In the early days of the land of Israel, there was no king to tell the people what to do. Instead, they were led by “judges”, but the people didn’t listen to the judges; they did whatever they wanted. God didn’t like what his people were doing, so he let Eglon king of Moab take over Israel. Then the Israelites asked God to deliver them from Moab, so Ehud, the judge of Israel, was sent to meet king Eglon. Ehud said he had a secret message from God for Eglon, so Eglon sent all his attendants out of the room for privacy.

The divine message turned out to be a sword that Ehud plunged into Eglon’s fat belly, killing him. Then the Israelite army, led by Ehud, killed 10,000 Moabites and took over Moab, which God had forbidden them to do.

The end.

The moral of the story

Keep your bodyguards with you when you meet with your enemy.