What does Judges 3:22 mean?

Ehud has done what he came to do. The Lord has raised Ehud up as Israel's deliverer (Judges 3:15–16), and now Ehud has thrust his sword into the obese guts of Israel's enslaver, King Eglon of Moab (Judges 3:18–21). The two are alone in a room in the king's palace with the doors closed.

Here, the writer of Judges adds detail to the stabbing that evokes both disgust and a vivid ring of truth. This is sometimes referred to as one of the "grossest" or most graphic statements in the Bible. We've been told the king is a very fat man (Judges 3:17). Ehud stabs his homemade blade, about the length from a man's elbow to the tip of the fingers, into the king's belly. The blow is so powerful, and the wound so deep, that the fat of the king's stomach closes around the hilt, swallowing the sword whole.

The text is simultaneously unclear and explicit about what happens next. Out of Eglon's body comes something described using the term parshadon, which is obscure. The word includes the idea of "scattering," and seems to be associated with filth. Given the massive injury and Eglon's enormous obesity, it's possible Ehud's attack literally disemboweled the Moabite king. Or, that death caused his bowels to empty themselves. At the very least, the wound immediately proves fatal. Given that Ehud can escape secretly (Judges 3:23–26), Eglon appears to have dropped dead without a sound.