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1The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire." 2And Jephthah said to them, "I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. 3And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?" 4Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, "You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh." 5And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, "Let me go over," the men of Gilead said to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" When he said, "No," 6they said to him, "Then say Shibboleth," and he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
7Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.
8After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.
11After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. 12Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. 14He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. 15Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
Jephthah's legacy includes the slaughter of an enormous number, 42000 Ephraimites, at the fords of Jordan. The reader may recall an earlier judge's military exploits. Ehud too killed thousands at the fords of Jordan, but in his days the enemy was Moab. By contrast, Jephthah's blood bath describes a massacre against his own countrymen. Perhaps it would be cynical to suggest that the end of the Jephthah cycle does not come as a surprise. Yet, the slaughter of thousands of fellow Israelites fits the bill of a man who may well have killed his own daughter.
To Jephthah's credit, the Ephraimites know how to carry a heavy club, too. Their words in 12:1 leave little room for negotiation: "We will burn your house over you with fire." The theme of internal disintegration, which we have observed earlier in Judges, continues to manifest itself in the unfolding narrative. Tribal feuds spiral into all-out civil war because Yahweh no longer lives at the heart of Israel. God is peace, but to abandon him means war. Accordingly, the formulaic remark at the end of the cycle (12:7) omits a peace notice (cf. 3:11; 5:31; 8:28), as if to say, "There is no rest for Israel anymore." Ironically, Israel has become its own worst enemy. How can there be peace when Israelites cannot even live with one another?
Willful Ephraim had instigated an earlier confrontation with a judge (8:1-3), and the circumstances were strikingly similar. There is a lesson to be learned from the pattern. A common external enemy may unite people under one banner, but what happens when there is no one to fight against anymore? The same principle applies to a group with a common goal. Once the plan has become reality, the true nature of the unity among the members of the group will be divulged.
It is not enough for churches to get excited over a building project or to rally around the soup pots of an occasional potluck event. Our love for each other has to run deeper and find its common denominator in the glory of Christ. This glory of the risen Christ is also the antidote to spiritual disintegration when programs and plans realized may threaten to leave a vacuum in our minds. With Christ in full view (Heb. 12:2) the church should never be in doubt over its identity or common mission. The same goes for its individual members.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
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