How to Unveil Obscure (and Surprising) Bible Characters in Just 5 Minutes

Do you know who Ehud is?

Me neither, before I started writing this post.

In fact, when I sat down to research him, I wouldn’t have had a clue where to start—or which resources to trust—without Logos 5. (Well, that or the Bible Study Magazine blog!) With Logos 5, though, it took only a single click to track down all the information I needed.

Five minutes later, I understood Ehud’s family tree, knew his biblical role and significance, and even had a list of clickable, relevant resources to go deeper in my research—all thanks to Logos 5’s Bible Facts tool.

Bible Facts empowers you to know biblical events, people, and places. It only draws from trusted resources, so you can be confident in your insights and your teaching. Don’t know the name of the person you’re researching? Bible Facts covers important unnamed characters, too, like the spies Joshua sent into Jericho and the Samaritan woman at the well.

The most exciting story you’ve never heard

Thanks to Bible Facts, I understood Ehud’s character—he was an Israeli judge whose name meant “where is the glory?” But I wanted more of his story, which turned out to be better suited for an action movie than for an obscure biblical figure.

After jumping straight to the Bible verse he’s mentioned in and reading it side-by-side with the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (just one of 24 Bible-dictionary links provided), I discovered that Ehud was a lefty whose claim to fame was plunging a fatal message from God into the belly of a king.

The story goes that while escorting Eglon, the Moabite king, to Jericho, Ehud tricked Eglon by promising a confidential revelation. Eglon foolishly dismissed his court attendants, giving Ehud (and the double-edged sword he had secretly bound to his right thigh) a private audience. As Ehud slowly ascended Eglon’s throne, he said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The message, it turned out, was plunging his sword all the way to the hilt into the portly king’s stomach.

Ehud snuck out of the palace and sounded his trumpet in the hills of Ephraim, calling the Israelites down to encircle the Moabite troops west of the Jordan. Under Ehud’s leadership, they killed 10,000 Moabites, freeing them from 18 years of oppression and ushering in 80 years of peace in Israel.

Not bad for an “obscure” character.

Even more insights await . . .

Finding this information was simple. Going even deeper into the story and connecting it to other resources was a breeze. Why? Because Logos 5 lifts the curtain on stories and people considered “obscure” and “mysterious” and lets you enjoy an unparalleled look at Scripture.

What’s more, Bible Facts is just one tool included in Logos 5—here are all the other tools you get.

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