
Cut Off Their Thumbs and Big Toes
Adoni-Bezek was a Canaanite king in the book of Judges in the Old Testament.
He was a great warrior and had captured seventy kings. He cut off their thumbs and big toes.
That seems kind of weird. Why would he do that?
When an archer draws a bow he uses his fingers and thumb. With no thumb he could not shoot his arrow straight.
When a warrior loses his big toe he has trouble balancing and running.
By cutting off the other kings thumbs and toes Adoni-Bezek disgraced them because they could not fight any more.
Also, Adoni-Bezek made the seventy kings eat scraps of food from under his table (like a dog or some other type of pet).
By doing those things Adoni-Bezek was saying “I’m the best king. I have disgraced seventy kings and now they are like pet dogs to me.”
What Adoni-Bezek did not know is that God was the only true king. God gave Adoni-Bezek into the hands of Judah.
When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
Judges 1:4-7(NIV)