Jason
In Judges chapter 3, God sent Ehud, Israel’s second judge, to deliver the nation from Moabite oppression. “The Lord raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Ehud…a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin” (v. 15).
The Hebrew for “left-handed” literally means “restricted in the right hand.” Chapter 20:16 states, “Among Benjamin’s elite troops, 700 were left-handed, and each of them could sling a rock and hit a target within a hairsbreadth without missing.”
Did the Benjamites intentionally “restrict the right hand” of their young boys, or was this trait genetic? If it was intentional, why would being right- or left-handed matter?
Ancient city walls were often designed so that invading armies had to attack by exposing their right side to the defenders on the wall (ex: Lachish, tel Dan). Right-handed soldiers carried their shields in their left hand and their sling in their right, making it very difficult to protect themselves while attacking defenders. A left-handed soldier, however, could hold his shield in his right hand and shoot his sling with his left, making his attack much more effective.
In 1 Chronicles 12:2, some Israelites came to support David while he ruled in Hebron. Two dozen ambidextrous warriors who could use either the bow or the sling “could shoot arrows or sling stones with their left hand as well as their right.” Interestingly, they were all from the tribe of Benjamin.