75 - A Speech Problem
- Gwen Diaz
- Mar 16, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 21
March 16 - Nº 75 Judges 12
Not all the Israelites were thrilled with Jephthah’s great victory over the Ammonites. The men in the tribe of Ephraim became very jealous. They felt that they should have been asked to fight in the battles that won so much territory back for the nation.
The more they talked about it, the more upset they became. As a matter of fact, they became so upset that they decided to go to war against Jephthah so they could receive some prestige and glory for themselves. They had previously responded this same way when Gideon had defeated the Midianites (see Judges 8:1), but Gideon had been able to calm them down. This time, however, they mobilized an army, crossed the Jordan River, and threatened Jephthah, “We’re going to burn your house down with you in it!”
Jephthah was upset by the Ephraimites' unjust complaint. He insisted that he had called them to join him in the battle, but they had chosen not to come. “When I saw that you wouldn’t help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight them myself,” he replied. “And the Lord gave me the victory. Now why have you come up today to fight me?” he wanted to know.
The Ephraimites mocked Jephthah. They called him and his men traitors. This made Jephthah angry, and a fierce battle broke out. Just a short time after God had given them a tremendous victory over the Ammonites, the Israelites were trying to destroy each other.
Jephthah and his men won decisively, and the Ephaimites turned to flee. But for them to escape to their homes, they had to cross back over the Jordan River. Instead of allowing them to retreat, Jephthah decided to destroy them completely. He set up border patrols at all the possible river-crossings.
When they reached a border, the Ephraimite warriors tried to pass themselves off as members of a different tribe. So, Jephthah’s men came up with a test to determine if they were telling the truth. The Ephraimites spoke a different dialect of the Hebrew language from all the other Israelites, and they could not pronounce the “sh” sound. So, Jephthah’s border patrol asked every man who tried to cross the Jordan River if they were from Ephraim. If they replied, “No,” they were asked to say the word “Shibboleth” (which means “flowing stream” in Hebrew). Thousands of Ephraimites died trying to escape because they could not pronounce the word “Shibboleth.” They said “Sibboleth” instead.
Jephthah led Israel for six tumultuous years before he died. Over the next 24 years, three other judges led the nation. But, once again, the Israelites did evil in God’s eyes. So, for forty years, He allowed the Philistines to forcibly control them.
Is there someone in your life that you seem to be “at war” with?
In such a situation it sometimes helps to stop and ask yourself
two questions:
What is really going on in my heart?
What does God think about how I am responding?
Jealousy led to a battle that began to destroy the entire Jewish nation. Both parties could have avoided the disastrous results if they had stopped, looked at the situation from God’s point of view, and asked Him for help.
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