Judges 12:1-24
1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire.
2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands.
3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the LORD delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me?
4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.
5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
7 And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
8 And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
9 And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.
10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.
11 And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel; and he judged Israel ten years.
12 And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.
13 And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel.
14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews,a that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.
15 And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.
AN UNNECESSARY CONFRONTATION
(vv. 1-7)
The men of Ephraim assumed the same proud attitude toward Jephthah as they had before done toward Gideon (tie.8:1-2).When Jephthah had gained the victory over the Ammonites, they ought to have shown genuine appreciation of this, but instead they came with bitter enmity, being angry because Jephthah had not called them to help in the defeat of Ammon.They tell him, "We will burn your house down on you with fire!" (v.1).
Jephthah was not as wise as Gideon in the way he responded, however (tie. 8:2-3). In
Gideon's case a soft answer turned away wrath, but Jephthah was immediately on the defense, telling Ephraim in effect that he had expected them to deliver Israel from the Ammonites, but when they failed to do this, then he took his life in his hands and attacked the Ammonites, whom God delivered into his hands (vv. 2-3). Thus, Jephthah made it clear to them that they were in the wrong.But it does not usually sit well for people to have demonstrated to them that they are wrong, and in this case it led directly into conflict.
Sadly then, Jephthah led his army against his own Israelite brethren.Jephthah was more concerned about his own authority than he was for the glory of God. No doubt he was a believer, asHebrews 11:32 indicates, but he lacked any spirit of counting others better than himself (Philippians 2:3). It ought to have been a sorrow to him that discord should arise within the nation Israel, but instead he was only angry with those he considered responsible for the discord. If he had only sought God's mind about this matter, how different would the history have been.
Of course the Ephraimites were wrong. They contemptuously considered the Gileadites as fugitives from Ephraim because they lived east of the Jordan. Because of this contempt therefore the Ephraimites were defeated, just as our own bad attitude will defeat us too (v. 4).
When the defeat took place, then men of Ephraim wanted to return to their own property west of Jordan. But Jephthah and his army took possession of the fords of the Jordan. They were determined to kill off every Ephraimite they could, so that they tested them by asking them to pronounce the word "shibboleth." Evidently the Ephraimites did not use the "sh"sound, and said, "sibboleth." If so, they would kill them (v. 6). Altogether there were 42,000 Ephraimites slaughtered! Usually when a battle is finished the victors would do no more than take captive those who were already defeated, so that this action of Jephthah was actually cold-blooded murder. Do things like this ever happen among Christians today? Though not precisely the same, yet there can too easily be a sectarian rejection of other Christians because they do not conform to our requirements. It is true that it is not possible to have full, unhindered fellowship with many Christians, but to condemn them because of their inconsistencies is the spirit of murder. These Ephraimites were no longer fighting against Jephthah. How much better it would have been to let them return to their land, and pray for them!
Jephthah lived after this only six years, during which he judged Israel (v. 7), but nothing is said of his government, whether to be commended or otherwise.
THREE MORE JUDGES
(vv.8-15)
Three judges followed Jephthah, but nothing is said of their character or their actions. Ibzan had thirty sons and thirty daughters, all of whom were married, his sons being provided with wives from elsewhere, whether from Israel or from the nations is not clear. His government continued for seven years. At least nothing derogatory is said of him.
Elon judged Israel for two years, but besides this nothing is recorded of him but his death and burial (vv.11-12). Abdon followed to judge Israel eight years. Otherwise, we are only told of him that he had forty sons and thirty grandsons, all of whom were provided with donkeys to ride.