And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:
Read Chapter 3
Jerome
AD 420
What did you mean by saying, two thousand fall at the side? Naturally, when the right hand is designated and the left is not, the side is named in place of the left hand. It would not be right, certainly, for the just man to have a left hand: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek,” counsels the Lord, “turn to him the other also.” Notice that he did not say, “the left also,” for it is not the left cheek that is offered, but another right cheek. I shall express this very plainly, therefore, by saying that the just man has two right cheeks. The man, Ehud, for example, who is written of in the book of Judges, is said to have two right hands because he was a just man and killed that fat stupid king. “Though two thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand.” There are very many who lie in wait at our right hand, not so many who plot against our left; [thus], a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand. Where there is greater combat, there is, of course,...
These are the persons, then, who are referred to in holy Scripture as amphoterodexioi—that is, as ambidextrous. Ehud, “who used either hand as if it were his right hand,” is described as such in the book of Judges. We shall also be able to possess this quality in a spiritual way if by a good and correct use we put the things which are considered fortunate and right-handed and the things which are called unfortunate and left-handed on the right side, that whatever befalls may become for us, in the words of the apostle, “the arms of righteousness.” For we see that our inner man consists in two parts or, as I might say, two hands. No holy person can be without what we call the left hand, but perfect virtue is discerned in the fact that by proper use he turns both into a right hand. - "Conference 6.10.1"
