Judges 12

Jud 12:1-3.

THE

EPHRAIMITES

QUARRELLING WITH

JEPHTHAH.

1. the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together--Hebrew, "were summoned."

and went northward--After crossing the Jordan, their route from

Ephraim was, strictly speaking, in a northeasterly direction, toward

Mizpeh.

the men of Ephraim . . . said unto Jephthah, Wherefore . . . didst

[thou] not call us?--This is a fresh development of the jealous, rash,

and irritable temper of the Ephraimites. The ground of their offense

now was their desire of enjoying the credit of patriotism although they

had not shared in the glory of victory.

2. when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands--The

straightforward answer of Jephthah shows that their charge was false;

their complaint of not being treated as confederates and allies

entirely without foundation; and their boast of a ready contribution of

their services came with an ill grace from people who had purposely

delayed appearing till the crisis was past.

3. when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands--A

common form of speech in the East for undertaking a duty of imminent

peril. This Jephthah had done, having encountered and routed the

Ammonites with the aid of his Gileadite volunteers alone; and since the

Lord had enabled him to conquer without requiring assistance from any

other tribe, why should the Ephraimites take offense? They ought rather

to have been delighted and thankful that the war had terminated without

their incurring any labor and danger.

Jud 12:4-15.

DISCERNED BY THE

WORD

SIBBOLETH,

ARE

SLAIN BY THE

GILEADITES.

4-6. the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites

are fugitives of Ephraim--The remonstrances of Jephthah, though

reasonable and temperate, were not only ineffectual, but followed by

insulting sneers that the Gileadites were reckoned both by the western

Manassites and Ephraimites as outcasts--the scum and refuse of their

common stock. This was addressed to a peculiarly sensitive people. A

feud immediately ensued. The Gileadites, determined to chastise this

public affront, gave them battle; and having defeated the Ephraimites,

they chased their foul-mouthed but cowardly assailants out of the

territory. Then rushing to the fords of the Jordan, they intercepted

and slew every fugitive. The method adopted for discovering an

Ephraimite was by the pronunciation of a word naturally suggested by

the place where they stood. Shibboleth, means "a stream";

Sibboleth, "a burden." The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a

dialectical provincialism in the sound of Shibboleth; and the

Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it.

7. Jephthah died--After a government of six years, this mighty man of

valor died; and however difficult it may be for us to understand some

passages in his history, he has been ranked by apostolic authority

among the worthies of the ancient church. He was followed by a

succession of minor judges, of whom the only memorials preserved relate

to the number of their families and their state

[Jud 12:8-15].