201d (Aramaic \u201c<em>gamid<\/em>\u201d, Rashi on 3:15). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biblical narrative continues with remarkable detail: <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.\u201d After having presented Israelite tribute to the Moabite king, Ehud returns to Eglon, saying \u2018Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you\u2019. The king said to his attendants, \u2018Leave us!\u2019 And they all left\u2026Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king\u2019s belly\u2026Then Ehud went out to a passageway; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them \u2026 After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked \u2026 when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead. While they waited, Ehud got away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Ehud rallies the Israelite forces, who defeat the Moabite enemy, the biblical narrative concludes that there was peace in the land for eighty years (verses 18-30).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the many discussion of this meticulously told tale, Baruch Halpern (The First Historians, 1988, Chapter 3) has drawn attention to the architectural aspects of this narrative. The primary action takes place in what is described as a \u201cprivate upper room\u201d (<em>ba-\u2018aliyat ha-meqerah<\/em>). On the basis of archaeological research, Halpern concludes that the royal \u201cupper room was a throne platform overlooking and accessible from the audience chamber\u201d. More problematic is how exactly Ehud effected his escape, partly because he is said to have exited via a \u201c<em>misdaron<\/em>\u201d, a word that occurs only here. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After weighing several previously offered alternatives, Halpern suggests that after having locked the \u201cprivate upper room\u201d from the inside, Ehud dropped down to a lower floor, part of an indoor sanitation system, between the beams that supported Eglon\u2019s throne platform. Seen this way, Ehud\u2019s stealthy escape from the locked chamber may be considered \u201cThe First Locked-Room Murder Mystery\u201d (see Halpern, Bible Review 4\/6, 1988). The earliest examples of this detective fiction sub-genre, in which a murderer makes a puzzling escape from the site of the crime, were thought &#8212; by less biblically-informed literary critics &#8212; to have originated only in modern times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image: from\u00a0Ford, Maddox, Brown Bible, 1908 \/ wikimedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55131,"id":55131,"title":"jud3-ehud-eglon1","filename":"jud3-ehud-eglon1-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud3-ehud-eglon1-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-assassination-of-eglon-the-first-locked-room-murder-mystery\/jud3-ehud-eglon1-2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud3-ehud-eglon1-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55084,"date":"2019-05-07 11:24:37","modified":"2019-05-07 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