FAT EGLON James K. Aitken It has long been recognized that the tale of the judge Ehud defeating the Moabite king Eglon ( Judg. 3.15–30) is one of humour and parody. 1 he seemingly successful king is outwitted by Ehud, fooled by a ruse to take him into a private place where he is run through by Ehud’s short sword (vv. 21–22), too short for the deep fat of the king, and where his stewards are equally outwitted, thinking the king to be defecating (v. 24). Word-plays and grotesque characterizations abound. he puns, for example, on רֶ תֵ֥ ר־סַ בְ דּas a secret message or a concealed object (i.e. weapon), and on the verb תקע(the ‘thrusting’ of the sword in v. 21 preiguring the ‘sounding’ of the trumpet in v. 27) contribute to the irony, along with the sexual references of the dagger and the locked doors. 2 Commentators have delighted in the ironic reversals of the story and provided rich retellings that draw out the many sub- versive elements. It is clear that Eglon is a foreign king who is to be contrasted with the judge Ehud, the local hero for the writer. He con- forms to a type of the foolish foreign king or leader (e.g., Pharoah, Exod. 1–2; Balak, Num. 22–24; Sisera, Judg. 4–5; Abimelek, Judg. 9) outwitted by an Israelite hero. 3 Eglon’s fate, to be killed in private in a room of dubious function, and to have the ‘dirt’ exude from him, was not becoming of a person of his stature. And yet, humour as a culturally-bound construct hampers attempts to distinguish between what was considered humorous in ancient Israel from what would be 1 It is a pleasure to ofer this to an ever supportive friend and colleague, who is also able to burst any academic pomposity with wit. 2 hese examples are all discussed in Alter (1981: 38–41). he bibliography on the subject of biblical parody and of the Judges narratives is extensive such that we can here only be representative rather than exhaustive. My thanks to Ora Lipschitz for bibliographic assistance. Ater this article had been submitted, the study of L.G. Stone (2009) appeared touching on similar issues. Although it has not been possible to take his arguments into consideration, they complement the approach taken here. 3 A full list of examples is compiled by Brenner (1994: 42), who proceeds to discuss some of those in Judges, Esther and Daniel. 141-154_KHAN&LIPTON_F13.indd 141 141-154_KHAN&LIPTON_F13.indd 141 7/28/2011 1:50:43 PM 7/28/2011 1:50:43 PM